Device 6
Storytelling Reinvention:
uses the placement, style, and movement of text, images, and sounds in order to tell a dynamic story
Game Information
Release Date: October 17th, 2013
Developer: Simogo
Rating: Teen
Genre(s): Exploratory, Strategy, Text-based
Price: $3.99
Website: http://simogo.com/work/device-6/
Device 6 is a text-based adventure game developed by Swedish game developer Simogo for iOS apps that uses text, images and sounds to guide the player through a set of puzzles. The protagonist, Anna, needs to solve these puzzles and questions to escape from an unknown island and mysterious circumstances.
Device 6 shows that an IOS entertainment app does not have to be either “game” or “book,” but rather the two platforms can be artfully combined in an interactive, entertaining, novella. In a 2013 interview, Flesser explained the concept behind Device 6:
“It started with us wanting to explore something a bit more descriptive - expanding on the ideas of theYear Walk companion. We knew we wanted to make something minimalistic, that would be telling rather than showing, but still not as dry as a something that is 100% text based. So we came up with the concept of the 'text-maps'” (Sheridan).
Device 6 guides the user through a patchwork of mystery story, puzzles and geography that is a mix of neuroscience and technology. The game's sense of 3D space, multi layered effects and non linear storytelling immerse you into the narrative, and help to create a more effective connection with the situation and its puzzles. Its complex hints and clues make it so that every detail must be recognized in order to pass each level of the puzzle in order to further the plot-line and continue yourself, as Anna, onwards.
References:
1. Sheridan, Trevor. "Developer Interview: Discovering What Makes DEVICE 6 Tick." AppleNApps. AppleNApps, 5 Nov. 2013. Web. 7 March. 2016. <http://applenapps.com/interview/developer-interview-discovering-what-makes-device-6-tick.html#.Vt4rh_FKYZp>
Researchers: Kayleen McDonnell and Cindy Roadifer
