Entertainment is changing...
We used to have publishers and readers (or broadcasters and viewers). One side created content and the other consumed it.
Video games and social networking point the way to a rich entertainment experience where we all participate: blurring the line between consumers and creators and enriching entertainment through sharing it.
The age of interactive entertainment has arrived.
Splintered Rock: an interactive webcomic
With Splintered Rock, readers have the opportunity to determine the direction of the story and the part that characters play in it. Think of it like an old-style 'choose your own adventure' novel. You get to influence what happens next in the story... Should the hero stand and fight, or run and hide?
At the end of each episode readers are presented with a choice of actions that the characters can take, or sometimes a choice of what scene should follow. The choice that receives the highest number of votes dictates what happens in the next episode. Because the comic is not pre-drawn or pre-scripted, what happens next really does depend on what the readers vote for. Also, there is the opportunity for readers to make their own suggestion about what should happen and if the writers like it or if enough people suggest something similar, then that is what will happen.
What is the story about?
The setting: Humans have reached the stars only to discover that the star systems near Old Earth are scattered with arid and desolate planets. The desert-world of Araxes is one of these and has been settled by those with the skills and determination to survive such a place. They call themselves the desert-born.
For many years the planet belonged to the 'desert-born' but, recently offworld agencies have leased areas of Araxes to mine 'crystal' under the protection of the United Systems Directorate. The desert-born must now decide how to respond to this growing influx of those who wish to exploit their world.
At the mining outpost of Splintered Rock, tensions are starting to rise...
When can I read it?
Now! However, the project is still in the early stages of development, so new episodes are not produced as regularly as we would like. The project is also treading new ground in interactive fiction so please accept that there is every possibility that the way things work will change as the project progresses. Take a look at the progress so far and help test it here