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We've just rapped up our arc of content on interactive story structure! If you want to dive back in and redo all the prompts, this episode is for you; it covers each exercise that was covered in the last series of episodes. Going through agent, desire, obstacle, user choice, and reward, you can learn how to craft the foundations of any kind of interactive narrative. We'll be taking a short break after this, but don't go away! Building a Better Story World will be back in just a few weeks!

Interactive structures need rewards, big and small, but you can't possibly give everything to everybody... can you? If you structure it right, you can! Join Steele Tyler Filipek as he guides you a process of tying the fun of your interactive experience to the rewards that will entice your audience to engage with it, time and again. Still don't believe? Then at least you get a case study about how Mortal Kombat set the video game world afire!

Agents in interactive experiences need to be able to affect the work in some manner. If not, it's not interactive! Join Steele Filipek as he showcases three ways to get users to make choices that reflect their desires, as well as a case study in social video that highlights living food and hilarity.

After a brief technical snafu, Building a Better Story World is back! Using professional sports as a guide, Steele Filipek--that Knight of Narrative--will help show you how to build interesting obstacles into your interactive experience... and how to mitigate difficulty... and how to differentiate between the two! 

Ever want to know what goes into crowd-sourcing? Does finding an audience's desires make you trepidatious and excited? Understanding what audiences desire is critical to all story world development, but it's particularly important when dealing with interactive design. Steele Filipek is here to share his experience with crowd-sourcing and other forms of interactivity if you'd like to jazzercize your realm of imagination to narrative universe success!

Building out your interactive story? Concerned about how audiences are going to engage with it? Allow Steele Filipek (and Commander Shepard) to guide you through the three forms of agents who take part in your interactive narrative universe: the stand-ins for your audience, the individuals who control those stand-ins, and the entire audience itself!

We've covered a lot of ground in traditional storytelling and story world design, but now we're shifting gears to interactive design. From video games to social media to branding campaigns to crowd-sourcing, all interactive media function on the same basic five elements. Join Steele Filipek as he uses The Last of Us, Naughty Dog's classic horror game, to help examine the foundational ways that lead to the intersection of narrative and gameplay, as well as the creator and the audience.

There is at least one way to make your story world exciting for every audience member to jump into, time and again. Listen in as Steele Filipek uses an amazing sci-fi film to showcase how you can do this for your own work! Three prompts and thirty minutes will give your world an exciting launching pad to story universe success!

You're going to need to put your story world through the ringer to make sure the narrative, characters, fun, and all that other good stuff feel right. How do you make sure that it's all in alignment? Find out, as Steele Filipek takes you through three exercises to see just how well your story world is doing for your characters and your audience, with a case study that is ecto-inspired!

It's a tale as old as time, albeit without singing dishware and a prince that's turned into a beast. There's a classic that's venerated by critics since time immemorial, or a smash hit that you just can't stand, or a box office bomb that gets you thinking, "Why/how did this get made?" Understanding and being able to describe your thoughts on such things will ultimately make you a better creator, as you'll be able to know what to avoid when crafting your own story world! Join Steele Filipek as he details three story worlds that have their detractors (and defenders!) as he provides tools for helping to work through what doesn't work for you, and why!

Almost everybody wants to write good dialogue, but where do you begin? Listen in as Steele Filipek, your lovable host, details three case studies and three ideas about what your characters say, how they say it, and why. With those tools, you'll be able to build out your story world elegantly and craft a nifty turn of phrase!Music - icons8.com, specifically https://icons8.com/music/author/ilya-marfinAudio Effects - freesound.org

What happens when you put two things side-by-side? You get audiences to compare them! Juxtaposition is an easy, clever, and fan-friendly way to help build out your narrative universe. How? Let producer and writer Steele Tyler Filipek take you on a journey through the story world of 2005's Children of Men in order to showcase how you can elegantly use contrast in order to highlight the wonder of your imagination.Music - icons8.com, specifically https://icons8.com/music/author/ilya-marfinAudio Effects - freesound.org

How do you craft difficult or detailed information from your story world in a way that engages audiences? There are any number of ways, but this episode deals with a three-step format for creating compelling expository content, both for narrative universes and standard stories! Join Steele Filipek, a gruff private eye, and a framed cartoon rabbit as they showcase this fun way to inspire audiences!Music - icons8.com, specifically https://icons8.com/music/author/ilya-marfinAudio Effects - freesound.org

You've asked. Steele has heard. Here is a technique for building a mythology for your very own story world. It's not the only way to build such a thing, of course, but considering it's been the foundation for over a dozen Starlight Runner clients, you might consider giving it a shot if you're struggling to codify your narrative universe!Music - icons8.com, specifically https://icons8.com/music/author/ilya-marfinAudio Effects - freesound.org

Some story worlds have sprawling, millennia-long mythologies. Others take place between last Tuesday and next Friday. In all cases, understanding the past, present, and future of your story world will help you craft compelling narratives that feel lived in. Join Steele Filipek as he jumps in a DeLorean to show you how to build such a chronology for your own work! Music - icons8.com, specifically https://icons8.com/music/author/ilya-marfinAudio Effects - freesound.org

Mr. Filipek has guided you on many paths that have led you to understand story worlds, and now he's going to share with you the keys to creating compelling worlds themselves... literally, in the form of locales! Join in for this episode as we travel through the planets and nations of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine to exemplify how good locale design exemplifies characters, plot, and theme.Music - icons8.com, specifically https://icons8.com/music/author/ilya-marfinAudio Effects - freesound.org

You've got a world, but it feels a little empty. How are you going to build the numerous allies, enemies, and passersby who will give your narrative universe a heartbeat? Let Steele Tyler Filipek take you on a tour of Springfield, where the cast of the Simpsons will showcase how you can create complex characters out of a few key ingredients--external and internal--that will help your vision stand the test of time.Music - icons8.com, specifically https://icons8.com/music/author/ilya-marfinAudio Effects - freesound.org

Ever struggled with how to introduce your story world to your audience! Producer and writer extraordinaire Steele Tyler Filipek is here to help you  out! With the aid of the films of Hayao Miyazaki, your favorite transmedia guru is going to help you showcase your narrative universe efficiently and wondrously!And if you're interested in more information on Miyazaki, please check with the New York Public Library, where Steele hosts lectures on the works of that legendary animator!Music - icons8.com, specifically https://icons8.com/music/author/ilya-marfinAudio Effects - freesound.org

It's time for another episode of prompts! We've just covered a whole host of advanced story world creation lessons, and so if you'd like to delve back in without having to listen to multiple episodes, you can find all of those prompts here! The lie, the fun, archetypes, rules, and the mists: a step-by-step guide to work on your own world to craft something that will inspire audiences' imaginations!Music - icons8.com, specifically https://icons8.com/music/author/ilya-marfinAudio Effects - freesound.org

How do you build a story world that feels real? That's just the thing; you don't build it, you let it grow! Join Steele Filipek, transmedia producer extraordinaire, as he details how to leave purposeful gaps in your world that will give your audiences and collaborators the room to let their imaginations grow, seeding content that will build out your world in organic, fun ways!Music - icons8.com, specifically https://icons8.com/music/author/ilya-marfinAudio Effects - freesound.org