Transmedia can be an easy target. After all, there are so many terrible book and film adaptations in video games, and developers often have recourse to use cutscenes to tell the story, which highlights the difficulties of delivering a narrative in-game; Max Payne 3 received a lot of criticism for delivering a narrative too dependent on cutscenes. One alternative seems to be to hide the backstory within audio logs or embedded content, or especially transmedia publications that substitute for genuine in-game world-building. This use of transmedia for world-building could be a sign of even more desperation than extensive cutscenes. If this interferes with the player’s enjoyment of the game, and the in-game narrative feels empty or slimmer as a result, this is certainly a problem.

However, with the right amount of world-building in the game itself and a well-crafted transmedia product as a balance, it is possible for publishers to present the mythology of a franchise across different media. Continue reading »