Midnight Stranger Explained

Midnight Stranger (1994) is the first of two published interactive multimedia CD-ROM based collaborations between writer and director Jeff Green and the Animatics Multimedia Corporation. Noted for its cinéma vérité style,[1] it is a Point Of View (POV) video-based experiment in simulated socializing that takes place in an anonymous city late one night. Players navigate between several locations, and can interact with one or more people in each location to varying effects based on the player's "reactions" to that person. The main technical innovation of Midnight Stranger is its use of an emotional continuum Mood Bar for interaction with the in-story characters rather than a text interface or an itemized set of options for each interaction. The Mood Bar simulates some of the frustration and uncertainty when dealing with other people in social situations,[2] and provides a more realistic role playing experience.[3]

Gameplay

The major technical innovation of the game[4] is its user interface which consists of a continuous coloured band called the Mood Bar that appears below the characters when they pause in the “dialogue” for user input. The red, left end of the bar represents a negative response ("no", "I disagree", "I don’t like that"), the blue central part of the band represents a neutral response ("I don’t know", "I don’t care", "I have no opinion"), and the green right end of the bar represents a positive response ("yes", "I agree", "I like that").[5] While the bar is a smooth colour gradient that shows no clear demarcations, giving the illusion of infinite choice, there were usually only three possible pathways from any given bar, with varying percentages of the bar devoted to the choices depending on circumstance. Only one other production has been published using this device (Mode, 1995).

Navigation is primarily between still images of street scenes and building fronts. Moving the mouse raised a small "GO" icon in directions you may progress, bringing up another still image location. Some of these icons appear on entrances to public locations; a movie theatre, restaurants, clubs, etc. Clicking on these takes you to an interior scene including people. Rolling over some of these people raised a "TALK" icon, indicating that clicking on them will instigate a "conversation".[6]

Because of disc size restrictions at the time of creation there was a serious limitation in the amount of video content that could be included on a disc. To accommodate this and still have enough material to constitute a viable product, Green conceived of a technique for embedding small frames of video into full screen still frames, usually the head and shoulders of the speaking character being the only part of the frame that moved.[7] This approach was both lauded[8] and criticized in published reviews, since it is a clever solution[9] yet often creates distracting disjoints between character motion and the framing image.[10]

Midnight Stranger has eighteen onscreen performers with varying depths of content. Only three of the characters are involved in a plot that can lead to various "endings", involving a supernatural object of extraterrestrial origin. In an effort to create a filmic feel, a feature causes that after a given amount of time (about sixty minutes) in game play the "relationship" with any character will lead to an "ending" that triggers the credits. If you manage to find the object there are several scenes where an icon appears representing the object. If you click the icon a brief special effect ensues, depending on the circumstance.[11]

The overarching concept is that "you" are a stranger in a late-night city who engages random people in conversation, on the street, in bars, clubs or restaurants. These conversations, dictated by Mood Bar choices, can lead to dead ends or various "fulfillments", depending on the character. Three of the female characters can lead to short sex encounters with minimal (waist-up) nudity.[12] The disc was given an "adults-only" rating mostly because of the extremely strong language, mostly delivered by one character ("The Hood").

Development

In 1992 the Animatics Multimedia Corporation, founded by Alfredo Coppola and Simon Goodwin, was a middle-level computer graphics and multimedia purveyor for Ottawa corporations and Canadian government departments. Through a friendship with Jeff Green they were allowing him to use their graphics hardware to produce animation for his television show "Cowboy Who?". When Goodwin came up with an idea for a social video-based interactive "game" they called on Green to help them develop the idea and to write and direct the final product. Using friends, they produced a brief demo and began shopping it to multimedia publishers. After several false starts they finally established a relationship with Gazelle Technologies, a San Diego-based company primarily associated with mail order CD-ROM distribution, and began the production process. Originally Green wrote a complicated multi-layer script that would have called for hundreds of hours of final footage, but when he began the auditions he became fascinated with the extraordinary life stories the (predominantly inexperienced) applicants told him, and he decided on a different direction that would use their life stories in improvised performances. Locations were selected and, in June 1993, Green began the shooting using a Sony Hi-8 handycam, sometimes doing all set preparation and lighting himself. Principal photography was completed in July 1993 and Goodwin began the programming. A beta version was presented at the Macromedia International User's Conference in San Francisco, September 1993, where it won a People's Choice Award, and the first Mac consumer version was released in November of that year. A PC version followed in early 1994.

Awards

Cast and crew

Reception

Overall Midnight Stranger was well-reviewed in the literature, but was never reprinted after its initial release and never achieved anything except mail order availability. Its critical success did lead to an association of Green and Animatics with the Ottawa-based Corel Corporation, which financed an elaborate follow-up CD-ROM (Mode) and associated web-based version ("Club Mode").

External links

References

  1. Maxwell, Eden, "Relationships That Pass In The Night". Computer Gaming World, October, 1994.
  2. Rahlmann, Reed. Newmedia Magazine, September, 1994.
  3. Lowell, Jeremy. Shift, Winter 1995.
  4. Ottawa X Press, February 23, 1994, "Do You Want To Be A Midnight Stranger?".
  5. Jim Gasperini, Wired, December 1994, "Virtual Loneliness".
  6. Gerry Blackwell, The Toronto Star, February 16, 1995, "Take a virtual walk on the Wild Side".
  7. Reed Rahlmann, NewMedia Magazine, September 1994.
  8. David Wade, CD-ROM Today, October 1994.
  9. Eden Maxwell, Computer Gaming World, October 1994, "Relationships That Pass In The Night".
  10. Matt Foley, Axcess Magazine, Vol. II, No. 5.
  11. Drew Carnwath, Campus Canada, November 1994.
  12. Ty Burr, Entertainment Weekly, October 14, 1994, "Looking for love in all the ROM places".

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