The Role of Place as Medium in the Transmedial Ecology of Play

---

Tosca Susana Nakamura Akinori
2020 DiGRA ’20 – Proceedings of the 2020 DiGRA International Conference: Play Everywhere

 

A Ludo Mix Perspective on Dynamic Game Characters

---

Blom Joleen
2019 DiGRA '19 - Abstract Proceedings of the 2019 DiGRA International Conference: Game, Play and the Emerging Ludo-Mix

 

Taiko no Tatsujin: Musical literacy in the Media Mix

---

Oliva Costantino
2019 DiGRA '19 - Proceedings of the 2019 DiGRA International Conference: Game, Play and the Emerging Ludo-Mix

This paper analyzes the Taiko no Tatsujin (Bandai Namco, 2001/2018) franchise and the musical literacy it conveys. While previous accounts of game musical literacy have focused on the competence necessary to interpret references across media (van Elferen, 2016), this paper expands on the concept, including forms of musical participation such as live performances and oral traditions. The musical compositions included in Taiko no Tatsujin pertain to the Japanese phenomenon of media convergence known as media mix (Steinberg, 2012), as they have been previously popularized by anime and geemu ongaku (or game music) (Yamakami & Barbosa, 2015). However, the musical participation extends its references to the practice of Japanese taiko drumming, a largely oral, non-notated musical form, which cannot be reduced to a musical repertoire. The conclusions show that game musical literacy is constructed not only on media literacy, but also on various different forms of participation in musical performances, or musicking (Small, 1998), which concur in constructing game musical literacy. The musical culture associated with digital games is therefore expressed through a large variety of musical practices.

 

A Recipe for Disaster? The Emerging Ludo Mix and the Outsourcing of Narrative

---

Bjarnason Nökkvi Jarl
2019 DiGRA '19 - Proceedings of the 2019 DiGRA International Conference: Game, Play and the Emerging Ludo-Mix

Employing The Final Fantasy XV Universe as a case study, this article examines how the changing climate of game development, in tandem with established media mix strategies, contributes to the emergence of the ludo mix as media ecology. Through a comparative analysis of the climate of modern game development and the adoption of media mix strategies, as they relate to the franchise in question, the case is made that these two distinct phenomena intersect to create novel challenges and incentives for a particular kind of game development, wherein the mitigation of mounting production costs has resulted in the strategic outsourcing of Final Fantasy XV’s core narrative, negatively affecting the games critical reception. These findings posit challenges for the future of the ludo mix as the evolving technological, aesthetic and economic climate of game development continues further down the path that has led to this outcome.

 

The Mobile Suit Gundam Franchise: a Case Study of Transmedia Storytelling Practices and the Role of Digital Games in Japan

---

Nakamura Akinori Tosca Susana
2019 DiGRA '19 - Proceedings of the 2019 DiGRA International Conference: Game, Play and the Emerging Ludo-Mix

The present study looks at the Mobile Suit Gundam franchise and the role of digital games from the conceptual frameworks of transmedia storytelling and the Japanese media mix. We offer a historical account of the development of “the Mobile Suit Gundam” series from a producer´s perspective and show how a combination of convergent and divergent strategies contributed to the success of the series, with a special focus on games. Our case can show some insight into underdeveloped aspects of the theory of transmedial storytelling and the Japanese media mix.