Dark is a new, scripting-based, storytelling engine created by students in the Computer Science Department at Brown University. This tool, which is intended for a variety of applications, such as art, games, storytelling, education, and research, allows creators to make web and mobile app versions of interactive, illustrated stories based on images that they upload and rules that they code.
In these interactive stories, the entire illustration is concealed in darkness, except for a circular spotlight around the viewer's mouse pointer (or finger in the app version). As the user moves his or her mouse or finger, different areas of the illustration are revealed, and what is revealed can affect the storyline. Any part of the image not currently in the spotlight can be changed based on the behavior of the viewer and on the rules that the creator has chosen.
Ultimately, we hope that Dark will provide an easier way for creative non-programmers to build applications that will enrich the community by sharing stories, displaying art, teaching literacy, presenting puzzles, or measuring behavior in ways that current mediums do not. Just click on the Download link on the homepage to begin creating stories with
Jeff Huang (jeff_huang@brown.edu)
Hak Rim Kim (hak_rim_kim@brown.edu)
Erica Silverstein (e.o.silverstein@gmail.com)