Computer games

As puzzle-driven, character based games, Portal and Portal 2, developed by the Valve Corporation, are not only pioneering in their use of narrative, but they also revolutionize the function of aporia. This thesis explores the role of aporia and use of the narrative in the two video games. It will be argued that the games possess a rigid narrative structure, but while the narrative serves as a peripheral construction, there are other structures that contribute to the experience of gameplay. The research aims to determine how the games adapt narrative and use it in combination with other elements to move beyond simple play and storytelling. As video games become more widely studied in academia, it is important that they merit and maintain standing ; Portal and Portal 2 not only provide a rich gameplay experience, but also offer a particular interaction not found in other texts.

Shigeru Miyamoto's The Legend of Zelda : Ocarina of Time pushed the boundaries of video game design in 1998 by introducting players to one of the first virtual worlds fully-rendered in three-dimensions. The shift from rendering game worlds in two-dimensions to rendering them in three-dimensions required the development of new techniques for constructing virtual worlds. This thesis focuses on the construction of the virtual realm in Ocarina of Time, particularly the ways by which players are presented with cosmology of the virtual world and the divine ordering of the races that dwell there. In addition, this thesis explores how the process of building the virtual worldof Hyrule is mimicked in the design of the game's individual levels, in terms of the spaces that players explore, the rules they are bound by, and the goals that they must reach while progressing through the central plot.