Release:
2025. Vol. 11. № 1 (41)About the author:
Ivan S. Musintsev, Master Student, Department of Theoretical and Applied Philology, Institute of Philology, Foreign Languages and Media Communication, Irkutsk State University, Irkutsk, RussiaAbstract:
In the Russian humanities, visual novels are a relatively recent object of research compared to the abundance of works in English which study the characteristic features of this genre, its definition, and classification. In this article, the author examines the visual novels as a synthetic genre that incorporates both literature and videogame structural features. On the material of Doki Doki Literature Club!, Slay the Princess, alongside with Tiny Bunny and Bobok based on the eponymous short stories by Dmitry Mordas and Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky, accordingly, the research analyzes 1) the gameplay–plot interaction; 2) the formation of a “future narrative” by including choice and click-to-continue mechanics; 3) contamination of narrator’s and reader’s points of view. Within the research framework, the main innovation lies not in using the classical ludo-narrative method of analyzing video games to show the connection of the gameplay and plot, but in integrating E. Aarseth’s concept of simulation — “the hermeneutic Other of narratives” — into the field of study to define the underlying structural features of video games in general and of the visual novels, in particular.Keywords:
References:
Karskanova, N. A., & Rodina, I. V. (2018). Visual novels as a modern digital editions in Japan, the USA and Russia. In Yazyk. Tekst. Kniga: materialy mezhdunarodnoy nauchno-prakticheskoy konferentsii [Language. Text. Book: Proceedings of the International Research Conference] (pp. 57–66). UrFU. Retrieved Feb. 6, 2025, from http://elar.urfu.ru/handle/10995/64325 [In Russian].
Shmid, V. (2003). Narratology. Yazyki slavyanskoy kul’tury. [In Russian].
Юнович М. 1934. Новелла // Литературная энциклопедия: в 11 т. Т. 8. М.: ОГИЗ РСФСР: Сов. энцикл. Стб. 114–129. https://feb-web.ru/feb/litenc/encyclop/le8/le8-1141.htm (дата обращения: 14.01.2025).
Aarseth, E. (2004). Genre trouble: Narrativism and the art of simulation. In N. Wardrip-Fruin & P. Harrigan (Eds.), First Person: New Media as Story, Performance, and Game (pp. 45–55). MIT Press.
Bode, C., & Dietrich, R. (2013). Future Narrative: Theory, Poetics, and Media-Historical Moment. Walter de Gruyter GmbH. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110272376
Buckles, M. A. (1987). Interactive fiction as literature. Byte Magazine, 12-05, 135–142.
Camingue, J., Carstensdottir, E., & Melcer, E. (2021). What is a Visual Novel? Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 5(CHI PLAY), Article 285. https://doi.org/10.1145/3474712
Crimmins B. 2016. A Brief history of Visual Novels // Medium. 08.01.2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20240620035029/https://medium.com/mammon-machine-zeal/a-brief-history-of... (дата обращения: 12.02.2025).
Hocking C. 2007. Ludonarrative dissonance in Bioshock (The problem of what the game is about) // Click Nothing. 07.10.2007. https://clicknothing.typepad.com/click_nothing/2007/10/ludonarrative-d.html (дата обращения: 13.01.2025).
van der Geest D. (2015). The Role of Visual Novels as a Narrative Medium [Master thesis, Universiteit Leiden]. https://studenttheses.universiteitleiden.nl/handle/1887/31703
Warner, N. (Aug. 11, 2022). Interactive fiction: the fascinating space between literature and games. Destructoid. Retrieved Apr. 01, 2025, https://www.destructoid.com/interactive-fiction-the-fascinating-space-between-literature-and-games/
