Story Philosophy
The basis of how Sleepy Planet approaches story, narrative, and immersive experience.
Story Philosophy
Then came the existentialists—Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir—who picked up where Nietzsche left off. They said, “We’re free now. We get to create ourselves.” But wow—what an obligation that is. It’s not just a gift, it’s a burden. Suddenly, it’s up to us to define who we are, how we live, what we stand for.
That’s where Sartre’s quote comes in—possibly ... See more
That’s where Sartre’s quote comes in—possibly ... See more
Peter Spear • Zach Lamb on Meaning & Crisis
Post-heroic stories are less about strength and more about compassion. Like the rich body of old European stories about the quest for the Grail, in which the question the adventuring knight must ask in order to gain the Grail, heal the wound of the Fisher King, and so heal the Wasteland, is a simple, pointed, empathic, ‘What ails thee?’ The answer
... See moreThe reason we “need stories that mirror the mind of the world” is because stories are one of the primary tools we have to understand ourselves and our place in the world. If the world has changed – if our awareness has expanded to see the complex, fragile networks we exist in – then our stories must change too. By grounding this evolution in resear
... See moreSleepy Planet is an ambitious attempt to mirror ecological and psychological complexity in a narrative experience: likely featuring networked storylines, rich symbol systems, and user-participation that is more about being in a mythic environment than “winning” or completing a set plot. In spirit, it aligns with the movement toward storytelling as
... See moreThe key is that environmental storytelling shifts emphasis from ego to eco: the hero is not a solitary victor but part of a web of life. Entangled narratives portray how a change in one part of the system reverberates through the whole – much as in reality, where, for example, the loss of a keystone species can transform an entire ecosystem (the wa
... See moreThe climate crisis and the Anthropocene have made it clear that our old stories – often fixated on human heroes conquering nature or extracting resources – are inadequate. We need narratives that foreground entanglement: the interdependence of humans, non-human creatures, and the Earth itself.
Some researchers even speak of “mythic cognition” in AI – using archetypal narratives as a framework for AI-generated storiesincreasinglyunclear.medium.comdegruyterbrill.com. While that’s nascent, it points to a fusion of the oldest storytelling with the newest technology. Importantly, this union can help in creating stories that feel meaningful
... See moreTo my knowledge as of this writing, no one has yet combined AI with memory theatre. You could be the first. (You’re welcome.) Thinking of the sometimes monstrous imagery that generative AI can produce, this is easy to imagine. But go beyond just generating mere words and images — link them to locations (whether in a trail or a theatre) and treat th... See more
Article
Mythopoeia is powerful because its focus is unabashedly meaning without the need for historicity and “hard” logic—it is the intuitive quality of dreams brought to bear upon the waking world. It is important on one hand because it makes for better fantastic worlds and tales; on the other it bears a power of its own that cannot be found in any other ... See more