Interactive Graphic Novel App: Meanwhile

Screenshot of Meanwhile for iOS

It all starts with the choice of a vanilla or chocolate ice cream cone, and from there, Jason Shiga’s imaginative graphic novel/interactive story app called Meanwhile moves into visual high gear, allowing the reader/player to make choices in the story branches. Most of the branches lead to disaster. One will not and the ultimate goal is to find that branch that will lead to a happy ending. All of the branches have doses of humor and visual artwork that will engage you on a variety of levels. Shiga built the app (and the app is inspired by the graphic novel of the same name, which also floored me when I reviewed it for The Graphic Classroom) around the concept of the “infinite canvas” — a concept in comics that forces the reader and writer to “think big” by expanding the story beyond what can be seen and what can be experienced.

Two panels from Meanwhile

Meanwhile takes advantage of that idea (and even did so in a creative way with the book) by allows the reader/player to see various paths of the story. You literally zoom over parts of the story map as you connect with parts of the story based on the choices you make. More than once, I was thinking, what was that part of the story? as the window blew past some frames I had not yet viewed. Instead of keeping everything hidden and out of sight, you can see elements of the story map. In a lot of ways, this visual storytelling strategy is very different from the other interactive fiction stories and apps that I have been reading/playing in the past two weeks.

The story has to do with a boy, Jimmy, who stumbled into a factory of a professor, whose been creating devices that could be used to destroy the world, or not destroy the world. So, which will you choose? Your decisions are what lead you along various branches of the story in Meanwhile.

The downside is that Meanwhile is an app that costs $4.99. The upside is that Meanwhile will keep you busy for a long stretch and you will be amazed by the creativity on display. It’s an interactive fiction app that harnesses the power of graphic novels and comics in a make-your-own-adventure style of play.

Peace (in the branches),
Kevin

 

2 Comments
  1. Kevin, I don’t know if you’ve seen it, but there is an iPad app called Infinite Canvas that is designed to let people put together stories/presentations this way. It’d be good to use with kids in combination with Meanwhile, as it gives them a blank infinite canvas to work on. (Also, the example of how it works is drawn with stick figures, so kids can see that they don’t have to be a skilled figurative artist to write a graphic novel.)

    The developers are enthusiastic & responsive; and they have a Facebook page. Sorry, that I can’t remember the price, but I’m sure it’s reasonable, because I got it & I’m cheap when buying apps.

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