Information designer Michael Niggel has a great eye and a lot of time on his hands. He took Journey Under the Sea, the second in the classic and long-running Choose Your Own Adventure book series that those of us who grew up in the eighties loved so much, and mapped out all the possibilities.
Turns out that dying horribly is a lot easier than saving the universe. Check it out!
Wow, these things are far more complicated than they appear! It’s really interesting to know just how the odds are stacked against you. Some unfavourable routes look almost inescapable. Look at page 17! I only ever played/read one when I was younger and that was a Super Mario one. I ALWAYS seemed to end up coming out of this one pipe that dropped me into a Deadly Chasm of Death and only if I had a parasol could I survive. Needless to say I never had a parasol at that point.
I loved them when I was a lad – Choose Your Own Adventure and Which Way Books were a nice way to continue gaming while appearing literary at the same time. Not long ago I stumbled upon a pile of them in a used bookstore and bought five for a dollar. I keep them in the bathrooms to entertain guests.
Bathroom*s*?!
I regularly tuck my DS into a Michel Foucault or Karl Marx book… 😉
I loved these too, especially the “Dungeons & Dragons” ones. There were even some later editions where you had a full-fledged character with stats and hit points and things. Your character sheet was the bookmark.
It all looks very complicated 🙁 or perhaps its just far too early. I’m unsure which. 🙂