The publishers of HyperBole state: "HyperBole, the art of digital storytelling, is edited by Greg Roach and is published every other month by HyperBole Studios. HyperBole is dedicated to exploring interactive multimedia as a new form of communication and welcomes work of any and every character, nature, or intent."
This is probably the best example I've come across of a stack magazine. It includes a well-designed HyperCard-based main menu stack, complete with a very functional navigation palette and good use of colorization. The distinguishing factor here is a clear interest in the artistic integrity of the content. This ain't no random-download-fest in a slick marketing wrap.
I only got to review one issue of HyperBole, specifically the one included on the Madness Of Roland CD-ROM, so this review doesn't cover the on-going process, just one of its manifestations. If the rest of the issues are this well organized, edited and presented, it's worth looking into. This a really good example of the kind of synthetic publications hypermedia makes possible.
Issue #2/4 included the following :
*Features
"Armies of Light Descending" - sort of a cross between morality floss and Obi Wan Kenobi. Great atmosphere piece. Asks several questions, including Do you lie? and Do you build the world mind? Generally offers more choices than just yes/no. This is a more artistic and philosophical version of the Meyers/Briggs personal inventory test. Results are more thought provoking too. Makes behavioral suggestions. Pensiveware with great graphics and ethereal music.
"Respectfully" - Ever wondered what goes on on both sides of an uncomfortable situation? This HyperCard stack looks into both perspectives of a sexual stalker and his prey. Kinda creepy. Interesting characterizations and resolution.
*Columns
New Boundaries
Read My Lips - Hans Doppler rants about vacations choices, picks New Orleans, and tells us why he'd rather fart in New Orleans than in California.
*Poetry
*Gallery
Contains both color and black and white images. In the reviewed issue, images were displayed as color PICT files and as dithered black and white images.
*Komix
*Info
(J. Smith)
ACCESS:
HyperBole
Greg Roach, editor
HyperBole Studios
1412 West Alabama
Houston, TX 77006
(713) 529-9696
CIS: 74741,1635
Bi-monthly. $60/year.
3.4 MB hard drive space after decompression.
Here is the TEXT POPUP for
Other works by Greg Roach and HyperBole Studios
(From the "San Francisco Examiner" 4/4/93)
Most "interactive movies" are linear stories that branch at set points where you're asked to make choices. Greg Roach of Hyperbole Studios has a different approach: His technique, pioneered in a Mac video called The Wrong Side of Town, is to film the same story from different perspectives that the viewer is free to switch among as the narrative proceeds. In Wrong Side, a young woman is accosted by a homeless woman begging for food. The passerby looks callous to the vagrant, and the vagrant looks horrific to the passerby; a master shot lets you see that neither is entirely accurate.
(From Mac Home Journal...)
And the Winner is...
Second QuickTime Movie Festival Introduces New Video Artists
Hosted by songwriter and QuickTime movie maker Todd Rundgren, the Second QuickTime Movie Festival showed off a variety of new films from animated shorts to interactive tearjerkers. Awards were given for outstanding animation, interactivity, special effects and technical excellence. The best of show award went to Big Warm Bear Arms by Greg Roach, in which Roach, a new father, reflects on his childhood. "QuickTime technology enabled me to work as a filmmaker and producer with little or no money," says Roach. "It opens up whole new channels of self-expression for artists."
(From NewMedia - 2.93)
The Madness of Roland
The Madness of Roland, a multimedia novelette from HyperBole Studios, publishers of the floppy-based HyperBole Magazine, defines a new literary genre - text embellished by equally creative sound, graphics and interactive elements. Roland is more than an electronic or illustrated book; it leaps out and grabs the reader from the start with dramatic musical scoring and narration, visual feasts of movies and pictures, as well as enchanting prose. Imagine yourself immersed in a mystical medieval world of knights, sorcerers, swords and revenge.
