Ebook: The Creation of iGiselle : Classical Ballet Meets Contemporary Video Games

The unusual marriage of Romantic ballet and artificial intelligence is an intriguing idea that led a team of interdisciplinary researchers to design iGiselle, a video game prototype. Scholars in the fields of literature, physical education, music, design, and computer science collaborated to revise the tragic narrative of the nineteenth-century ballet Giselle, allowing players to empower the heroine for possible ”feminine endings.” The eight interrelated chapters chronicle the origin, development, and fruition of the project. Dancers, gamers, and computer specialists will all find something original that will stimulate their respective interests.

“The field of Game Studies is a relatively new discipline with exciting emergent research. Uniquely, this project focuses on a type of dance narrative design that unfolds the story procedurally, based on players’ choices and the emotional arc of the game experience. Additionally, this is the first game where the narrative of a specific ballet has been used for the base story.” - JoDee Allen, Game and Movement Designer 2018-12-18