Digital Storytelling : A Creator's Guide to Interactive Entertainmen

Chapter 2 CD-ROMs 27
These little discs could store a massive amount of digital data—text, audio, video,
and animation—which could then be read by a personal computer. Prior to this,
storage media for computer games—floppy discs and hard discs—were far more
restrictive in terms of capacity and allowed for extremely limited use of moving
graphics and audio.
It was not until the early 1990s, however, that the software industry began to
perceive the value of the CD-ROM format for games and ‘‘edutainment’’ (a blend of
education and entertainment). Suddenly, these discs became the hot platform of the
day, a boom period that lasted about five years.
Myst and The Seventh Guest were two extremely popular games that were
introduced on CD-ROMs, both debuting in the early ’90s. It also proved to be an
enormously successful format for children’s educational games, including hits
like the Carmen Sandiego and PutPut series, Freddie Fish, MathBlaster, The Oregon
Trail, and the JumpStart line.
The success of CD-ROM games, and particularly the ability of this platform to
combine story elements with audio and moving visuals (video and animation),
attracted the attention of Hollywood professionals. By this time, a few people
with television or film backgrounds were already working in interactive media,
myself included. But suddenly countless other writers, directors, actors, and producers
became aware of this new type of entertainment. Intrigued with its possibilities,
they crowded into seminars and workshops on multimedia or new
media—the two terms most often used at the time to describe interactive projects.
And many pros from traditional entertainment began to attend events like the
Game Developer’s Conference and E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo), seeking
knowledge and new contacts who could provide a way in.
Hollywood was waking up to the fact that many of the creative skills
employed to make movies and TV shows might also be of value in interactive
media ...though people also sensed that unfamiliar skills would be required as
well, a scary prospect. The sudden boom in interactive media, particularly CD-
ROMs, promised to offer fresh professional and creative opportunities at a time
when jobs in TV and motion pictures were at a premium, and competition for
them was fierce.
Although no one was keeping score, it is certainly true that hundreds of writers
alone did get writing assignments in this new field, as evidenced by Writers Guild
members listed in the Guild’s new directory of interactive writers. And numerous
members of SAG (the Screen Actor’s Guild) found jobs doing voice-over work for
animated games and took parts in live-action video games. Similarly, producers
and directors found assignments in interactive projects that utilized their skills.
As another sign of Hollywood’s interest, many of the movie studios opened interactive
divisions.
Unfortunately, the CD-ROM field went through a bleak downturn in the
second half of the 1990s, caused in part by the newest competitor on the block,
the Internet. Financial shakeups, mergers, and downsizing within the software
industry put the squeeze on the production of new titles. For many in
Hollywood, the bloom was now off the rose. Disenchanted with new media, they
tried to make their way back into the linear word of motion pictures and TV.
Others, however, stuck it out and looked for a way to parlay their newly acquired
expertise into other kinds of interactive media, particularly the Internet. And despite
the shake-up, CD-ROMs have remained a viable format for games, education, and
even corporate training.