Playing with the gamebook: The Final Hours interactive storybooks as playful paratexts

Abstract

This article discusses an interactive storybook series titled The Final Hours which provides behind-the-scenes perspectives on the creation of certain video games. The focus is on how the specific interactive, playful elements which make up the reading – or playing – of these books provide forms of engagement which deviate from more traditional paper-based books on the making-of games. The analysis is situated within ongoing discussions about the role of paratextuality in and around games, in this case focusing on the question how these storybooks give shape to players’ understanding of games and game production through playful interactions with the making-of games. To account for the medium specificity of this type of interactive books, the paratextual analysis also connects to studies on paper-based pop-up or ‘movable’ books, a genre often associated with play, providing not just insights into paratextual functions but also highly ludic form.