Branched Narrative: From Technical Device to the Art of Modeling the Future
The Image of the Future in Culture
Branched narrative is often reduced to a technical fork in the plot. This chapter reframes branching as a cultural technique and an art of modeling possible futures — not only a software pattern. Tracing the path from early branching devices to contemporary audiovisual practice, the author argues that multi-path storytelling participates in how culture imagines contingency, choice, and the image of the future.
Розгалужений наратив часто зводять до технічної розвилки сюжету. Розділ переосмислює branching як культурну техніку й мистецтво моделювання можливих майбутніх — не лише програмний патерн. Багатошляхове оповідання бере участь у тому, як культура уявляє контингентність, вибір і образ майбутнього.
Line of argument
Branching is followed from early technical devices to contemporary audiovisual practice. The chapter resists reducing multi-path storytelling to interface logic: each fork is also a cultural model of contingency and choice.
Conclusions
Branched narrative is an art of modeling futures as much as a software pattern. Multi-path form participates in how culture imagines the image of the future — not merely how users navigate menus.
Published in The Image of the Future in Culture (ISBN 978-9934-26-591-4). DOI 10.30525/978-9934-26-591-4-5.
@article{poberailo2025branchednarrativem,
author = {Poberailo, Oleksandr},
title = {Branched Narrative: From Technical Device to the Art of Modeling the Future},
year = {2025},
journal = {The Image of the Future in Culture},
doi = {10.30525/978-9934-26-591-4-5},
language = {en}
}← All research