Blacksad: Under the Skin. Transmedia and Ludification as Cultural Experience

Marta Fernández Ruiz; David García-Reyes

doi:10.26441/RC20.2-2021-A7

Authors

Marta Fernández Ruiz Universitat Politécnica de Catalunya https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3004-3242
David García-Reyes Universidad de Concepción https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3445-1304

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26441/RC20.2-2021-A7

Keywords:

comics, video games, transmedia, media ecology, fictional worlds

Abstract

Media convergence and transmediality have led fictional worlds originally developed in graphic novels to be expanded in more recent media such as video games, where environments and characters become playable and where storytelling elements intertwine with game mechanics and rules. This work aims to study the graphic novel saga Blacksad (Díaz Canales and Guarnido, 2001) and the video game Blacksad: Under the Skin (Pendulo Studios, 2019) in order to shed light on how the storytelling in the graphic novels is complemented by that of the video game, and what specific affordances of video games amplify the experience of the Blacksad universe. Both the graphic novel saga and the video game are analysed from the perspectives of media ecology, game studies, the foundations of transmedial worlds and the aesthetics of new media. Comics and video game coexist in a logic of transmediality and intertextuality that immerses users/players in a fictional world whose extension grows as they interact with their environments, characters and ethical codes, as well as with the different platforms and content generated by the community of fans or users.

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Author Biographies

Marta Fernández Ruiz, Universitat Politécnica de Catalunya

Doctora en Game Studies por la Universidad Carlos III de Madrid y profesora e investigadora en el Centre de la Imatge i la Tecnologia Multimèdia de la Universitat Politécnica de Catalunya. Imparte las asignaturas de Narrativa en Tiempo Real, Diseño de Juegos Serios y Realidad Aumentada.

David García-Reyes, Universidad de Concepción

Doctor en Literatura Latinoamericana por la Universidad de Concepción y profesor e investigador visitante de la Facultad de Humanidades y Arte, Universidad de Concepción. Imparte asignaturas de postgrado en torno a los estudios culturales de Iberoamérica y al análisis intermedial en las creaciones artísticas.

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