Further research

The pickle Index

• These two books are designed to make storytelling more interactive with illustrations that join up when the two pages from each book are next to each other. 
• It also has an app alongside. 
• This allows the reader to experience the story in many ways with more of an immersive experience.
• This could inform the design of the book for layout. For example is using more than one book appropriate? Could there be a way of linking up different parts of the content to resemble the way the park is built or how different aspects of the game interact?

Ice cream books

• @ice_cream_books an instagram that photographs books with ice cream.
• This could inspire how the book should be photographed. For example, could it be photographed in a theme park? In the simulation itself using a photo of a photo? In sand? In water? What is appropriate and shows the book off in a positive, exciting way?

Catalog Press

• Catalog Press is a small publishing house created by Ben Denzer. They aim to to find ways to approach the book as a physical object. Denzer believes books “are both content and object; simultaneously sculpture and catalog, singular contained multitudes,”. 
• They have previously modified books using wheels, nails, holes, bolts and hooks. 
• In their more recent projects they have been focusing on experimenting with materials. For example, if the book is on the subject of cheese, Denzer therefore makes the book entirely out of plastic-like cheese slices.
• This could inform the way in which materials are used for the book - what can I take from the research gathered and literally apply to the book? For example, using the DVD case, which the game comes in as a cover? 

Drew Niconowicz

• Images of landscapes that are both real and not real, e.g. made from paper.
• Could I show the contrast between being in a simulation and real life?

Books at Village

• Village is an independent bookshop and gallery space in Leeds, carrying contemporary book and magazine design.
• A range of inspiring books were found in this bookshop.

• This first book has a clear plastic sleeve containing the book. This reminded me of the plastic DVD case book cover I intend to test. The book is concertina so it has no spine and can be opened on either side.
• The plastic sleeve has print on it, the front having the title of the book in the same place as the cover of the book itself, and ne of the writers of the book with the other writer on the book itself. The same is printed on the back but the other way round, so the names can match each other or not.
• The spine of the plastic sleeve has the title of the book and the publisher so it is still known what book it is whilst remaining on the shelf.

• Experimental Jetset uses holographic card for the cover of their type zine. 
• This creates a futuristic mirrored effect, which could be relevant for my book as when you use screens, you can see yourself reflected.

• Sleek magazine uses a holographic front cover where the type and background colour inverts. 
• This creates an interesting cover conveying opposites or movement. It also appears futuristic or representative of a screen, which also links to my book as the game is played on a computer.

• Tunica Magazine is an international design and culture publication based in New York. The front cover uses an illustration that is 3D looking where type obscures the face of the model. The type is futuristic looking this more use of 3D.

Why people enjoy playing simulation games as a way of escaping reality

Steve McKeown, a psychoanalyst, on The Sims:

"The Sims can allow a person to escape social normality, its pressures and chronic stresses that are so prevalent in the real world, it allows the gamer to create a perfect reality in which they play the main character and have full control over the outcome."

Game designer Jane McGonigal:

There are two kinds of escapism: self-suppression and self-expansion. Self-suppression is a way of running away from unhappy thoughts and emotions, and self-expansion is a way of seeking new skills, relationships and positive thoughts. 

"Everything sucks, so I'm going to go play games, versus, life is better when I have time to play games."

When using games as a way of ignoring real life issues and mental health, it can lead to suffering with isolation, anxiety and depression.

She concluded that the key to playing games is to do it with a positive goal like expanding your creativity, e.g. when playing Rollercoaster Tycoon or The Sims, it allows gamers to create their own world.

https://www.indy100.com/article/the-sims-players-healthier-happier-gaming-escapism-play-god-addiction-8193971