Astray is a branching narrative interactive experience. The project explores the relationship between cinema and decision making, in the context of emerging affective computing technologies. Artificial intelligence is juxtaposed with human feelings of connection and disconnection.

A user navigates a cinematic narrative with two characters; the protagonist and an artificial intelligence algorithm presenting as a confidente. The project presents a struggle between the decoding of human emotions and the presumption of algorithmic intelligence.

Cinematically, the images appear to diverge from from the narrative, and offer space for interpretation. Whilst the computation itself is not foreground in this work, affective computing is reflexively alluded to in the narrative, whilst also foregrounding the process of decision-making through the branching path structure.

Original score by Piyatut “Bill” Hemstapat.

To access the original game files, email griffitc@usc.edu