Filip Novotny Small, but ours. Such is the Czech market for iPhone and iPad applications. But it is also the name of an interesting interactive story that was recently presented by one of the domestic developers.
At the same time, it is a quite unique achievement in the Czech, and indeed in the world, scale. The source for the interactive comic Malý Alenáš is a classic children's story. It is the book of the same name by Ivan Vyskočil, which saw the light of day already in the 60s. Artist Matyáš Trnka has now breathed new life into it on the surfaces of touch screens.
We follow the story of Little Alenáš, who is short in name and height. Because he is small compared to other people, he tries to grow up by working hard. After all, a person grows with work. Therefore, when a mysterious figure offers him the position of chief administrator of dreams, Alenáš does not hesitate and accepts. But the world of dreams is just as complicated as ours, and there are strange characters hiding in it. They are as dreamy as Pádlo Jan, Pihulín Ouha, respected Kašpar or the evil Libuše Josef, our main antagonist, who will take care of a really exciting plot.
It may come as a bit of a surprise, but Trnk's application has not lost any of the reason why Vyskočil's book was so popular in its time. It's a magical dream world, witty puns and a main character that is so easy to relate to. On top of all this, the beautiful visual processing and storytelling skills of Arnošt Goldflam.
But how can such a comic actually be converted into an "interactive" form? You can either use a traditional comic book form with interactive elements or convert the story into a film. The author solved this choice in a subtle way: he combined both.
The narrative is therefore divided into ten chapters, which are further divided into two parts. The first of them is a five-minute video that always takes the story a step further. The second half consists of a comic that complements the five-minute film with short sound clips and animations. You can explore the story in greater detail if you like. In both cases, the actor Arnošt Goldflam accompanies us with his commentary.
those on the sound side. Musician Tomáš Hoyer composed 60 minutes of original music especially for the application. In the game, especially game veterans will recognize several funny musical licenses from classic adventure games or movies.
Even if it sounds a bit like a cliché, both children and adults will enjoy Little Alenáš. The artist Trnka himself admits that the application will ultimately please an adult audience. However, we think that all children will be pleased with its beautiful audiovisual processing and moral lessons. Maybe they just don't understand some of the comic allusions or perhaps Karl Schwarzenberg, who appears in a funny cameo.
[app url=”https://itunes.apple.com/cz/app/id580528640″]
Malý Alenáš is a very good application. We have it on the iPad and keep coming back to it. Beautifully executed, nicely (and in Czech!) spoken, with a good, funny idea. I personally recommend :)