PBS Producer's Summit: Transmedia Worlds

Keynote speaker: Jesse Schell, Carnegie Mellon University / Schell Games

(Currently working on TEC Intergen with SW)

related links:
http://www.slideshare.net/jesseschell
https://www.etc.cmu.edu/index.html
http://artofgamedesign.com/

Refers to Transmedia Worlds as existing apart from the things that we make.
Uses some existing franchises such as Star Wars, Pokemon, Peter Pan, Transformers.

Pokemon example: started off with two games on gameboy -- each one had 20 characters the other game didn't have to help promote interaction with others.
Leveraged into television. Ensured the rules of the world in the TV show were exact to the rules n the game.  Referred to this is binocular effect, where kids could watch the show with beautiful art, then it was even better to play nintendo, even though it had crappy 8 bit graphics. Then released card game, where rules again were identical to other platforms.

Jesse says the success is because there are so many different ways of delivering this content, but it all leads to the same world.  

Transmedia worlds evolve over time such as:
+ Sherlock Homes and the transformation of his look (aka his pipe and hat) as an example.
+ Santa Claus and his transformation over time (uses Clement Moore poem when reindeer added, bobby may writing the story of Ruolph the Red Nose Reindeer, coke when red costume came)

Club Penguin
+ Success because their world listens to the kids. They answered every email, answer calls, with people who work in the company.
+ New technologies, old personal touch.

+ Transmedia Worlds that are successful tend to start in one medium (eg. Harry Potter Book). Once they are rooted firmly in that medium then it can expand
+ They tend to have ONE creator (not a business panel)
+ They are intuitive (uses Toon Town and the idea of a Toon Town in people's minds as an example)
+ Facilitate the telling of many stories within the space. Episodic content for example Lord of The Rings. Tolkein spent years figuring out the world first before he even started writing the books.
+ Make sense through all gateways.
+ Fulfill wishes. Worlds you wish you could live in. Dungeons and Dragons.
+ Means something to people. People want to know what it's like to be in that world, or being that character or thing.

Used example of properties that do not work - Tinkerbell: in parallel they released a book, a movie and chapter books, all of which had an entirely different world. Same with the Matrix.

Jesse Refered to a book called "Last Child in the Woods" by Richar Louv, about how kids aren't going outdoors for exercise as much. Jesse compared this to creating the virtual world 'Pixie Hollow' -- to help with this, has a character who gives kids quests that are out in the real world such as 'find two trees who are friends and figure out what their names are' or 'dig a hole'. When child comes back Pixie asks how they did.