Interacting With

Interactive Fiction
Michael Hilborn & Dana Milstein

Agenda

What is Interactive Fiction?

Interactive Fiction in Education
Would You Like To Play A Game?
Creating Interactive Fiction
Resources

What Is Interactive Fiction?

Brief History of Interactive Fiction

The Adventure Begins
o 1975 - Will Crowther writes Adventure
o 1977 - Don Wood ports and expands Adventure

The Commercial Era

o
o
o
o

1978: Adventureland - Scott Adams

1977 - 1986: MIT: From Zork to Infocom
1980 - Present: Graphical Adventures - Sierra
But by late 1980s/early 1990s commercial,
textual IF no longer viable

Brief History of Interactive Fiction

The Modern Era
1987: Adventure Game Toolkit
1988: TADS
1993: Curses and Inform
2006: Inform 7
2009: Twine

Communities
1987: Usenet
2007: www.intfiction.org
2009: Area IF Meetups

So What, Exactly, Is Interactive Fiction?

After all these years. . . Its still a good question!
Some hold to a traditional IF definition
Text adventures
More inclusive definition:
In general, Interactive Fiction is games
There is a dialogue between player and game
The dialogue is often textual in nature
And for simplicitys sake, well divide IF
into four types

Types of Interactive Fiction

Choose Your Own
Adventures

Text Adventures

Types of Interactive Fiction

Graphic Adventures

Visual Novels

Characteristics of Interactive Fiction

Elements adventure-like programs; puzzles for treasures; branched narratives; protagonist is not a
superhero; eroge; triangle of identities (player, character, narrator); parser: user input/game output
Format (for traditional IF)
Text: on average, 25% novel length, or 25,000 words
Objects: ~100, including portable objects, rooms, and regions
Code: ~15,000 lines
structure: wide, narrow, lattice
Phases
1. prologue (background, skills, commands)
2. middle (puzzles, problems, rewards)
3. end (narrowed, final message, open-end); earlier phases cannot be revisited

Interactive Fiction In Education

In the Classroom
Learning Activities
Translation
Annotation
Principles of Design
Computational Thinking
Coding and Programming

Learning
Objectives
computational thinking:cause/effect, sequencing, variables
identify: critical theory, terms, metanarrative
learn and apply game theory
design audio visual materials
learn techniques for scanning, editing, animating and
embedding audio-visual
build interpersonal and project management skills
learn basic programming languages

Translation

left, official translation

above, student translations in class

Annotation

Computational Thinking
is a way of solving problems, designing systems, and
understanding human behavior that draws on
concepts fundamental to computer science
...creating and making use of different levels of
abstraction, to understand and solve problems more
effectively
...thinking algorithmically and with the ability to apply
mathematical concepts such as induction to develop
more efficient, fair, and secure solutions
...understanding the consequences of scale, not only
for reasons of efficiency but also for economic and
social reasons (Carnegie Mellon, Center for
Computational Thinking)

cause/effect, sequencing (lattice), variables

Principles of Visual Design

Coding, Engines and Frameworks

Considerations
programming as a class
programming individually
customizing
using software out-of-the-box

Would You Like To Play A Game?

The Cask of Amontillado

http://michaelhilborn.com/if/cask/

IF port of Edgar Allan Poes classic short story

Written for this presentation
Some stats
o Few days to write
o ~4500 words
o 11 Rooms, 28 objects
Lets see if we can get
Fortunato to follow us

Getting Started... Common IF Commands

EXAMINE [OBJECT]
LOOK
INVENTORY
GO [A DIRECTION, such as NORTH, SOUTH,
EAST, WEST, UP, or DOWN]
TAKE [OBJECT]
WEAR [OBJECT]
TELL [SOMEONE] ABOUT [SOMETHING]

What Did We Learn?

For example:

Who is the protagonist?

Who is the antagonist?
What is the protagonists Coat of Arms?
How is it symbolic of the storys plot?
Where does the protagonist find Fortunato?
How does the protagonist convince Fortunato to
follow?

What Modes of Learning Did We Engage?

Memory
o Clues
Computational Thinking
o Choosing options
o Investigating variables
Literary Analysis
o Close reading
o Identifying descriptors
Understanding Character Roles
Background and History

Whats Important In An
Interactive Fiction Game?

Immersion
Continuous Challenges/Goals
Fun!
Flexibility
Immediate Useful Rewards

Whats Important In A
Good (Learning) Game?
Integration
Motivation
Focus

Creating Interactive Fiction

Interactive Fiction Engines

Choose Your Own Adventures
o Twine

Text Adventures
o Inform 7
o TADS

Visual Novels
o RenPy

Graphic Adventures
o Adventure Game Studio

Review

I Learned Something Today

What Interactive Fiction Is

How It Can Be Applied in the Classroom
Saw a Game In Action
How To Create Interactive Fiction

Some Resources
Killworth, Peter. How to Write Adventure Games for the BBC Microcomputer Model B. Chapter 8.
Nelson, Graham. The Inform Designers Manual. Fourth edition. Chapter 8. Copyright 2001.
Available as an open source, free PDF at http://inform-fiction.org/manual/DM4.pdf
Neville, David O. et al. Cybertext Redux: Using Digital Game-Based Learning to Teach L2
Vocabulary, Reading, and Culture. CALL 22.5 (2009): 409-424.
Wood, John. Player Character Identity in IF. XYZZYnews 9. Issue 3.
http://www.xyzzynews.com/s-title.html