Interactive Fictions & Narrative Games
ENGL 370-002 / TuTh 12:30-13:45 / HLG 320
Pr. John Laudun / HLG 356 / laudun@louisiana.edu
Description
Branching narratives, interactive fiction, text adventures, CYOA (Choose Your Own Adventure) all describe a form of entertainment—be it literary, performed in a group, or in a video game—in which a reader is given choices and their choices determine the nature and outcome of the story. This course explores the history of narrative games, from collaborative storytelling in oral cultures to the robust open-world games to cinematic universes in which multiple storylines exist (and sometimes interact). Course inputs include reading, viewing, and playing. Course outputs include analytical explorations of forms and mechanisms and the development of fictions of your own.
Objectives
This course aims to provide participants with the necessary tools and skills to analyze and, at least begin, to create narrative games. To do this, participants will need to master: foundational concepts in narrative studies and game studies, experiment with a variety of game mechanics, engage others collaboratively (and occasionally competitively), document their work both individually and collectively, and be able to present their work to an audience.
Materials
Requirements
Resources
- Incompetech has a grid generator as well as pre-formatted grid PDFs you can print: Grid Paper PDFs. (Feel free to search for “grid generator” to see what else is out there.)
Game Theory
- Martin Osborne’s Introduction to Game Theory is an online book.
- Open Textbook Library has Nordstrom and OregonIntroduction to Game Theory: A Discovery Approach available both online and as a downloadable PDF.
- Coursera has Stanford’sGame Theory class. The claim you can finish it in 17 hours.
Schedule
Go to https://ncase.me/trust/. Play the game. Write down two things: (1) Implications of the game theory behind “The Prisoner’s Dilemma” for game design and (2) the implications for life.