Interactive Fiction: A Daylong Workshop

Schedule

Activity

7:30 8:30

Registration and Welcome

Breakfast

8:309:00

Presentation: What Is Interactive Fiction?

History & Practice in Higher Education

Presentation

9:009:30

Play an Interactive Fiction Game

Play

9:3011:00

Design 1: Topics & Elements of Storytelling,

Images&Sound

Active Learning

11:0012:30

Design2:BuildIFWireframes

Project Development

12:301:30

Lunch

Socialize

1:303:30

Program IF Games

CodeinTwineorInform7

3:304:30

Demo & Critique IF Games

Presentations&
PeerReview

4:305:00

Assessments: Develop a Lesson Plan & Rubric

Conclusion: Survey & Action

Plans

Not sure how to choose a topic? Here are some published IF storylines
to get you inspired:
DISCIPLINE
Architecture

Corporate Training

SUMMARY OF GAME
An eerie exploration of an abandoned historic
house. Acquire pictures with your trusty
camera to get paid and search for evidence of
the 2nd unit crew who is supposed to be
there with you. Someone is definitely making
those sounds in the dark. (Transparent)
Corporate Training: Do you have what it takes
to be an Associate Information Management
Consultant with one of the world's largest
information management companies? Can
you leverage synergies with the best to
operationalize our global market
traction? (AlethiCorp)
Corporate Training in Paradox Management:

Health Sciences
History

Gender/ LGBT Studies

Literature

Mythology
Political Science

You have fifteen minutes before the Principal

expels you from the cozy world of academia
and into the cold harsh reality of the real
world. You really should do something about
it. (Fifteen Minutes)
Trace the day in the life of a molecule inside
of the human body
WWI introduced some of the most
devastating and horrific weapons not to
mention the brutality of both the allies and
the Germans. You and your outfit have to
fight several battles and get to and infiltrate a
German castle to find out the plans of the
enemy and hopefully terminate the conflict as
soon as possible (Hill 160).
It is 1630's Florence, and you are an assistant
to Galileo. Galileo is under house arrest from
the Church, who do not wish for him to have
his views in the public eye. He has tasked you
with smuggling his book out of the country to
get it published. (And Yet It Moves)
Has a happily married gay PC. The game
includes references to the repeal of the United
States Defense of Marriage Act and other
LGBTQ concerns, but the plot does not
revolve around the PC's orientation. You play
as Mr. Mark Ginsberg, an elementary school
teacher at a military base. The game opens
as an unknown assailant bombs the base
(and consequently the school). At least one
teacher is killed and the PC is severely injured
as the students scatter in terror. Upon
awakening, your goal is to locate and rescue
your students
A short horror story about magic both fake
and real, on the stage of Victorian England.
The curtain lifts to a torrent of applause, as
the city's gents and ladies lose their decorum
for a just few moments in anticipation of
something magical. The spotlights drown the
glitter of sequins and pearls, the metal canetops and the shining buttons on the
waistcoats. From where you are, centre of the
boards, behind nothing but a baize table with
nothing but the clothes you stand in, you are
quite alone in the blinding white light. (The
Act of Misdirection)
The first part of the story of the Vlsunga
saga, a Norse myth similar to King Arthur.
Each settlement has a certain cost of living. If
you are not able to make enough money by
nightfall, you will be forced to sleep in the
street. If this occurs three nights in a row,
you will die; a shorter period, and you will be
reduced to a weakened state, from which you
will slowly recuperate if you get food and
board. Every morning, you have the choice to

Psychology

Sociology

Urbanism

stay or move on (or will be expelled by the

townspeople). There is no way of knowing
whether the next town will have cheaper or
more expensive costs of living. You have to
take your chances, and there is even a slight
random risk of an event during your travel
impacting your health. Figuring out when
leaving is worth the risk is the strategy that
will keep you alive. (Begscape)
Eyes can see, and a mind can think. Insanity
is just one step away. You are in a room.
That's where you are, and you know exactly
what is going on. But the truth is hard to
take. Exploring a memory may let you
perceive things more clearly. Exploring a
perception may trigger a memory. On
occasion, a threshold can be reached that
allows a kind of breakthrough into new
conceptual spaces. Sometimes memories or
perceptions will be enhanced, providing a
more connected impression over which to
mull, so you must return to a topic to see
how new scraps of information fit into
it. (Enigma)
Why is it that a bright young interstellar
diplomat like you keeps getting the jobs no
one else seems to want? Okay, so maybe you
spent a little more time partying than
studying when you were at the academy...
and, sure, your work has been a little
lackluster... and, fine, maybe you shouldn't
have said that about the ambassador's
mother... all right, so you know exactly why
you keep getting the scut work. (Tea
Ceremony)
A story of the individual, potentially
convergent paths of two people making their
way through Pittsburgh. There are two
available modes, a "myopic" view wherein the
player controls a single character's choices
(but the consequences of both characters'
actions are still shown); and an "omniscient"
view, where both characters' choices are
available. The story is rendered in an
experimental multi-pane hypertext format.
(Origins)