In your last creative exploration, you will use the free online interactive storytelling tool Twine to make a playable text game that reflects some of the issues we have been discussing throughout the semester.
We’ll discuss the values, ethics, and politics of games more generally in our October 25 workshop with Amanda Phillips, then on November 1 we will focus on Twine and learn the tool together in class. You’ll complete a draft of your game for everyone to play on November 8, and then share the final version along with a reflection on the project by November 11.
Project requirements:
Design.
Your game will have to include all of these, though you can interpret them as creatively as you like:
• A concept (what’s it about?)
• A character (who is your player going to be?)
• A setting (where are things happening?)
• A goal (how do you win / what ways can the story end?)
• Possibilities and constraints (What possibilities, constraints, frustrations, and pleasures do you want the person playing your game to remember?)
• A connection to class material
I should be able to figure out what all of these are by playing your game, but you should use your blog post to explain what you were trying to get at.
Practicalities
Twine games work by having users move between “passages,” which are pieces of text (you can also include images) that link to one another. Your project must include at least 10 passages.
To share your game, upload the file you create to http://philome.la (or to your own web space if you prefer) and include the link in your blog post. You must also email me the Twine Archive file of your source code.
Reflection
In your reflective blog post, answer the following questions:
• What were you trying to achieve when you made this game? How well do you think you succeeded?
• What are the affordances of Twine as a creative tool? What was exciting, frustrating, intriguing about using it? How might you use it again and/or what other game creation tools might you try?
• How did readings and/or discussions from class inform your design process in this assignment?
Write at least 500 words.