Teaching with Interactive Fiction — 1 of 1

"Teaching with Interactive Fiction" by Anastasia Salter

Include Simple Chat by Mark Tilford.

Release along with an interpreter.

Release along with source text.

Release along with the introductory booklet.

The maximum score is 10.

Talking to is an action applying to one visible thing.

Understand "talk to [someone]" as talking to.

Report talking to: say "You have nothing to say."

When play begins: say "You've entered a classroom with brick walls and no windows, with the hum of electronics filling the room. No one else is here , but you aren't surprised--you just showed up to get some notes from another professor. Apparently they are running late. You might as well take a look around and see if you can find anything useful.".

Using is an action applying to one thing. Understand "use [something]" as using.

The Classroom is a room. "You are surrounded by computer monitors. Most are dark, but one screen flickers with text. A whiteboard with smudged text covers the front wall. The professor's desk is in front of the room.".

The monitor is scenery in the Classroom. The description is "The flickering monitor displays a long list of interactive fiction games. A few stand out to you: Emily Short's 'Bronze', Aaron Reed's 'Sand-dancer', Jason McIntosh's 'The Warbler's Nest', Jim Munroe's 'Everybody Dies', Andrew Plotkin's 'Delightful Wallpaper'...you notice that the URL is 'www.ifarchive.org'." Instead of taking monitor, say "You doubt your division chair would like that much." Instead of using monitor, say "You really don't have time to be surfing the web right now." After examining monitor: increase score by 1.

Instead of waiting, say "You don't know when the professor is going to show up, so you might as well try to find the information you need."

Understand "screen" as monitor. Understand "computer" as monitor.

The whiteboard is scenery in the Classroom. The description is "In the corner, you can just make out the course title, 'Interactive Narrative,' and the name Anastasia Salter below it. At the center of the board is a faded list of reminders entitled 'Building a world through language.' The first reads: ' In Inform 7, declaring something 'is' makes it so. To create a room, just say 'The Classroom is a room.'" Instead of taking whiteboard, say "That's bolted to the wall." Instead of using whiteboard, say "There's no ink in any of these markers." After examining whiteboard: increase score by 1.

The hallway door is a closed unopenable door. The hallway door is east of the Classroom and west of the office.

Instead of opening door, say "You can't leave yet--you haven't gotten enough information about interactive fiction."

A desk is a supporter in the classroom. A desk is scenery. "It's a shabby desk, strewn with office supply junk." Instead of taking desk, say "You really don't want a desk with this many battle-scars."

A book is a container on the desk. The description is "The book is Aaron Reed's 'Creating Fiction with Inform 7.' You notice that the book describes the creation of an interactive story in great detail." After examining book: increase score by 1. After taking book: increase score by 1.

A bookmark is in the book. The description is "A torn piece of paper with a few lines of Inform 7 code written on it. It reads: 'Learning is a scene. Learning begins when the player carries book and the player carries paper and the player carries USB drive."

After examining bookmark: increase score by 1.

A USB drive is on the desk. The description is "A post-it stuck to the C-3PO USB drive reads: Inform 7 Software (http://inform7.com/)." Instead of using USB drive, say "You would put the drive in the computer, but there's no USB port accessible." After examining USB drive: increase score by 1. After taking USB drive: increase score by 1.

The paper is on the desk. The description is "This appears to be an assignment sheet. It reads: Expectations for the Final Game

Setting: at least five well-developed areas with multiple objects and use of both scenery and descriptions. Objects listed in the descriptions should be available in the environment. Movable and immovable objects should behave appropriately and be clearly distinguished. (If the game is confined to a single room, there should still be a range of possible interactions and scenes, memories or flashbacks with developed spaces.)

Narrative: clear beginning, ending(s), and conflict. Use descriptions of environments, object-triggered information, and at least three scenes to create the progression. The player’s actions should clearly impact the narrative, and scenes should be revealed through the solving of puzzles or movement through the environment.

Characters: developed characters and at least three conversations / interaction possible, even if that might be a nontraditional choice (for instance, your character might not be capable of speech, but an encounter with an NPC is still possible.) If your character is alone in the game world, the character’s personality should be revealed through actions with the environment.

Puzzles: at least five clear obstacles for the player to overcome. These might include using objects to get in/out of a space, finding an item or making a connection within a time limit, or appropriately interacting with an NPC to gain a valuable point.

Rules: develop and use rules to handle interactions with the environment. This might include managing lighting in different areas, assigning your player traits or knowledge as objects and using that information to advance the story, adding or removing actions to suit your character’s abilities and environments, or creating new classes of objects to interact with.". After examining paper: increase score by 1. After taking paper: increase score by 1.

The office is a room. The professor is a woman. "The professor is wearing black on black, but what did you really expect from a MLA attendee?" The professor is in the hallway. Understand "prof" as professor.

Learning is a scene. Learning begins when the player carries book and the player carries paper and the player carries USB drive.

When Learning begins:

move the professor to the Classroom;

say "The professor enters the room."

Hello, Text Games, Inform and Goodbye are chat nodes.

Report giving text for Hello: instead say "The professor looks at the supplies you are carrying. 'Looks like you are ready to get started. Any questions?'"

Carry out finding responses to Hello: link to Text Games; link to Goodbye.

Report giving link to Text Games: say "'Why do you teach text games?'" instead.

Report giving text for Text Games: deactivate Text Games; say "'Text games allow us to experiment with narrative forms, and contemplate the act of contruction through writing along with our expectations for the structures of language. You can also use text games to reframe or recreate literature--like Emily Short's fairy tale retellings." instead.

Carry out finding responses to Text Games: link to Inform; link to Goodbye.

Report giving link to Inform: say "'What's so special about Inform 7?'" instead.

Report giving text for Inform: deactivate Inform; say "'Unlike most code, Inform 7 is written to be very human readable--so writing a story or even a critical work using Inform 7 is a good accessible option for a humanities classroom.'" instead.

Carry out finding responses to Inform: link to Goodbye.

Report giving link to Goodbye: instead say "'OK, I'm ready to get started.'"

Report giving text for Goodbye: instead say "'Good luck!'"

Instead of talking to professor: increase score by 1; run a conversation from Hello.

Learning ends when the professor is in the office.

Instead of opening door during Learning:

move the professor to the Office;

say "You walk with the professor out of the classroom, ready to go home and try something new.".

When Learning ends:

end the game in victory;