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Interactive Fiction
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- 2. What is interactivefiction? Evolving term; changes with culture and context Used to just include parser-based IF; now include Twine works and other interactive stories Game and story components Game: help character solve problems; explore and discover Story: help character make decisions
- 3. Some definitions ofIF Broad definition: “any story that allows reader participation to alter the presentation or outcome of the narrative” (Emily Short) Historical & formal definition (since mid-1980s): works that share the formal characteristics of the text adventure, a genre that focused heavily on puzzles and exploration Technical definition: piece of software that makes use of both parsed input and a model world
- 4. General Characteristics ofIF Player interactions center on text (text output, text input) Written in the second-person perspective (“You”) You play as the main character of a story Playable character, rooms (setting), objects (props), and actions Comes in variety of types and genres You type commands which determine actions of character/plot Often involve exploration and puzzles Often written by single authors; expresses a focused authorial vision
- 5. Three varieties ofIF Type 1: Parser IF The most prominent form; associated with early PCs in 1970s and 1980s. Continual experimentation between 1990 and present Central feature: natural language parser that accepts (and responds to) typed instructions from the player IF originated with the text adventure Adventure (1977)
- 6. Three varieties ofIF Type 2: Choose your own adventure (CYOA) Choice-based games; player provided with list of possible actions Less about free exploration, more about moving story forward in different ways
- 7. Three varieties ofIF Type 2: Hypertext IF Invites player into game through highlighted text Use of choices or world- building Twine led to renaissance of this form
- 8. Parser-based IF parsed input(text parser analyzes typed input) a text parser takes typed input (a command) from the player and simplifies it to something the game can understand. every text input consults a world model world model (represented in code) Tracks player location, objects in rooms, qualities or states of objects
- 9. How is theworld of IF assembled? Space - most IF games consist of rooms; movement between room is possible. Rooms are setting. Objects - objects are generally conceived as single, intact units. Objects are props. Containment - IF good at modeling containment (object placement, position, through prepositions). Look at, look inside, look under, etc. Types of action - general, abstract behavior broken down into discrete actions
- 10. Player Immersion &Interpretation Importance of actions and verbs Possibility space of IF created by trying out actions Design of IF intended “not to offer….immersion, but to request and require it” (Plotkin)
- 11. Narrative, formal, thematic approachesto IF Deep exploration - of a setting or narrative possibility space Constrained agency - constrain player agency as part of story Complicity - involve player in ethical dilemmas Wordplay - focus on player’s response to qualities of the text as prose object
- 12. Communicating with thestory Basic formula: “Action object” (go north, take sword, open door) action does something; object the action is applied to) Look or Examine (x) Movement (directions): n, s, w, e, nw, ne, sw, se Inventory (i): take objects; take inventory People or characters: ask about ___, talk to ___, tell a person about ___ Save, Restore, Quit, Transcript, Undo
- 13. Three techniques inrecent IF Poetry - short, beautiful prose; using words to imply, rather than describe in utilitarian fashion Ambiguity - player imagination has to fill in some details; require player to interpret and act on interpretation Complicity/Agency - gives players feeling of ownership or control over the plot