The document discusses a special presentation by Sherry Jones on prototyping immersive game design through interactive fiction (IF) with insights from guest speaker Ross Moreno, who incorporates psychological principles into game design. It explains narrative design's role in creating immersive experiences and how IF serves as an initial prototype, enhancing gameplay feedback and narrative exploration. The document also highlights characteristics that facilitate immersion and includes an interview with Moreno on his work at 4th Axis Games and the psychological theories applied in his IF projects.

1. #Metagame Book Club
“Prototyping Immersive Game Design as
Interactive Fiction”
Sherry Jones | Games & Psychology Instructor | Fall 2015 | Twitter @autnes |
http://bit.ly/gamepsychif

2. A Special Presentation
In this special presentation for The Metagame Book
Club - Track 1: Games & Psychology, we will be
discussing Sherry Jones’ game design method of
creating Interactive Fiction (IF) works as initial game
prototypes with guest speaker, Ross Moreno, the lead
writer for 4th Axis Games.
Ross also will share with us the psychological principles
that he has applied to his IF design.

3. Watch the Live Webinar!

4. Narrative Design, Interactive Fiction, and
Immersion

5. What is Narrative Design?
“Narrative design is a discipline of creating the
architecture/mental model of a game world through
the written text. The narrative designer role comes into
the spotlight when media scholar Henry Jenkins argues
that game design is about creating narrative
architecture.”
-- Jones (2015)
“Narrative Design and the Psychology of Emotions and Immersion in Games”

6. What is Interactive Fiction (IF)?
“(IF) is a literary genre that is employed in several types of
mediums. . . . In software, IF refers to computer games
that offer players the ability to interact with the game
narrative via text commands. This interaction involves
the player typing words on the computer screen that
could influence the outcome of the game narrative, or,
could lead to discoveries of different branches of the
game narrative via parser input.”
-- Jones (2015)
“Interactive Fiction and Education”

7. Is Interactive Fiction (IF) a Game or a Story?
"By definition, IF is neither a 'story' [nor] a 'game,' but,
as all IF developers know, a 'world' combined with a
parser and instructions for generating text based on
events in the world."
-- Nick Montfort (2005)
"Interactive Fiction"

8. Can IFs Enhance Immersion?
“Characteristics of games that facilitate immersion can be
grouped into two general categories: those that create a rich
mental model of the game environment and those that create
consistency between the things in that environment.
Let’s take the concept of richness, first. This isn’t an exhaustive list,
but richness relates to:
● Multiple channels of sensory information
● Completeness of sensory information
● Cognitively demanding environments
● A strong and interesting narrative, plot, or story”
-- Jamie Madigan (2010)
"The Psychology of Immersion in Video Games"

9. Game Design: A Big Idea
Create an IF work as an initial prototype prior to
creating a full scale game: By creating an IF work, the
creator is challenged to carefully consider the size of
the storyworld, the existents of that storyworld, and the
logic of how the player would interact with the
existents and the storyworld.
As a proof of concept, the IF work can be shared with
players in order to receive gameplay and narrative
design feedback. -- Jones (2015)

10. Interview with Ross Moreno

11. Ross Moreno
● 4th Axis Games Lead Writer.
● Games made so far - Children of Uum; The Book; City of
Lost Rain.
● Student of “Strategies and Psychology in Games,” a
course designed by Sherry Jones for Rocky Mountain
College of Art & Design (RMCAD).
● Incorporated Psychological Theories into Game Design.

12. Q. 1. Since you are part of the
indie game studio, 4th Axis
Games, can you tell us about
what your role is at the studio?

13. Q. 2. Can you tell us about your
studio's current project, Children
of Uum? What is the inspiration
behind the game?

14. Image from Children of Uum Project 1
“Title Scene” by
4th Axis Games

15. Image from Children of Uum Project 2
“Player Hands” by
4th Axis Games

16. Image from Children of Uum Project 3
“Guilt Realm” by
4th Axis Games

17. Image from Children of Uum Project 4
“Rock
Golem” by
4th Axis
Games

18. Image from Children of Uum Project 5
“Golem Run” by
4th Axis Games

19. Image from Children of Uum Project 6
“Everlit Written
Language
Syntax” by
4th Axis Games

20. Image from Children of Uum Project 7
“Everlit Written
Language
Translation” by
4th Axis Games

21. Q. 3. You created a great
Interactive Fiction (IF) game
during the course, "Strategies and
Psychology in Games," at
RMCAD. What is your IF game
about?

22. Images from IF Project 1
“Color Design” by Ross Moreno

23. Images from IF Project 2
“Character Creation” by Ross Moreno

24. Images from IF Project 3
“Character Clues” by Ross Moreno

25. Let’s Play!
“City of Lost Rain - Chapters 1 -3”
(rated “mature”)
http://bit.ly/cityoflostrain

26. Q. 4. What psychological theories
influenced your redesign of the IF
game (since its first prototype)?
Can you point out specific
examples from the game that is
influenced/redesigned based on a
theory?

27. Q. 5. How did designing an IF
influence your game writing or
game design process now?
What are some advantages (or
disadvantages) with creating IF
based narratives?

28. Q. 6. Will you be creating IFs as
part of your future game design
process?

29. Children of Uum 2015 Trailer

30. Questions or Comments?
“Oculus Playing
at Denver Comic
Con” by 4th Axis
Games

31. Track 1: Games & Psychology
Sherry Jones
Philosophy | Rhetoric | Game Studies | Game Design & Psychology
@autnes
Writings & Webcasts
Link to Slides: http://bit.ly/gamepsychif