A session on the value of storytelling in both text based and visual digital games, and their value to libraries & library users. Screenshots from games and development tools remain the copyright of their respective owners.

1. Storytelling / interactive
fiction / games
Gary Green –Surrey Library Service
Twitter: @ggnewed
#CityMash, City University London (13th June 2015)

2. Storytelling / interactive fiction / games
• Aim - discuss & share ideas about:
• Interactive fiction / using computer games for storytelling
• Their value to libraries & library users
• Games with storytelling as a core thread
• Storytelling in games doesn’t necessarily have to be
focused on text alone
• Free tools for creating games with strong
storytelling/narrative thread in them… without being a
programmer
• 3 game competitions with an Alice in Wonderland theme

3. Storytelling / interactive fiction / games
• I.F. & computer games used to tell a story:
• Turns passive reading experience into
an active one
• Choose your own adventure… sort of
• You direct the progress of the story
• Can be focused just on text, but not
only
• I.F. aren’t necessarily games, but serve
to tell a story
‘Get Lamp’ Documentary

4. Screenshot taken from text adventure ‘Colour of Magic’ by Delta 4. The
game is played by entering text to direct progress of the story. For example,
in this section, the player might type in “Go Hubward” or “Go Turnwise” to
move to a new location in the game world.

5. ‘Spent’ is an interesting example of a game using a storytelling method to
highlight issues around poverty. This type of game could be regarded as similar
to the Human Library concept. It appears on the Games for Change site, which
features games containing social awareness themes.

6. This is an example of a free tool called Quest, that anyone can download and use to
create their own interactive fiction or text adventure games. The screenshot is taken
from the game ‘Whitefield Academy of Witchcraft’.

7. Storytelling / interactive fiction / games
• Value to libraries & library users:
• Represent traditional stories &
curate them in new ways
• Encourage users to discover
new ways of storytelling
• Use storytelling to encourage
development of IT skills
• Use beyond fictional storytelling
– human library concept Empire Strikes Back
themed Donkey
Kong created with
Donkey Me

8. This screenshot is taken from ‘Dys4ia’ and
focuses on the real-life experiences of Anna
Anthropy. It’s an interesting example of creating
a narrative game with limited focus on text and
also storytelling in games going beyond fiction.
In Anna’s own words: “dys4ia is the story of the
last six months of my life: when i made the
decision to start hormone replacement therapy
and began taking estrogen. i wanted to catalog
all the frustrations of the experience and maybe
create an ‘it gets better’ for other trans women.
when i started working on the game, though, i
didn’t know whether it did get better.”

9. ‘The Tell tale heartbeatz’ by Daniel Mullins won the 2015 Public domain game jam. It’s
based on a section of text from an Edgar Allan Poe story. It highlights that text based
stories can be interpreted in new ways, whilst still keeping to the original idea behind
the story. In this case this is a rhythm based game focusing on the main character’s
goal to “rid myself of the old man… but time was running out.”

10. Storytelling / interactive fiction / games
• Interactive Fiction Database - directory of published I.F. works,
inc some based on:
• J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth
• Other book characters, including Sherlock Holmes, Alice in
Wonderland, Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy, Spider-Man
• Film, TV and Radio tie-ins, including Dallas, Rambo and The
Archers BBC radio programme
• Star Wars
• Jaws!

11. Never Alone is an example of using storytelling in a visual form to share the
experiences of a different culture in a game. The developers say: “We paired
world class game makers with Alaska Native storytellers and elders to create a
game which delves deeply into the traditional lore of the Iñupiat people to
present an experience like no other. “

12. Storytelling / interactive fiction / games
• Free tools for creating interactive fiction & text based games/stories
• Inform 7
• Twine
• Quest
• Choice of games
• Inklewriter
• Free tools for creating other games
• GDevApp
• Stencyl
• Sploder
• GameSalad
• Construct 2

13. Fallen London http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com is set in a fictional London
in what seems like a pseudo Victorian period. It combines text stories with
visuals, interaction between players and users can also create their own
stories using the StoryNexus software.

14. Storytelling / interactive fiction / games
• Alice in Wonderland 150th anniversary game competition/jams:
• A jam is a game creation competition usually run over
defined time period & with specific theme
• Off The Map (open to higher education students) – organised
by Game City/British Library
• Alice game jam (for Pocket Code users) – December 2015 *
• Alice Jam 150 #AliceJam150 (open to all) – End of June
2105 *
* Why not get involved? (Go on, you know you want to)

15. Storytelling / interactive fiction / games
Links mentioned & other useful ones:
http://bit.ly/citymashstory

16. Ideas raised in discussion during the session
• Text based games encourages development of literacy, reading, creation and
creative writing skills.
• How does it impact on digital literacy skills?
• Games with varied characters & story backgrounds encourages understanding of
diverse cultures & people.
• There could be a good opportunity to develop collaborative physical game-
making communities in libraries, with a focus on storytelling & games.
• Sometimes text in games is skipped to get to the ‘fun stuff’, but those coming to a
text based game knowing that it’s text based are happy to read.
• It enables knowledge sharing – through the subject of the game (e.g. human
library, Never alone etc.) & also knowledge of how to create games.
• How can digital storytelling be connected to physical activities too? Maybe via
creative Makerspace sessions?