ENGL 20303 Spring 2013

Syllabus

Much like a culture’s writing practice in general, games provide insight into the people by whom they are produced and consumed. Just as ancient board games like Mancala are key artifacts for understanding cultures of the past, today’s games articulate much about who we are and what we value. Games both influence and are influenced by other elements of culture, as we see game adaptations of books and movies as often as games themselves are depicted through other media. Video games, in particular, have become a major part of American culture, as titles like Skyrim have budgets of over 100 million dollars and are played by millions of people all over the world, making them as economically and culturally pervasive as books, television, and even film. Video game simulations are also used as training tools in professions as diverse as sports, medicine, and even the military.

While games are themselves written by designers, a great deal of writing is also produced through and about the play of those games. English 20303: Writing Games, asks students to explore the rhetorical dimensions of writing within and about games, considering both how games are a form of writing and how writing hybridizes genre conventions. While both games and writing have long been important elements of culture, students in this class will come to better understanding how the two are mutually informative. Students will consider how games inform writing, how writing informs games, and how both games and writing compose the world at large.

This iteration of the course will focus on text-based games. Text-based games or interactive fiction (IF) have been around for over thirty years, and still retain a vibrant community of designers and players. While many videogames are written metaphorically (like a film is “written” beyond the script), these games are designed entirely through text. As you design your own games, you will be doing a great deal of writing. You will design two games for this course. The first game will be collaboratively designed and you will be responsible for one small part of it. The second game will be entirely your own. We will start small, with no assumption that anyone knows anything about coding, video games, or even computers. The program we will be using, Inform, is renowned for its ease of use. Smaller projects along the way will help you to become competent in basic interactive fiction writing.

I've posted games the students turned in for the course. Each of these students has given permission for me to share these games online. If this is your first time playing a text-based game, I would encourage you to try "Take Me as I Am" by Laurie M. first. Laurie's game includes hints built into it.

Project 2a

This assignment asked students to create a simple text-based game with complex player-character. The goal was for students to learn the basics of the software and game programming while building a more critical understanding of video games. The assignment sheet for this project can be found here.

"Cuarto" by CMA
"Boom" by Roel
"Attic on Mars" by Katia Botrus
"Breakfast" by Lucky Chanthavong
"Temple of the Elementals" by Laura Cisneros
"Mama Mia!" by Will Duffy
"Hazy Morning" by Grace Duncan
"The Plumber" by Brian
"Hazy Morning" by Grace Duncan
"2 am" by Caitie Finnegan
"Writer's Block" by Katie Grebel
"Swish" by Russ Hodges
"Lock Lock Who's there" by Daniel Johansson
"The Garage" by Hunter Kosmala
"Take Me as I Am" by Laurie M.
"Greenbriar Tower" by Hartwell Morse IV
"The Kitchen Disaster" by Tiffany Nelson
"Curiousity" by Rachel Sanson

Project 2b

This assignment asked students to combine their individual games into a group game. As they did this, the students had to work together and discover creative ways of successfully weaving their disparate narratives and player characters together. The group project radically altered most students' individual games. The goal was for students to learn how games are composed communally, building a deeper understanding of game development. The assignment sheet for this project can be found here. The students were divided into two groups. Both games appear below.

"Drive" by Team Empire

"Bonum Est" by Jedi's

Project 3

In this project students each created a game that would act as critique of a cultural object. Each game below includes critiques a cultural object through a particular critical lens.

"LIFE'S LITTLE CHOICES" by Cheraya Arthur

"A troll’s perspective" by roel

"A mother's worries " by Katia Botrus

"Less/More than Human" by Lucky Chanthavong

"Dakota Smith and the Temple of the Elementals" by Laura Cisneros

"The United States of the Mushroom Kingdom" by Will Duffy

"Walking Dead" by Grace Duncan

"Futility" by Brian Evans

"The Happiest Place on Earth" By Caitie Finnegan

"Care of the Moon" by Katie Grebel

"That '70s Show - Ramble On" by Russ Hodges

"Waking up as Sleeping Beauty" by Daniel Johansson

"Life or Death" by Hunter Kosmala

"HUNGER OF THE HEART" by Laurie M

"Soft Rains" by Hartwell Morse IV