#citymash - ideas for storytelling through interactive fiction / digital games

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

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Storytelling / interactive fiction /

games

Gary Green –Surrey Library ServiceTwitter: @ggnewed

#CityMash, City University London (13th June 2015)

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

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

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.

‘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.

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’.

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

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.” 

‘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.”

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!

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. “

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

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.

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)

Storytelling / interactive fiction / games

Links mentioned & other useful ones:http://bit.ly/citymashstory

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?