A Guide to Bitsy (version 8)
Bitsy is a game engine for creating retro-style visual stories. The Guide can be read here. Continue reading A Guide to Bitsy (version 8)
An Introductory Guide to Inform 7
Inform is an authoring system for creating interactive fiction. The Introductory Guide can be read here. Continue reading An Introductory Guide to Inform 7
Return of the Obra Dinn
https://obradinn.com/ Entry by Jason Boyd (revised 10 August 2024) A. Basic Information Creator: Lucas Pope (https://dukope.com/) Creation technology: Unity Publisher: 3909 LLC (Lucas Pope) Date (of original release): October 18, 2018 (PC: MacOS/Windows) Platform(s): PC, Switch, PS4, Xbox Peripherals required/recommended: Keyboard and mouse; speakers/headphones Rating: ESRB M (Mature 17+) Awards & Distinctions: Version used for entry: MacOS (High Sierra 10.13.6) B. Game Information Game/eLit Genre(s): First Person Detective/Mystery; Environmental Narrative Game (Walking Simulator). Lucas Pope describes the game as “an insurance adventure with minimal colour.” Time to complete: 8-9 hours. Replay required/useful? If one plays with the goal of discovering … Continue reading Return of the Obra Dinn
Playable Stories Archive Entry Template
A. BASIC INFORMATION Title of Work Work website Creator(s) [Studio & Creative Team, with roles] Creator or Studio website Creation technology [software, eg. Unity] Publisher Date (of original release) Platform(s) Version used for entry [incl. OS version] Peripherals required (incl. speakers/headphones) Rating Awards/Distinctions B. LITERARY INFORMATION Related Literary Genre(s) Story/Plot Summary Suitability for Teaching C. GAME INFORMATION Game/eLit Genre(s) Gameplay [What kinds of activities does the player undertake? Including difficulty] Time to complete Replay required/useful? Walkthrough D. SOURCES AND RESOURCES Wikipedia entry Metacritic critic reviews URL [note that critic reviews for a single game are separated according to platform, so … Continue reading Playable Stories Archive Entry Template
Tacoma
https://tacoma.game/ Entry composed by Jason Boyd A. Basic Information Creator(s): Fullbright (https://fullbrig.ht/) Creation technology: Unity Publisher: Fullbright Date (of original release): 2017 (August 2) Platform(s): Windows, MacOS, Linux, XBox One; PlayStation 4 (May 8, 2018) Peripherals required/recommended: Keyboard and mouse; head/earphones Rating: ESRB M (Mature, 17+) Awards/Distinctions: Eurogamer, Top 50 Games of 2017 (#22); Best Graphics, Game Informer, 2017 Adventure Game of the Year Awards Version used for entry: MacOS (High Sierra 10.13.6) B. Game Information Game/eLit Genre(s): First Person Exploration; Environmental Narrative Game (Walking Simulator) Gameplay: Environmental exploration (including moving, reading, watching, listening, examining). The player uses the WASD … Continue reading Tacoma
Designing Transmedia: A Toolkit for Educators
Transmedia can create powerful, immersive, and vast story worlds and have resulted in the creation of successful entertainment experiences such as Star Wars, Harry Potter and The Matrix. Previously, transmedia endeavours were frequently motivated by commercial interests (marketing campaigns, entertainment … Continue reading Designing Transmedia: A Toolkit for Educators
“What’s Making Them Run Away?”: The Nintendo DS and the Casual Revolution
Jesper Juul argues in A Casual Revolution that “The stereotype of a casual player is the inverted image of the hardcore player: this player has a preference for positive and pleasant fictions, has played few video games, is willing to commit little time and few resources toward playing video games, and dislikes difficult games” (8). Juul goes on to relate modern casual video games to arcade games from the 1980s, such as Pac-Man, and ultimately posits that the Nintendo Wii played the biggest role in ushering in this casual ‘reinvention’ of gaming that exists today (2). Steven E. Jones and … Continue reading “What’s Making Them Run Away?”: The Nintendo DS and the Casual Revolution
Interactive Horror and Fake News: ‘Penny Dreadfuls’’ Movement into the Digital Age
England in the nineteenth century was a city full of innovation and anxiety. Especially in large cities like London, Manchester and Liverpool, the industrial revolution brought on rapid technical and cultural change. England was faced with a rise in working-class and the poor conditions that came with working in factories, as well as an increase of crime and poverty throughout the cities. As Michael Anglo describes London in 1843: “It abounded with festering slums, refuse-covered streets and yards, where open sewers overflow, swirling over dead cats and dogs, cess-pools leaked into wells, and graveyards were full to bursting. Male … Continue reading Interactive Horror and Fake News: ‘Penny Dreadfuls’’ Movement into the Digital Age
Picture This
Does a picture really tell 1000 words? This project challenges visitors to take part in an online dialogue about media literacy by creating captions for topical illustrations. (click here to read more) Continue reading Picture This
Annotated Bibliography
Ito, M. (ed.) (2009). Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out: Kids Living and Learning with New Media. Cambridge, MA, USA: MIT Press. Retrieved from http://www.ebrary.com Do teenagers waste their time by using social media? No, according to a recent three-year study conducted by the MacArthur Foundation and led by Mary Ito. Hanging Out, Messing Around and Geeking Out is a report by Prof. Ito and her 23 colleagues on the study and its key findings. This book fills a gap in research on teenage online behaviour. Rather than taking a negative technological deterministic view, the authors seek to understand how these tools improve the teenagers’ … Continue reading Annotated Bibliography
Stories in Play 