Due Dates:
February 15
Inform7 Project 1.0; Paper, rough draft (both saved to Dropbox prior to class)
February 22
Inform7 Project 2.0; Paper, second draft (both saved to Dropbox prior to class)
March 1
Inform7 Project 3.0 and Paper Due (saved to Dropbox prior to class)
Description
We've read about procedural authorship, and this project will give you a chance to put these ideas to work. Using the Inform7 system, you will design a piece of interactive fiction. Your project will be inspired by Michael Joyce's hypertext novel afternoon: a story. The nature of this "inspiration" is up to you. You may choose to use the content of the novel as your inspiration, or you may choose to focus on the form and structure. Or you may decide to draw upon both.
In addition to designing this piece of interactive fiction, you will write a paper describing and explaining what you've created in terms of the theories of procedurality, procedural authorship, and procedural rhetoric that we've read in class. Your paper will be roughly 1000 words (four pages double-spaced) and will:
1) Explain how your project is related to Joyce's novel. What did you use as inspiration?
2) Explain how your project uses procedural authorship. How does your project make use of procedural expression? What is your project's procedural rhetoric? How would you describe the "process intensity" of your interactive fiction?
3) Explain how you incorporated feedback that you received during the testing phase. Your classmates will play the various versions of your game, and you will incorporate the feedback you receive during this "user tests." Your paper should explain what changes you made and how you addressed this feedback.
Grade Criteria
When grading these papers, I will be asking:
- Does your project show evidence that you have understood and made use of the theories of procedurality that we've read and discussed?
- Does your project use procedural expression effectively?
- Does your paper explain your project's relationship to Joyce's novel?
- Does your paper explain how your project uses procedural expression and/or rhetoric?
- Was your paper submitted on time? (I do not accept late work.)
- Is your paper 1000 words long?
- Does your paper have minimal grammatical and/or structural problems?
