Schedule

Week 1

• Wednesday, 30 March: Discussion of how we will use class time. Students bring ideas for proposed things to read, play, or do together for a course on games and fiction. These could be new or old, that you've read/played/done or that you simply want to read/play/do. We will aim to negotiate the syllabus at least through the first half of the quarter. Finally, discussion of how class seminar discussions are run.
• Friday, 1 April: Seminar discussion of Brian McDonald's Invisible Ink: A Practical Guide to Building Stories that Resonate (a very mainstream take on fiction as mass media). Play fictionally-interesting games and/or do in-class fiction writing exercises together. Distribute projects from Adrian and Ben Sp. Project check-ins from Michael T and Sarah Fay. Discussion of how class critiques are run.

Week 2

• Wednesday, 6 April: Discussion of visual narrative: Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics (chapters 2 & 6), notes on Jennifer Van Sijll's Cinematic Storytellng, a few pages from Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas's The Illusion of Life, and The Carl Comics (both versions) by Scott McCloud. Discussion of excerpts from three takes on fiction and creative writing as art and personal practice: Break Every Rule by Carole Maso, Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg, and The Art of Fiction by John Gardner. The excerpts and notes are available from the Readings page.
• Friday, 8 April: Critique of projects from Adrian and Ben Sp (distributed a week prior). Distribute projects from Michael T and Sarah Fay. Project check-in from Matthew. Have played at least 30 minutes in our Minecraft realm (some possible group times being coordinated by email).

Week 3

• Wednesday, 13 April: Discussion of the crafting of play: A Game Design Vocabulary by Anna Anthropy and Naomi Clark (full book) and chapter 26 ("Games as Narrative Play," available from the Readings page) from Rules of Play by Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman.
• Friday, 15 April: Critique of projects from Michael T and Sarah Fay (distributed a week prior). Distribute project from Matthew. Project check-ins from Melanie and Joe. Have played at least 30 more minutes in our Minecraft realm.

Week 4

• Wednesday, 20 April: Discussion of hypertext and scholarly history part 1.
• Read excerpts from Nelson's Computer Lib / Dream Machines (read: 301-316, 330-338)
• Read the artist's statement, watch at least five minutes of the traversal, and read/view any other elements you like of the Pathfinders documentation of Judy Malloy's Uncle Roger.
• Play/read the DOSBox emulation of Judy Malloy's Uncle Roger. (At least 20 minutes.)
• Read "You Say You Want a Revolution?" by Stuart Moulthrop.
• Read the artist's statement, watch at least five minutes of the traversal, skim the box contents, and read/view any other elements you like of the Pathfinders documentation of John McDaid's Uncle Buddy's Phantom House.
• Read/play Shelley Jackson, John Wesley Harding, and Ken Fricklas's my body — a Wunderkammer. (At least 20 minutes.)
• Read "Patterns of Hypertext" by Mark Bernstein (see Readings page) 
• Read "The Lyrical Quality Of Links" and "A Pragmatics Of Links" by Susana Tosca (see Readings page) 
• Read/play Porpentine's Howling Dogs. (At least one complete traversal.) 
• Read/play Porpentine's With Those We Love Alive. (At least one complete traversal, perhaps with a marker and short-sleeved shirt.)
• Read "Brief Bibliography about IF History" by Emily Short.
• Friday, 22 April: Critique of project from Matthew (distributed a week prior). Distribute project from Joe. Have played at least 30 more minutes in our Minecraft realm.

Week 5

• Wednesday, 27 April: Lost to faculty illness.
• Friday, 29 April: Performance of project from Joe. Project check-ins from Josh and Katie. Attending lecture by Aaron A. Reed. Meeting in DARC 343.

Week 6

• Wednesday, 4 May: Critique of Joe's project. Check in from Lucas. Group Minecraft play?
• Friday, 6 May: Noah at Stanford for Shift CTRL. No class meeting. Distribute projects from Melanie and Josh. 

Week 7

• Wednesday, 11 May: Discussion of interactive fiction (IF) and scholarly history part 2. Meeting in DARC 343.
  • If you haven't already, install a z-machine IF interpreter: http://inform7.com/if/interpreters/
  • Play Adventure by William Crowther and Donald Woods (for at least 30 minutes)
  • You can play a version of Adventure ported some distance to another platform, like the z-machine. This will not get you the authentic experience (for example, the commands shown in the Buckles chapters won't all work) but it might be easier. If you go this route, you can download the z-code file for the port by Graham Nelson: http://mirror.ifarchive.org/if-archive/games/zcode/Advent.z5
  • You can play a version of Adventure ported to Fortran 77 (much closer to the DEC PDP-10 Fortran "350 points" version by Woods). You can use g77 (or another Fortran compiler) to compile the source yourself from http://mirror.ifarchive.org/if-archive/games/source/adv350r4_f77.tar.gz
  • You can play a web version that doesn't share its provenance: http://www.amc.com/shows/halt-and-catch-fire/colossal-cave-adventure/landing
  • Read chapter from Interactive Fiction: the Computer Storygame Adventure, by Mary Ann Buckles (see Readings page)
  • Play Trinity by Brian Moriarty (for at least 30 minutes)
  • Look at the "feelies" that came with Trinity: http://gallery.guetech.org/trinity/trinity.html
  • Feelies page doesn't have full manual, with explanation of how to play IF, but this does: http://infodoc.plover.net/manuals/temp/trinity.pdf
  • If you're having trouble, try the Invisiclues: http://www.vaxdungeon.com/Infocom/Invisiclues/trinity/index.asp
  • Read chapters 1, 4, and 5 ("Ergodic Literature," "No Sense of an Ending: Hypertext Aesthetics," and "Intrigue and Discourse in the Adventure Game") from Cybertext by Espen Aarseth
  • Read "Riddles" from Nick Montfort's Twisty Little Passages (see Readings page)
  • Play Lost Pig by Admiral Jota (for at least 30 minutes)
• Friday, 13 May: Critique of projects from Josh and Melanie (distributed a week prior). Distribute projects from Katie and Lucas. Second year DANM conflict.

Week 8

• Wednesday, 18 May: Discussion of adventure games and scholarly history part 3.
• Play Hi-Res Adventure #1: Mystery House by Roberta Williams and Ken Williams (at least 20 minutes)
• Read the Introduction and analysis of Star Raiders from Brenda Laurel's Toward the Design of a Computer-Based Interactive Fantasy System (see Readings page)
• Play I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison, David Mullich, David Sears, et al (at least 30 minutes, currently on Steam sale)
• Read chapters 1, 4, 5, and 6 ("Lord Burleigh's Kiss," "Immersion," "Agency," and "Transformation") of Hamlet on the Holodeck by Janet Murray
• Read chapter 6 ("The Cyborg Author: Problems of Automated Poetics") of Cybertext
• Play Device 6 by Simon Flesser and Magnus “Gordon” Gardebäck (at least 30 minutes, iPads available from DANM checkout if necessary)
• Friday, 20 May: Critique of projects from Katie and Lucas (distributed a week prior). Second year DANM conflict.

Week 9

• Wednesday, 25 May: Discussion of multiplayer offline narratives (tabletop board games, tabletop RPGs, ARGs, LARPs, etc).
• Read Once Upon a Time rules (2 pages) http://www.atlas-games.com/pdf_storage/OUAT3RulesWEB.pdf 
• Read Forsooth rules (5 pages) http://spoiledflushgames.com/games/forsooth/ 
• Read Tales of the Arabian Nights rules (18 pages) http://www.zmangames.com/uploads/4/7/1/7/47170931/tales_of_the_arabian_nights_rules.pdf 
• Read Tales of the Arabian Nights Storytelling Variant (8 pages) http://www.zmangames.com/uploads/4/7/1/7/47170931/tales_of_the_arabian_nights_storytelling_variant.pdf 
• Read through the LockJaw guide/recap (longer) http://www.vpmusic.com/jawbreakers/guide.htm
• Optionally: "Frames of Narrativity in the TRPG" by Jennifer Grouling Cover
• Friday, 27 May: Discussion of generative narratives. Probably no second year DANM conflict.
• Play Moon Hunters (for at least one hour) http://www.moonhuntersgame.com
• Read "Character and Author Intelligence" by Noah Wardrip-Fruin (see Readings page)
• Read "Planning with applications to quests and story" by Yun-Gyung Cheong, Mark O. Riedl, Byung-Chull Bae, and Mark J. Nelson http://pcgbook.com/wp-content/uploads/chapter07.pdf
• Optionally: "3 Lessons on Procedural Storytelling from Moon Hunters" by Bryant Francis (http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/263303/3_lessons_on_procedural_storytelling_from_Moon_Hunters.php), Tanya Short portion of "Practices in Procedural Generation" (http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1023372/Practices-in-Procedural), "So You Want to Build a Generator" by Kate Compton (http://galaxykate0.tumblr.com/post/139774965871/so-you-want-to-build-a-generator), and "Exercises in Generated Prose" and "Beyond Branching" by Emily Short (https://emshort.wordpress.com/2009/06/24/exercises-in-generated-prose/ and https://emshort.wordpress.com/2016/04/12/beyond-branching-quality-based-and-salience-based-narrative-structures/)

Week 10

• Wednesday, 1 June: Discussion of multiplayer online narratives.
• Read Aronson on tandem narrative (as it relates to mmorpgs) - two very short chapters: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzObwqYlih1_WlBTQUhTZWxZNms/view?usp=sharing 
• Introduction to Empires of EVE, by Andrew Groen (just the introduction available in the free sample): https://www.amazon.com/Empires-EVE-History-Great-Online-ebook/dp/B01DONPR0M 
• Paratexts and Emitexts by Marcus Carter (can be read without downloading): https://www.academia.edu/7450364/Emitexts_and_Paratexts_Propaganda_in_EVE_Online

• Friday, 3 June: Discussion of games, narrative, and gender. Probably second year DANM conflict.
• Chapter (TBA) from Gaming at the Edge: Sexuality and Gender at the Margins of Gamer Culture by Adrienne Shaw (available online through the library website): http://cruzcat.ucsc.edu/search~S5?/Xgaming+at+the+edge&searchby=1&SORT=D/Xgaming+at+the+edge&searchby=1&SORT=D&SUBKEY=gaming+at+the+edge/1%2C9%2C9%2CB/frameset&FF=Xgaming+at+the+edge&searchby=1&SORT=D&1%2C1%2C
• "Gender and Narrative" by Susan S. Lanser http://www.lhn.uni-hamburg.de/article/gender-and-narrative
• Optionally: Chapter 14 ("Gender") from The Media Equation: How People Treat Computers, Television, and New Media Like Real People and Places by Byron Reeves and Clifford Nass, and "Ms. Male Character" by Anita Sarkeesian / Feminist Frequency https://youtu.be/eYqYLfm1rWA?list=PLn4ob_5_ttEaA_vc8F3fjzE62esf9yP61 (video)

Finals Week

• Because our meeting time is "non-standard," our final exam is scheduled for Thursday, June 9, 4:00–7:00 p.m. However, I believe we can reschedule if everyone agrees.
• At the final exam time we will see presentations of post-critique progress from all class members.