Text-based Games Research Articles

Expanding comics theory to account for interactivity: A preliminary study

Abstract Comics are a medium distinct from and yet tied to other forms of storytelling. A rich body of theory exists on the nature of the medium, its narrative techniques and the visual language unique to it. In light of the increasing interest in digital interactive technologies, however, there is a need to examine how the current theoretical understanding of comics is complicated by interactivity, as has been studied for other media such as text-based stories and games. This article outlines an exploratory study that introduced interactions, reminiscent of the Quick-Time Events found in games, into a four-panel comic. The results of this study, based on exposure to experimental prototypes, followed by retrospective protocol analysis and qualitative interviews, begin to shed light on various theoretical implications of including interactivity. These include empirical support that the notion of comics as an interconnected multiframe remains valid in the context of interactivity; the relative hierarchy between the iconic image and interactive elements; functions of interactivity within the comic form; the role of challenge; and the role of fluency and learning. These findings highlight possible ways in which the inclusion of interactivity expands current theory regarding the comic form, serving as openings for future theory-building.

The Text-Based Adventure AI Competition

In 2016–2018 at the IEEE Conference on Computational Intelligence in Games, the authors of this paper ran a competition for agents that can play classic text-based adventure games. This competition fills a gap in existing game artificial intelligence (AI) competitions that have typically focused on traditional card/board games or modern video games with graphical interfaces. By providing a platform for evaluating agents in text-based adventures, the competition provides a novel benchmark for game AI with unique challenges for natural language understanding and generation. This paper summarizes the three competitions ran in 2016–2018 (including details of open-source implementations of both the competition framework and our competitors) and presents the results of an improved evaluation of these competitors across 20 games.

Text-Based Games as Potential Media for Improving Reading Behaviour in Indonesia

Reading behaviour is an important factor in building a society that is ready to face the global competition era. Reading behaviour has become important since it helps people to develop their mind; expand creativity and imagination; and discover new things. However, the average reading behaviour of Indonesians, especially for the young generation, is still low. It is evidenced by most of the youth nowadays prefer using their smartphones rather than reading books. With the available technology of smartphones and tablets, it could become one of the many potential ways in addressing the lack of their reading behaviours f. The utilization of a text-based game could encourage and motivate people to be involved in more reading activities. This paper describes a study to develop and enhance a text-based game that has a potential feature to motivate the reading behaviour of youths. The outcome of this study is to evaluate the possibility of text-based games as an alternative method in encouraging the young generation to improve their reading habits and behaviours.

“Her story was complex”: A Twine workshop for ten- to twelve-year-old girls

In this study, I discuss the need to increase girls’ involvement with game design due to the numerous benefits that engaging in this practice might have. In particular, I discuss the tool Twine, an accessible and relatively easy-to-use platform for creating text-based games. I provide an overview of the tool and its potential benefits for learning, including traditional and digital literacy skills. I present the findings from an after-school workshop in which I led a small group of ten- to twelve-year old girls in designing their own games. Finally, the ways in which the girls engaged with the tool and the workshop, and the implications for literacy and education, are discussed.

Textual Adventures: Writing and Game Development in the Undergraduate Classroom

Abstract Building on scholarship in video game studies, this article argues that rather than writing about games as textual artifacts or playing games to reveal what they can teach us about writing, we should design curricula that introduce students to all of the writing that supports a successful game. The broader claim is that good writing leads to good software. In this case the software in question just happens to be a video game. The software and information technology industries value skilled writers, and those involved with writing pedagogy should continue to explore new methods for preparing students for these opportunities. Building on existing narratological approaches to teaching games is recommended as a place to begin. This article documents a specific endeavor to teach writing through software and game development. The article demonstrates how students experience the entire software development life cycle and its many writing challenges while developing their own text-based adventure games from the ground up.

Navigation and immersion of blind players in text-based games

Text-based games offer a compelling opportunity for sighted and non-sighted players to interact. Studies on navigation show that spatial mental models are encoded differently across both groups of players. While sighted people tend to view the environment from an overview representation (allocentric), non-sighted people more frequently do so from an egocentric perspective. We investigate whether a text-based game’s navigation system should be presented using both perspectives to support immersion for sighted and non-sighted players alike. An evaluation of the fit of both systems using a between-subject user study supports the hypothesis that egocentric directions are easier to use and more immersive for non-sighted players, while sighted players perform better with allocentric directions. The discussion offers insights into how these results can be interpreted and operationalised for the design of text-based games or other inclusive software.

Peril-sensitive sunglasses, superheroes in miniature, and pink polka-dot boxers: Artifact and collectible video game feelies, play, and the paratextual gaming experience

Material artifacts included in video game packaging, referred to in the industry as feelies, operate as media paratexts that are both extensions of and separate from the video games that inspired them. Although most discourses on video game feelies are centered on 1980s text-based adventure games, feelies have continually been included in contemporary games, albeit primarily in collector's or special editions. To explore the diversity of feelies and how they are able to generate their own texts away from the digital game itself, I identify two specific types of feelies: artifact feelies, which are life-size reproductions of objects from within the game space, and collectible feelies, which serve as extensions of the game space into the physical realm but tend to include objects more frequently associated with fan collecting activities. Taking an interdisciplinary approach that includes material culture studies and media studies, I show how feelies allow scholars to gain further insight into how screen media operate away from the screens themselves, how the accumulation of material objects in the digital age encourages us to reevaluate our notions of the material and the immaterial, and how the concept of play is crucial to understanding how these objects are reappropriated in ways that move beyond their originally intended use.

A simple framework for interactive games in CS1

Computer games are widely used in programming assignments to motivate students. Traditionally, these have been text-based games such as hangman, but as Java has become widespread, the use of graphics and graphical games has increased correspondingly. We report on a framework used as scaffolding to help students understand how to design and implement a variety of interactive games. We share our experiences using this framework for assignments over a number of years.

Towards an Aesthetics of Navigation

Towards an Aesthetics of Navigation