1. In your own words, explain the difference between a parser interactive fiction game and a choose your path interactive fiction game.
Parser interactive fiction games don’t have graphics and have a chunk of text and a cursor and the player types where they wish to go next and the game responds by telling them what they see. A choose your path interactive fiction game is where you change to a page in the book depending on what decision you decide to choose.
2. Name an example of a parser game.
Zork 1
3. Name an example of a choose your own path game.
The Adventures of you on Sugarcane Island by Edward Packard
4. Why does she say interactive fiction virtually died out in the mid-1990s?
She said interactive fiction virtually died out because of competitions .
5. Why does she say poetry is an important element of interactive fiction writing? What example does she use?
When words are all you have you spend most of the time to make the words powerful. An example is from With those We Love Alive.
6. Why does she say that ambiguity is not only unavoidable but also necessary?
The player has to fill in some of the details with their imagination. Decide where you want the player to fill in the those gaps.
7. What’s important about complicity?
Defined as a feeling of ownership in the plot. Complicity is part of giving the player actual choices and containing different ways to allow their choices to feel like a real choice.
Worksheet for GDV talk by Heather Albano
1. In your own words, explain the difference between a parser interactive fiction game and a choose your path interactive fiction game.
Parser interactive fiction games are classic story-telling, where a text parser takes typed input or a command from the player and simplifies it to something the game can understand. Games such as the famous Zork series, a player can type things like “take lamp” “take painting”. Meanwhile, a choose your path interactive fiction games there’s no text parsing, only a set of branching narratives. When the player selects a choice or option, the story continues with a new section of the story and this will continue until an ending is reached.
2. Name an example of a parser game.
An example of parser game is Zork I.
3. Name an example of a choose your own path game.
An example of choose your own path is The Cave of Time
4. Why does she say interactive fiction virtually died out in the mid-1990s?
Infocom, the primary producer of IF games sold the company to Activision, who then shut down the Infocom division in 1989.
5. Why does she say poetry is an important element of interactive fiction writing? What example does she use?
Interactive fiction games rely heavily on text to communicate characters, story and the environment of the game. A lot of time and effort must be invested by game programmers making the words powerful and descriptive enough to communicate the atmosphere of the game. Heather Albano gives her example from the game “with those we love alive”.
6. Why does she say that ambiguity is not only unavoidable but also necessary?
Heather Albano says that ambiguity is not only unavoidable but also necessary because without graphic or an infinite amount of space for text to cover every detail, ambiguity is necessary for the player’s imagination to cover some of the details.
7. What’s important about complicity?
Complicity, define as the player’s ownership in the plot, is important because it allows the player to interact with the story and feel as if their choices actually affects the narrative of the game.
1. In your own words, explain the difference between a parser interactive fiction game and a choose your path interactive fiction game. Both have a chunk of text, but parser offers you a cursor where you type your action and C.Y.P. offers multiple options for you to pick.
2. Name an example of a parser game.
Zork I by infocom
3. Name an example of a choose your own path game.
The cave of time
4. Why does she say interactive fiction virtually died out in the mid-1990s?
It paved the road for games with graphics.
5. Why does she say poetry is an important element of interactive fiction writing? What example does she use? She explains the significance of words and how they must be powerful and meaningful because of the limited amount. She uses an example from “With Those We Love Alive” by porpentine, 32 words that explain or imply a lot of detail. It forces the player to engage or try to be a detective and work off limited information.
6. Why does she say that ambiguity is not only unavoidable but also necessary?
With limited capabilities, every detail cannot be covered through text. Ambiguity is necessary because it allows the player to be more involved by drawing their own conclusions and interpretations.
7. What’s important about complicity? It’s the essence of interactive fiction, although the ending might be preordained, the choices the player makes are impactful. Player should have the feeling of “I made it happened”.