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”.

1. In your own words, explain the difference between a parser interactive fiction game and a choose your path interactive fiction game.

Parser and Choose Your Own Path interactive fiction games are similar except; Choose Your Own Path IF games provide a set of options the player can choose from to proceed with the story. In Parser IF games, the player tells the game what they want to do using a verb and noun, for example, “Enter Room.”

2. Name an example of a parser game.

Zork – Infocom Games

3. Name an example of a choose your own path game.

Lifeline – 3 Minute Games

4. Why does she say interactive fiction virtually died out in the mid-1990s?

The games were limited to paper; resulting in shorter less detailed stories. Additionally, some IF games used variables to store the decisions of the player but also on paper. This required the player to commit to the work of keeping track of their, and usually other player’s, decisions.

5. Why does she say poetry is an important element of interactive fiction writing? What example does she use?

By carefully choosing their words, the game’s narrators can create worlds in fewer words. Instead of explicitly providing details about the world, the player will “see” the world from the implicit details created by their question on what they’ve read.

6. Why does she say that ambiguity is not only unavoidable but also necessary?

It is necessary because a game has limited memory resulting in details having to bee left out. However, these details can be filled in by the player through implicit details or from their own interpretation of the game. This brings the player further into the game creating an emotional attachment to the world created.

7. What’s important about complicity?

The player will become much more emotionally involved with the story when they feel as if they made the choices in the story themselves. An example of this are Parser games, where the players feel they have an infinite amount of choices but, are steered by the game by the context of the story and what they would actually do in the situation.

Albano Assignment
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.

A parser is a game that gives you the option of typing in the illusion of the narrative you want while a choose your own path gives you the limited choices that differentiate the narrative bit by bit according to your choices.

2. Name an example of a parser game.

Zork I

3. Name an example of a choose your own path game.

Choose your own adventure The Cave of Time

4. Why does she say interactive fiction virtually died out in the mid-1990s?

She says interactive fiction virtually died out because the older methods of interactive fiction died out now it is evolving to give you more choices and yet lead you to them instead of looking for them in a book.

5. Why does she say poetry is an important element of interactive fiction writing? What example does she use?

She says poetry is important because in a game of words, each word has a significance nothing is without reason. She used “With Those We love a Lot” by Porintine.

6. Why does she say that ambiguity is not only unavoidable but also necessary?

She says its necessary because it lets the player of the game fill in the blanks with their imagination so that there is a variation of different answers for the games.

7. What’s important about complicity?

When there is complicity that gives the player owner ship of the plot making him or her feel like they can type whatever they want and the game will do as they say, in reality it is just an illusion because it is a pre-written program.

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 games are text based games with a cursor and no graphics. The player makes a choice on what to do next, and the game responds by showing them what happens based on the choices made.

Choose your path games came in game books that contained a large amount of text with multiple choices. The player/reader would advance to a specific page based on the choice they made.

2. Name an example of a parser game.

An example of a parser based game would be “Zork I” and A dark room.

3. Name an example of a choose your own path game.

An example of a choose your own path game would be “Choose your adventure, The Cave of Time.”

4. Why does she say interactive fiction virtually died out in the mid-1990s?

The company Infocom was purchase then later shutdown by the game publisher Activision in 1989. The game form didn’t really die as fans were able to keep the community alive. There was an issue in that with these types of games there were enormous amounts of branching paths. This restricted games from telling short stories.

5. Why does she say poetry is an important element of interactive fiction writing? What example does she use?

She explains that poetry is an essential element in that words are provided in short sentences but are powerful. These words are chosen carefully and encourage the player to fill in the blanks. Albano uses With Those We Love Alive by Porpentine as an example.

6. Why does she say that ambiguity is not only unavoidable but also necessary?

She says that with mainly text and no graphics, it is impossible to cover every detail. This leaves it up to the player’s interpretation and imagination to fill in the blanks. 

7. What’s important about complicity?

Complicity gives the feeling of possession or ownership in the plot. The area in which the fictional story interacts with the player is the primary goal. Actual choices can be presented to the player that would affect the plot.

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 game are games without graphics, with chuck of texts and cursors. The players would type in their course of different actions or where they want to explore in the game, and the game will response to what the players will see or what happen next.

Choose your path interactive game are games that have chuck of texts with multiple choice the player can choose from. The choice that the players make will direct them to different pages of the game.

2. Name an example of a parser game.

Zork: The Great Underground Empire – Part 1 written by Marc Blank, Dave Liebling, Bruce Daniels and Tim Anderson, Published by Infocom in 1980.

3. Name an example of a choose your own path game.

Sugarcane Island written by Edward Packer, published in 1976.

The Cave of Time written by Edward Packer, published in 1979.

4. Why does she say interactive fiction virtually died out in the mid-1990s?

Interactive fiction virtually died out in the mid-1990s due to competitions.

5. Why does she say poetry is an important element of interactive fiction writing? What example does she use?

Poetry is an important element of interactive fiction writing because when words are the only ways for you to communicate your characters and stories, you want to make the word as powerful as you can. An example that she uses was from “With those who we love alive” by Porpentine.

6. Why does she say that ambiguity is not only unavoidable but also necessary?

Ambiguity is unavoidable but also necessary because the game does not have the graphics and an infinite space for all the possible texts and details, therefore the players have to fill in that details with their imaginations.

7. What’s important about complicity?

Complicity is important because it can give the players an actual choices and decisions to make the game feel more realistic to the players.

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.

1. In your own words, explain the difference between a parser interactive fiction game and a choose your path interactive fiction game.

The choose your path interactive fiction game give the player a scenario with different choices they can pick from that is a much simpler way to explore. The parser interactive fiction game is a text adventure gives the player a big chunk of text and they choose words that turn into actions.

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 game is The Cave of Time.

4. Why does she say interactive fiction virtually died out in the mid-1990s?

Interactive fiction virtually died out the mid-1990s because of the competitions such as the annual IF Comp.

5. Why does she say poetry is an important element of interactive fiction writing? What example does she use?

Poetry is an important element of interactive fiction writing because its quality of pro instead of narrative. It suggests the players to engage the world to fill the blank that can give a powerful description in just a few words. “Those we love alive” is the example she uses.

6. Why does she say that ambiguity is not only unavoidable but also necessary?

Ambiguity is not only unavoidable but also necessary because it is to be filled by the players imagination. It is used deliberately for the player to wonder and to leave things open so the players can draw their own conclusions.

7. What’s important about complicity?

Complicity is important because it lets the players interact with the story. It gives the players choices and makes them feel like they can do anything but, they can’t. All the choices are open-ended.

1. In your own words, explain the difference between a parser interactive fiction game and a choose your path interactive fiction game.

A Choose your path interactive fiction game can best be describe as a game book that gives the player multiple options and/or choices that they can pick from. Any option picked from the player will have a different ending. This is calculated by the player’s initial selections. The Parser interactive fiction game is a story telling game without any graphics and is an adventure.

2. Name an example of a parser game.

An example of a parser game is Zork I.

3. Name an example of a choose your own path game.

An example of a choose your own path game is Sugarcane Island.

4. Why does she say interactive fiction virtually died out in the mid-1990s?

She stated that Interactive fiction virtually died out in the mid-1990s because of the competitions they were up against such as, annual IF comp.

5. Why does she say poetry is an important element of interactive fiction writing? What example does she use?

Poetry is an important element because it engages the players with fill in the blank that gives a powerful description. Example “Those we love alive”

6. Why does she say that ambiguity is not only unavoidable but also necessary?

She stated ambiguity is not only unavoidable but also necessary because it is to be filled by the player’s imagination. It is used intentionally for the player to wonder and to leave things open so the players can draw their own conclusions.

7. What’s important about complicity?

Complicity is important because it lets the players interact with the story. It gives the players choices and makes them feel like they can do anything but they can’t. All the choices are open-ended.

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 game is an adventure game without graphics and is a story telling game. Choose your path interactive fiction game is a game book where they give you different choices that you can pick. This is also more suitable for kids.

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 Sugarcane Island.

4. Why does she say interactive fiction virtually died out in the mid-1990s?

Interactive fiction virtually died out in the mid-1990s because of competitions like the annual IF Comp which resulted in artistic innovation.

5. Why does she say poetry is an important element of interactive fiction writing? What example does she use?

Poetry is an important element of interactive fiction writing because in the games words are all that is used and the right words have strong meanings. The example she uses is from “with those we love alive.”

6. Why does she say that ambiguity is not only unavoidable but also necessary?

Ambiguity is not only unavoidable but also necessary because there is not enough space in a game for all of the details like texts and graphics and that is when the player fills it in with their imagination.

7. What’s important about complicity?

Complicity is important because in an interactive fiction game the goal is to have the player interact with the story.