English Students Showcase Playable Stories at Congress 2017

At the Congress of the Federation of the Social Sciences and Humanities held at Ryerson University (27 May-2 June), a select group of English B.A. students had their work showcased at the Fabuludus 2016 Playable Story Arcade. Students had initially created these works for a Playable Story Jam that was a part of the Department of English's "Narrative in a Digital Age" course (ENG921), taught by Dr. Jason Boyd, in the Winter 2016 term. "Narrative in a Digital Age" examines a range of work at the intersection of the literary and the digital, including text-generating programs, Twitterlit, hypertext fiction, interactive fiction, and story-rich video games. 

In "Narrative in a Digital Age," students can use one of a number of digital authoring platforms (Twine, Texture Writer, RenP'y or Inkle Studio's Ink/Inky) to create interactive narratives (or 'playable stories') and explore the opportunities and challenges of digital storytelling and procedural authorship.

Students in ENG921 in Winter 2016 shared their creations on a Fabuludus 2016 Jam itch.io page (external link) . The students taking part in the Arcade at Congress 2017 included Amanda Conrad, Kaitlyn Fralick, Ewan Matthews, William Moo, Caitlyn Ng Man Chuen, and Chantal Townsend. You can check out their (and other) playable stories on the Fabuludus 2016 jam page on itch.io (link above).