Interactive Narrative | Janet H. Murray | jhmurray@mit.edu

syllabus'99

Student Story Sampler arranged by Genres

Journey Stories

** Freedom Baird, Mass Transit (intersecting trains and buses)

Stephen Preer The Northeast Direct (RR)

**Katie Jeffreys The Great Cheese Hunt - a participatory kid's story with branches (subway)

 

**Ben Zotto One O'Clock at the Coloseum (friends together and apart on trip to Europe)

Michael Figueroa, Encounter at Dragon's Tooth Dungeons and Dragons journey from multiple points of view

Scott Shrum, Road Trip '96 (car trip with friends)

Michael Coyle Dave's Fantastic Journey (car trip with friends)

Brian Tivol, My Weekend in Providence

 

[compare tthe train-based stories above with this one by an English novelist: 253]

 

Point of View in Limited Space

** Rachel Emily Molenaar, Evening, described in HoH p. 61.

Aseem Agarwala The Party (warning: java applet which could freeze your machine)

Indranath Neogy, Manfred and Fatima, in the minds of fighting lovers-- what they say vs what they are thinking

** Drew Samnick, A Tale of Two Frums - comic story in folk tradition

Stephane Miller Harvard Square Suite -- almost a journey story if you take the MIT student as the protagonist

 

Document Stories

**Rachel Emily Molenaar, Untitled love story (no graphics, excellent juxtapositions)

Nick Montfort, An Addendum to the Complete Works of Phil Salad (conspiracy/mystery web story)

Rani Nanavati Constructing the Truth (mystery/diplomacy in sci fi setting )

 

Web of Friends stories

Laini K. Byfield, Small Town USA ambitious use of "concentration' card game as organizing element

Brian Tivol, The Prom

**Philip Tan Doorboards -- uses photograhed objects to tell the story of a dorm corridor

Jacob Schwartz Natural Wonders -- clever structure as online music store compare with [off-site: Paul Is Dead}

 

Morphemes and Variations

Nick Montfort, The Girl and the Wolf (3x3 story with 2 variables)

Drew Samnick, Untitled 5x5 story with 2 variables

** Rania Khalaf Mouse

 

Unfolding Adventure / Multiple Viewpoints

**Ben Sanders, ScanMan

**Rania Khalaf's Bubbles

Chay Casso's 10 Minutes to Midnight

Philip Tan Smog of War -- includes applet which may or may not run properly

 

One-of-a-kinds:

Marleigh I. Norton, The Lives and Deaths of Mrs. Curtis -- surface story versus subtext: you have to read it twice (after finding second secret version) to find out what really happened

Arjan Schutte, A Touch of Time (objects retain traces of people who have touched them)

Phillip Tiongson, Hindsight (may take very long to load and require lots of memory)