Game-based learning is a big industry buzzword right now, and everyone wants to jump on the bandwagon. Still, even with the democratization of game-making tools, many IDs don’t have the time, skill set, or budget needed to take advantage of these tools to make genuinely good game content. But there is another way. Before we had the mind-blowing graphics and sound of modern game consoles, we had the humble, lightweight, and thoroughly engaging text adventure game that ran on the world’s most powerful graphics chip: imagination.

With the explosion of mobile devices and the re-emergence of story-based games, text adventures have come back in a big way. While it’s easy to geek out over big, beautiful game engines like Unity, making powerful, effective learning games and scenarios has its roots in the world of text adventure and interactive fiction. In this session, you’ll take a closer look at Twine, an open-source tool for telling interactive, nonlinear stories. With this free platform, you can create and publish simple, lightweight branching scenarios or, with a little bit of advanced knowledge, create fully-fledged games with audio and video.

In this session, you will learn:

  • When you should consider using Twine and interactive fiction
  • What kinds of game experiences Twine is capable of
  • How to get started making your own games with Twine
  • Where to find help when you get stuck or want to take your Twine games to the next level

Handout(s)

Recording