What IF? Building interactive fiction for teaching and learning religious studies

Abstract

Games offer unique possibilities for learning, and text-based interactive fiction ("IF") in particular lends itself as a low barrier to entry for instructors and students wishing to build interactive narrative games. Understanding by Design provides a framework by which to determine the best possible places for instructor-and learner-built IF in any given course, whether face-to-face or online. A thick description of how an instructor conceived and developed two IF games follows, explicitly tied to course-design considerations like learning goals and assessment performances.The value of IF as a student project is explored, and finally an appendix provides resources for instructors and students to begin building their own interactive fiction.

Current attitudes on digital interactive fiction and text adventure games within learning contexts: A systematic literature review

“…Firstly, the IF authoring system, Twine, easily eclipses all other solutions in popularity over the last 10 years of research and publications. This finding aligns with a statement by Lester (2018), "[Twine] is widely considered to be a learner-friendly tool. It is normallythough by no means invariably -chosen as a first tool for learners of interactive fiction" (p. 269).…”

“…Another key finding in this systematic literature review is an overwhelming preference within the last 10 years for authoring systems that simplify the production of IF titles (Lester, 2018). This discovery was surprising as we originally theorized that IF game development is a viable opportunity to learn coding fundamentals, given its relative simplicity as a beginner computer programming activity.…”

“…(Stocks, 2019) Religious studies A teacher designs two text adventure games that teach stories from the Old Testament using digital tools. (Lester, 2018) Note: This table presents seven themes uncovered in the thematic analysis along with topic, description of the intervention, and reference citation.…”

“…Inform 7 is a fully declarative language that attempts to read as closely to the natural English language as possible, making it hardly recognizable at all as a programming language (Wells & Boyd, 2019). Lester (2018), praises Inform 7 for its English-language syntax, but admits that it can be picky and require some time to learn (p. 272). Inform 7 appears to be the beginner programmer's answer to IF much in the same way that Twine is for those focused more on writing story, which is backed up by the frequency of IF articles that mention them (Twine: 14; Inform 7: 4).…”

Teaching Religion to Undergraduates in the 2020s: A Preliminary Reconnaissance

“…We know of several innovative approaches to packaging religious studies in individual courses and in departments. Immersive technologies, gaming, and interactive fiction that appeal to many students are creative ways of approaching course design (Johnson 2018;Lester 2018;Zeller 2018). Some departments have turned toward interfaith education or interreligious studies, often on the model of Eboo Patel and the Interfaith Youth Core (2019).…”