Collaborative Unit Workshop

Work to have done: a solid attempt at a complete, playable Twine – even if you know there’s more you could add.

Plan for the day:

  1. Workflow Reminder: Describe -> Evaluate -> Suggest (2 min)
  2. Evaluation reminder: our shared criteria (5 min)
  3. Peer Review Workshop (3 times 10-12 min)
  4. Evaluation revisited (10 min)

1. Workflow Reminder: Describe -> Evaluate -> Suggest (2 min)

You all know this by now, right? We evaluate relative to our criteria, and we make suggestions at the end, in light of that evaluation – but we first have to say what it is we think we’re evaluating, i.e. we first have to describe the project.

For the purposes of this particular project, I think it will be useful to say back the genre or mood that you get from the game: is it horror? humor? drama? tribute? Does it present as fiction, nonfiction, maybe even poetry? Do passages tend toward the long (paragraphs+) or the short (sentences or less)?

2. Evaluation reminder: our shared criteria (5 min)

Baseline Criteria:
  • Contain at least 20 passages.
  • Have a title screen passage containing at least the story's title, the names of your team members, and a link to a credits page if appropriate.
  • Have at least one clearly identifiable ending passage.
  • Include at least two passages with diverging paths leading out
  • Include at least one passage with converging paths leading in
  • As always, use only source material you have fair rights to use (and cite where appropriate).
Aspirational Inspirations:
  • Use visuals to direct attention or advance a claim
  • Use sound to convey a sense of place or mood - either by including continuous sound or incidental sound
  • Use Twine code or CSS to make at least two new "looks" for selected passages
  • Use Twine code to store variables and/or introduce conditional logic (if/then behaviors)
  • Have multiple endings (all clearly identifiable)

3. Peer Review Workshop (3 times 10-12 min)

Let’s do this!

Before you leave your seat, (1) label three index cards with For: {your team name}; (2) load up your playable Twine html file in a web browser (ideally in Chrome or Firefox); and (3) also load up your project in Twine, so we can see the code producing that playable game. Leave the cards at your seat.

For each rotation today, I’m just going to ask that you find a game you haven’t yet played. Look around and be ready to trade places if someone’s stuck with a not-new game.

And <ol><li>Describe what you see as the focus,</li> <li>Evaluate where it meets or misses the criteria,</li> and <li>Suggest ways to meet and exceed the criteria!</li></ol> Start in the browser, then use the Twine storyboard to help you with steps 2 and 3.

I’ll keep track of time.

4. Evaluation revisited (10 min)

Head back to your seats and take a minute to read and photograph the notes you’ve received. (Make sure your photos are legible; I’ll be collecting the cards at the end of class.)

Based on your viewing, would anyone like to propose new baseline criteria or share new aspirational goals?

Homework for Next Time

Tuesday’s class (April 16th) will be one more studio for this unit; I’ll also give you more formal instructions for the final portfolio and reflection.

The final Twine draft will be due at 11:59 pm Tuesday night.

Thursday, April 18th is our last class meeting – just one week away! We’ll use it to compose and share some reflections on the semester.