A new dashboard is under development that will show you the exercises you have completed and those yet to be completed. In the meantime, this page will serve as a temporary stand-in list, with exercises added as they are ported over from the old system.
Please proceed in the list until you run out of available options or you see (WAIT FOR FEEDBACK), then wait until Greg discusses prior exercises with you / gives you the go-ahead to continue.
You can also complete the repeatable exercise as many times as you wish.
During Phase 1, we will be completing a range of exercises to build your skills and plan your upcoming game writing sprint.
Discussion of these exercises will take place in your One-to-One Discord channel so please ensure your notifications are enabled correctly for that space.
When you are given questions in response to feedback, unless directed otherwise please use this WORK SUBMISSION PORTAL form to answer the questions; answer all questions in one single submission, including Gregâs questions in your answer.
BLOCK ONE:
In this block, youâe going to be thinking through your initial philosophy of interactive writing by thinking about what you like in stories in general + starting to explore what âlinearityâ and âinteractivityâ actually mean. Youâll be doing this by answering open questions about your storytelling values and doing a little bit of actual game writing/adaptation along the way. Youâll also start playing other branching text games in this medium â something you should keep doing throughout the process.
- EXERCISE 1: INITIAL THOUGHTS
- EXERCISE 2: LINEAR VS NON-LINEAR WRITING
- + Complete the repeatable âTextGameReflectionsâ exercise once (scroll down for the link)
[Do not start BLOCK TWO until youâve A) Completed BLOCK ONE and B) answered any follow-up questions youâre sent as part of your tutor feedback. Complete extra âTextGameReflectionsâ if you want to do additional work while waiting. You can go ahead and read the questions in âEarly Game Ideasâ if you want to start thinking this through, but do not write your answers there until the above conditions are met]
BLOCK TWO:
In this block, youâll be sharing your current early ideas for your game â donât worry about finalising these, this is something we will be returning to multiple times throughout this process! You will also analyse a character you enjoy from another work of fiction + gather exemplars of writing youâve enjoyed across interactive formats for discussion. Youâre now de-facto gathering a moodboard for inspiration, practicing the kind of analysis that will prove useful during workshops, and considering models for your own upcoming work.
Submit thoughts and reflections on any mainly text-based games
Feel free to include reflections, praise, critiques, questions, and/or any ideas they spark regarding your own writing work. You can repeat this multiple times. The exercise is optional but encouraged as a way of researching the field and figuring out what you like/dislike)
Here are a few to get you started:
Suggested games (free): Devotionalia My Fatherâs Long Long Legs Depression Quest
Suggested games (paid): Disco Elysium Knights of San Francisco