MADD 14945
Most recently taught: Winter 2026
past student work from this class
Course Description
New media have changed the way that we tell and process stories. Over the last few decades, writers and designers have experimented with text, video, design, animation, and interactivity in unprecedented ways, producing new types of narratives about a world transformed by computers and communications networks. These artists have explored the creative possibilities of digital media technologies, and the parameters of human identity and culture in the network era. This course investigates the ways that new media have changed contemporary society and the cultural narratives that shape it. Along the way, we will analyze interactive fiction, electronic literature, Twine games, interactive cinema, video games, generative AI, and more. Our critical study will concern issues such as nonlinear narrative, network aesthetics, and the relationship of mechanics to narrative in play-based media forms. Throughout the semester, our analysis of computational fictions will be haunted unceasingly by gender, class, race, and other ghosts in the machine.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this class, students will:
- Identify how technological factors have promised to transform storytelling across a variety of media—but also how the realities of these technologies often fall short of the promise (and ultimately highlights social and cultural issues and disparities)
- Critically assess video games, electronic literature, interactive fiction, and generative storytelling software as cultural forms, including but not limited to the relationships between game mechanics and storytelling, the connection of these media to historical literary forms, and the ideological underpinnings represented in both their promise and their reality
- Form well-supported arguments about a variety of digital media, and their relationship to broader storytelling traditions.
- Undertake critical multimedia research projects incorporating digital media analysis, cross-media comparative examination, and critical commentary.
Assignments & Grade Distribution
Students’ final grades will be determined by adherence following 5 expectations:
15% Attendance and participation. Participation in class activities is expected. Students may miss three days of class without penalty; beyond this point unexcused absences will have an impact on this portion of your grade. Masking is encouraged if it will allow you to participate more fully.
15% Discussion animation. Once during the quarter, students will take charge of animating class discussion about an IF piece, work of electronic literature, game, or course reading. Topics will be divvied up according to student preferences. Students presenting on a work that everyone in the class has experienced should feel free to jump immediately into questions. Students presenting on a work that only one group of students has seen should be prepared to give a short description/explanation for the benefit of the class before devoting time to questions. In either case, overall time spent speaking should not exceed 10 minutes.
15% Canvas discussion board posts. Students will post to the Canvas discussion board a total of six times over the course of the quarter. Posts should consist of 1–2 paragraphs reflecting on the themes and assigned materials of a given week. With eight prompts spaced across quarter, this means you can skip posting twice and still be fine—but choose wisely!
20% Midterm Twine group project. Groups for this project will be assigned. Groups will be expected to produce a fully playable Twine game ready for in-class demonstration Tuesday, February 10.
35% Final project. This project is variable in form, and variable in the number of people involved.
- Variable in form: The final project may be a work of interactive fiction (or interactive non-fiction), analytical or fictional hypertext, playable game prototype, game design document, piece of software, traditional term paper, or something else entirely.
- Variable in the number of people involved: Some of these forms (i.e., games) are more conducive to group projects, while other (i.e., term papers) are more conducive to individual authorship. You may pursue either an individual or group project.
Whatever the form of the project, or number of people involved, you must provide the following components:
- An abstract of 300–400 words, due Friday February 20 (3%)
- A presentation serving as a preview of the project, given March 4th or 6th (7%)
- The final version of the project, whatever form it may take (25%)
Course Materials & Play Logistics
Students are not required to purchase any reading materials for this course. All course readings listed on this syllabus will be posted in PDF form on Canvas or linked to if already online.
This class has no dedicated play lab sessions. Although some works of ergodic print literature, electronic literature, and interactive cinema will be viewed during regular class sessions, there are other works of digital storytelling that will be assigned as take-home work.
Take-home digital fiction assignments for 1/15, 1/20, 2/5, and 2/17 will be assigned as groups, with students asked to view 1–2 things out of 3 or more options. I will poll the class about platform availability and price and consider these issues when determining groups. You may also use the information provided on the sheet linked on Canvas to sign up for specific objects to look at for one of these group assignments, if you have your own preferences.
Please also use the same sign-up sheet to indicate on which day and topic you would like to animate discussion. Be aware that if you sign up to animate a discussion on a day where not everyone has looked at the same thing, it will be your responsibility to weave a short description/explanation into your animation for those students who didn’t experience your object.
Course Schedule
Tues, January 6: Course Introduction
No student responsibilities in advance. Overview of syllabus and discussion animation sign-up sheet.
Thurs, January 8: Paper Ergodic Literature
Note: rather than meeting in Crerar 134, this will be a special session held at the Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center in Regenstein Library.
Required readings to do by this class meeting:
- Espen J. Aarseth, Cybertext (1997), “Introduction: Ergodic Literature”
- R. Lyle Skains, Neverending Stories (2023), Ch 7 “Everything Old Is New Again: Ergodic Literature”
Tues, January 13: ELIZA and Her Daughters
Required readings to do by this class meeting:
- Janet H. Murray, Hamlet on the Holodeck (1997), Ch 3 “From Additive to Expressive Form”
- Aaron A. Reed, Text Games: From Oregon Trail to AI Dungeon (2023), Ch 1 “Before the 70s”
Chatbot assignment to play with by this class meeting:
- Browser-based Javascript version of ELIZA (Joseph Weizenbaum, 1964–1966)
Recommended further reading:
- Joseph Weizenbaum, Computer Power and Human Reason (1976), Introduction
Thurs, January 15: Parser-based Interactive Fiction
Required readings to do by this class meeting:
- Nick Montfort, Twisty Little Passages (2003), Ch 3 “Adventure and Its Ancestors”
- Laine Nooney, “Sierra On-Line and the Origins of the Graphical Adventure Game” (2017)
Interactive fiction to play by this class meeting (at least two of the following):
- Adventure (William Crowther and Don Woods, 1975–1976)
- Zork (Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels, and Dave Lebling, 1977)
- Mystery House (Roberta and Ken Williams, 1980)
Tues, January 20: Link-based Hypertext Literature
Take-home activities for today are divided by group. Hypertext literature works are required; supplemental reading is recommended.
- Group 1:
- Required: Victory Garden (Stuart Moulthrop, 1991, updated 2022)
- Recommended: Raine Koskimaa, “Reading Victory Garden” (2000)
- Group 2:
- Required: Patchwork Girl (Shelley Jackson, 1995)
- Recommended: Rita Raley, “‘Of Dolls & Monsters’: An Interview with Shelley Jackson” (2002)
- Group 3:
- Required: Disappearing Rain (Deena Larsen, 2000)
- Recommended: Roberto Simanowski, “Living for Hypertext: Interview with Deena Larsen” (2000)
This final reading is required for everyone, regardless of group:
- Jorge Luis Borges, “The Garden of Forking Paths” (1941)
Thurs, January 22: Paths Taken and Not Taken
Required readings to do prior to this class meeting:
- Ryan Coover, “The End of Books” (1992)
- Laura Miller, “www.claptrap.com” (1998)
- Marie-Laure Ryan, Narrative as Virtual Reality 2 (2015), Ch 7 “The Many Forms of Interactivity”
Tues, January 27: Introduction to Twine
Required readings to do by this class meeting:
- Astrid Ensslin and R. Lyle Skains, “Hypertext: Storyspace to Twine” (2018)
- Anastasia Salter and Stuart Moulthrop, Twining (2021) Ch P-1 “From Links to Stories”
Thurs, Jan 29: Twine Games Discussion
Take-home Twine reading assignment: Choose six twine pieces from the 31 linked on Canvas
Additional required non-Twine readings to do by this class meeting:
- Alison Harvey, “Twine’s Revolution: Democratization, Depoliticization, and the Queering of Game Design” (2014)
Tues, February 3: Environmental Storytelling
Required readings to do by this class meeting:
- Don Carson, “Environmental Storytelling: Creating Immersive 3D Worlds Using Lessons Learned from the Theme Park Industry” (2000)
- Henry Jenkins, “Game Design as Narrative Architecture” (2004)
Recommended further reading:
- Marie-Laure Ryan, Kenneth Foote, and Maos Azaryahu, Narrating Space/Spatializing Narrative (2016), Ch 3 “Maps and Narrative”
Thurs, February 5: Environmental Storytelling – Game Discussion
No readings for today. Games to play by this class meeting (divided by group):
- Group 1: Gone Home (The Fullbright Company, 2013)
- Group 3: Umurangi Generation (Origame Digital, 2020)
- Group 4: Unpacking (Witch Beam, 2021)
Tues, February 10: Midterm Presentations
No readings for today. Presentation of Twine group projects.
Thurs, February 12: Database Forms
Required readings to do by this class meeting:
- Lev Manovich, The Language of New Media (2001), Ch 5 “The Forms,” subsection “The Database”
Recommended reading in addition to play assignment:
- Jamie Russell, Generation Xbox (2012), Ch 4 “The New Hollywood”
In-class interactive viewing experience:
- I’m Your Man (Bob Bejan, 1992)
Tues, February 17: Interactive and Database Cinema
Take-home activities for today are divided by group. Cinematic works are required; supplemental reading is recommended.
- Group 1:
- Required: Pry (Samantha Gorman and Danny Cannizzaro, 2014)
- Recommended: Roderick Coover, “Pry as a Cinematic Novel: A Conversation with Samantha Gorman” (2020)
- Group 2:
- Required: Black Mirror: Bandersnatch (David Slade, 2018)
- Recommended: Peter Rubin, “How the Surprise New Interactive ‘Black Mirror’ Came Together” (2018)
- Group 3:
- Required: IMMORTALITY (Sam Barlow/Half Mermaid, 2022)
- Recommended: Chris Schilling, IMMORTALITY: Design Works (2025) [multiple excerpts]
Thurs, February 19: Immersion and Participation
Required readings to do by this class meeting:
- Janet H. Murray, Hamlet on the Holodeck (1997), Ch 4 “Immersion”
Interactive fiction to play by this class meeting:
- Galatea (Emily Short, 2000)
Recommended further reading:
- Michael Mateas, “A Preliminary Poetics for Interactive Drama and Games” (2004)
In-class interactive theatre experience:
- Façade (Michael Mateas and Andrew Stern, 2005)
Fri, February 20
Abstract for final project due. If you are planning a group project, you must have solidified your group by this point. Not every student needs to turn in their own abstract, but every student must be attached to a project with an abstract turned in at this time.
Tues, February 24: A Short History of Text Generation, 1933–2023
Required readings to do by this class meeting:
- Espen J. Aarseth, Cybertext (1997), Ch 6 “The Cyborg Author: Problems of Automated Poetics”
- Racter, The Policeman’s Beard Is Half Constructed (1984) [excerpts]
- code-davinci-002, I Am Code: An Artificial Intelligence Speaks (2023) [excerpts]
Recommended further reading:
- Brent Katz, introduction to I Am Code: An Artificial Intelligence Speaks (2023)
Thurs, February 26: Are Authors Obsolete?
Required readings to do by this class meeting:
- Michel Foucault, “What Is an Author?” (1969)
- Ted Chiang, “Why A.I. Isn’t Going to Make Art” (2024)
- Sam Kriss, “Why Does A.I. Write Like … That?” (2025)
Recommended further reading:
- Max Read, “Who is Elara Voss?” (2025)
Tues, March 3 Class: Presentations
No reading required. Part of this day may be used as an overflow session if we’re running behind schedule.
Thurs, March 5 Class: Presentations
No reading required.
Due date for final project final components TBA; will partially depend on how many groups there are. No earlier than March 10.
