IF Can Be Quite the Process

     Fiction has been known to have been written on paper or passed through the storytellers. Most of the time there is a record of the story that is shared between generations and generations. It’s never changing and each page brings the reader deeper in the plot. But can we, as readers, interact with the story? Maybe change things the protagonist sees or does? Or alter the order in which things happen? The answer is…yes.  Interactive fiction allows the player, the individual at the computer, to not only read what is happening but be the protagonist of the story. It’s an interesting concept to think that you can control the character instead of only following him from page to page. According to Dennis G. Jerz, “Interactive fiction (IF) is computer-mediated narrative, resembling a fine-grained ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ story, in which the reader helps to determine the outcome of the story.” When starting the interactive fiction you are most likely presented with a title and prologue to gain a basic understanding of what the author wants you to achieve. Unfortunately, not everything about IF is in black-and-white. You have to work with what you are told from the beginning and figure out what to do next; examine, talk to someone, pick up something, go somewhere, etc. You determine what would be the best course of action for the character.

     Acting as the player, or the individual that’s at the computer putting the inputs in to receive the outputs, you control where to go next. It’s very difficult to determine what to do. When we got to be the player of someone else’s IF it was a strange idea, I thought, to tell the story what to do. You are commanding the scene. Within the IF there are different elements from the different types of characters to how to progress through the story and interact. When you first look at an IF you don’t know if you can say exactly what you want to ask or tell a non-player character. This is a slight challenge because you need to use deductive reasoning and thinking otherwise the computer might not understand what you want to say or do, or maybe it’s not the correct action. It can be a long process to go through an interactive fiction or very simple.

     In class, and on our own, we have read different examples of interactive fiction; some seemed to be more complex or in depth than others. I found “Galatea” to be the most interesting with not only the storyline but the way to move through the story. To interact with the story, you are supposed to speak to and ask questions to a statue. Depending on questions or discussions made determines which direction the story goes. Every story as a specific ending but “Galatea” doesn’t have a similar ending with each trial. Also the statue doesn’t talk to the player in the same manner every time. When I was trying to speak with Galatea, she acted different towards me each time I attempted to ask a question. I tried to ask her about her sculptor; she told me about his art life, personal life, and travel life. Every time I had to type an action for my player character, I had to be sure that it was specific enough or on the right track otherwise Galatea wouldn’t respond or the responses were coldhearted.

     When I was asking her where she came from and her many travels sometimes I wasn’t picking the right things to ask. I tried to ask her about specific places; some places she told me about and other times it seemed like she shut me down. This whole story was quite the adventure to uncover what you really want to know about this statue or what she might be able to tell you. Sometimes I would get frustrated because I couldn’t decide what to next. It got confusing when trying to distinguish which direction I should go next in my questions. To top things off, Galatea would get more frustrated with me. When I was examining this interactive fiction, I was in the classroom and could hear other students saying how they received a hug from her, walked with her, or sat with her. I felt like I couldn’t find the best way to get the statue to warm up to my character. Maybe the process would’ve worked better if I thought of typing in directives in order to get hints or other specific commands. This traversal is very unique because each player can achieve different responses. “Galatea” must have taken the author a long amount of time and a lot of creative ideas. Interactive fictions are not something a person can create overnight.

     I was given the opportunity to create my own interactive fiction and include specific elements. I wanted to create something that gave the player the opportunity to make his or her own decisions yet there find out there is only one solution to move forward. The initial situation I create was the player realizing that it is their little brother’s birthday but they forgot to buy a present. Now they must go to the mall with $100 to purchase a gift. The issue the player deals faces is that he or she cannot move forward unless they purchase items from different stores and food court; leaving them with less money to spend on the brother. I created the interactive fiction in a way that it’s more like a story with only one way out. The best part about this project was being able to come up with my own idea. I thought the idea of having to move through a mall quickly to find an item made the story more appealing to go through. If I had more time or knew more ways to work with the interactive fiction program, I might have tried to create different endings so the player can make their own choices. Difficulty set in with the easiest process of only starting the fiction.

     Starting with the basics of creating an interactive fiction didn’t seem like it would be tough but determining what was necessary to include or which direction to go to next became the hard parts. The program would act very sensitive towards actions I’d write. Or if I forgot to include something it would give me an error message for that as well. Time was definitely a great key to try and understand what I needed to do. Not only was it hard to determine what I wanted to write but to give the player options. Mostly I create the interactive fiction so the player was examining items, talking to others and going into different locations. I wish I figured out how to make things more interesting. For example, while the player is in the bookstore instead of only purchasing the series of Edgar Allen Poe books the person can have the option of searching through books and buying one book or more. I think if I had taken more time to explore the world of the interactive fiction I could’ve found a way to give more opportunities.

     This whole concept of writing a fiction that an individual can interact with it seemed strange at first. But as I played around with some and had a chance to produce my own showed that there is more than meets the eye. At a glance it seems that it wouldn’t be a difficult process but there are many elements and ways to create the interactive fiction. Stories like these seem more entertaining because there are possibilities for the stories to end differently, like “Galatea.” Of course, the traditional pen and paper fictions are just as enjoyable. But trying to come up with a concept and actions for an interactive fiction seems harder to me than writing one down. There are more elements and decisions that can be examined with an interactive fiction while pen and paper is straightforward with only one direction. I feel like I have a lot of respect for those authors who chose to create an interactive fiction. I didn’t finish writing my own that I can only imagine all of the effort these people put into creating their pieces of work. Unlimited possibilities are in store for interactive fictions and their authors. It appears to me that IF can be a story and a game at the same time. Mary Ann Buckles said, “Perhaps it will take someone who is both a programmer and an author to explore the artistic promise of IF and creates works of literature that rank with the classics of traditional literature.” I agree with Buckles that there are possibilities to bring interactive fiction further towards the surface. I never knew about IF until this English class but I feel like it’s something everyone can enjoy. Literature seems to be found in unexpected places in unexpected ways; it gives readers and players the opportunity to expand into the fictional world from all different directions.

Works Cited

“Galatea” http://collection.eliterature.org/1/works/short__galatea.html

"Interactive Fiction as Literature." Fiction Books : Fiction eBooks : Interactive Fiction : Text Adventure Games. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Nov. 2010. <http://www.malinche.net/interactivefictionasliterature

"Interactive Fiction: What Is It?." Dennis G. Jerz . N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Nov. 2010. <http://jerz.setonhill.edu/if/intro