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Unreliable Narrator

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"As well as being a superb detective game, Her Story might be the best FMV game ever made."

"Her Story is a bold experiment in interactive storytelling, resulting in one of the best detective games ever made."

"Profound, gripping live-action drama... sure to be discussed for years to come"

"Her Story has all the drama and intrigue of the best TV crime shows, but plays to the interactive strengths of the medium in a daring, imaginative way..."

"Her Story is a beautiful amalgam of the cinema and video game formats...
a remarkable achievement in creating something which is personal, cinematic and playful."

Her Story is the new game for PC, Mac, iPhone and iPad from Sam Barlow, creator of Silent Hill: Shattered Memories and Aisle.

A crime fiction game with non-linear storytelling, Her Story revolves around a police database full of live action video footage.

It stars Viva Seifert, actress and one half of the band Joe Gideon and the Shark.

The development of Her Story was made possible thanks to the support of

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A Video Game About a Woman Talking to the Police - HER STORY

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In 1994 a British woman is interviewed seven times about her missing husband. This is her story. PC * MAC * iPad * iPhone * Android OUT NOW Read more about Her Story in these recent interviews: "All you have is video of a woman talking to the cops.

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Walden, A Game, is a first-person simulation of the life of American philosopher Henry David Thoreau during his experiment in self-reliant living at Walden Pond. Players follow in Thoreau's virtual footsteps, balancing their basic survival needs with a search for the sublime in the small beauties of the woods. Each season holds its own challenges for survival, but with them, possibilities for inspiration.

There are many reasons why Thoreau's work should be important to us today - from his core environmentalism, to his criticisms of the ways in which technologies change the speed and value of our lives, to his fundamental questioning of the role of government in society - all of which are as critical, if not more, than when he was writing. Supported by grants from the NEA and NEH, and by programs like Sundance New Frontiers Storytelling Lab, Walden, A Game is an ambitious independent game that strives to break ground in the field of expressive play. The game is the product of nearly a decade of work, a painstakingly crafted translation of Thoreau's ideas and environment, an interactive translation of the classic American work set in a faith reproduction of its historical and natural contexts.

Platform:
PC, Mac ($18.45)

Press:
IndieCade, LA Times, TIME

Awards:
2017 Games for Change Awards, Most Significant Impact Winner
2017 Games for Change Awards, Game Of The Year

Screenshots:

Review the Game

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Walden, A Game, is a first-person simulation of the life of American philosopher Henry David Thoreau during his experiment in self-reliant living at Walden Pond. Players follow in Thoreau's virtual footsteps, balancing their basic survival needs with a search for the sublime in the small beauties of the woods.

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Use for review

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Lord of the Flies, William Golding, Literature, Nobelprize.org, Nobel, Nobel Prize, game, edutainment, educational, school, flash

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Utilizing persuasive techniques

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Canvasser is a game for environmentalism enthusiasts and older kids & high school students who love a volunteering challenge. Here, your job is to raise virtual money as part of a team to save 'Evergreen Forest' from being cut down in this cool and unique point-and-click game of persuasion!

A canvasser is a person who solicits or encourages contributions, donations or votes for what he or she thinks is a worthy cause. If you've ever done some fundraising or similar non-profit work or if you've been stopped on the street by someone canvassing for contributions, you'll know that it is quite a tough job!

Now, how do you think "you" would fare in convincing people to part with their hard-earned money, requesting donations in a high-pressure social setting? Would you have the verbal and personal skills and persuasiveness to successfully raise money for your great cause?

Reasons to play this entertaining RPG game: Feel good about making a difference in the world and to your worthy environmental cause! Canvasser is a highly stimulating and interactive fundraising game where your goal is to raise money by persuading people on the street to donate to your campaign to save Evergreen Forest!

You play the role of an environmentally-concerned canvasser, and must use common sense, friendliness, likeability, rapport building skills, and verbal persuasion techniques to motivate and encourage people to give as much money as they can to your very important cause. Test your decision making skills as you attempt to choose the correct reply to each person's response. Exercise your 'people-reading' skills, but try not to bore or annoy people by badgering them! The cool graphics are reminiscent of old school 8-bit games, and this adds to the likeability of the game.

Strategy to win: In addition to using general common sense and smart decision making skills, fast reactions, great determination and persistence are also really important attributes of a successful canvasser. You play against a clock, with only a certain amount of time to raise the target sum of money each day, so dawdling certainly is not an option here! You must also use accurate mouse clicking - as you don't want to click on the wrong reply and offend your potential patron! Now, let's hit the streets and get canvassing!

How to Play: A Flash-based fundraising simulation game for notebook, laptop and desktop PC / Mac (with certain browsers).

You have joined the 'Saviors of Wilderness', an environmental activist organization looking to raise $6,000 to stop Evergreen Forest from being chopped down. Each 'Game Day', you must raise a target sum of money from local civilian donations. If you repeatedly fail to hit your cash targets, you unfortunately get fired from the "no-nonsense" organization, and that means "game over"! (Yes, just like in real life, canvassing and persuasion certainly is a challenge.)

Before the action begins, you can customize your canvasser character. You then enter a short interview process, and practice canvassing before being sent out on your own for your first 'day'. When the canvassing action begins, Left Click on a 'civilian' that is walking near you (using your computer mouse or touchpad). Some say they are 'too busy', and immediately walk off. Others stop and talk to you. Once you have an interested person next to you, Left Click on the blue pop up box on the left hand side of the play area, and then click 'Give Rap' to hand over a flyer to your potential patron. From here, you must try to increase the person's interest and trust level before eventually asking for a donation.

You can increase their 'care' and 'trust' levels by telling them about the campaign to save Evergreen Forest (Click 'Topic', and choose the item you want to talk about). If you feel you have gained their trust sufficiently, click on the 'Target' option to ask them for a contribution. If the person offers you money, you can 'Accept' to add it to your total. Alternatively, you can give them more information (Topic) in the hope that they many increase their contribution based on this further conversation.

Tips: 1) Don't spend too long on one person, you only have a chance to speak to a few people each 'day', as indicated by the clock in the top right corner of the game screen. 2) Don't bombard potential patrons with information (Topic) pieces one after the other, as this simply bores most people. 3) Don't push your luck - if you get an offer of a donation, try to increase it perhaps once or twice, but don't pester the person. 4) Every little helps toward the cause. 5) A sense of urgency is essential toward achieving your goal!

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Fundraising Game Online,Persuasion Skills training for kids,high school students,free fun teens

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Canvasser is a game for environmentalism enthusiasts and older kids & high school students who love a volunteering challenge. Here, your job is to raise virtual money as part of a team to save 'Evergreen Forest' from being cut down in this cool and unique point-and-click game of persuasion!

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Just what is a game jam? It is a short event, usually only a day or two, where game developers plan, design and create a short game. Similar to a music jam session, game jams don't involve much pre-planning and rely on immediate idea generation and improvisation. Game design companies have these jam sessions regularly, and while many of the games that happen here are digital, some are paper-based. They usually occur in one physical location to allow for immediate, organic collaboration. While there is an element of competition, most of the work is focused on collaboration towards a common goal.

I have witnessed some of these game jams, and have talked with many gaming experts to learn more about it. I wanted to learn more about game jams to help me come up with ideas for how we might include an activity like this in classroom instruction.

The following video will help you visualize how the process works:

GameDesk + Epicenter Game Jam at the d.school -030213 from Epicenter on Vimeo.

I see a lot of great opportunity to teach and assess 21st century skills, focus on deeper learning, and present content. Here are steps and tips to get you started:

1. Create a Flexible Space

If you watch the video above, you will see the room change -- literally. The room is set up in a way that allows for presentation, small group work, space for making and more. Make sure you have the space or can create a space that is fluid and can easy be transformed to meet the needs of the teams and the steps in the game jam process.

2. Provide Digital or Physical Tools

As teams create and decide upon their games, they will need materials to do so. However, don't assume that a game jam is only about creating digital games. While jammers might use a digital tool like Gamestar Mechanic to create their game, they might also use physical materials like paper, glue, magazines and scissors. Have these materials available, and provide voice and choice for students to pick what materials will best meet their needs. At a GameDesk game jam, a team developed a pizza game that was aligned to math content about fractions. This game was created with physical, not digital, materials.

3. Embrace Principles of Games Design

A game jam is a great opportunity to teach fundamentals of game design, from story line and narrative to the actual mechanics. Normally, participants in game jams come to it with a lot of prior knowledge, although many game jam teams have members with very little knowledge of these mechanics. The extent to which you teach this might depend on the level of students or time constraints in the classroom. However, since the game jam is in essence a design challenge, you can align to principles of STEM or STEAM education. Make sure to give students designated time before the game jam to learn these principles.

4. Domain Analysis

This is probably one of the most interesting steps of the game jam. Here, the teams investigate specific content areas (or domains) and uncover how the content is both taught and represented. For example, teams can find specific learning targets in their game content, and also note how those targets are represented visually or digitally. They research how the content is traditionally taught and also assessed. Teams craft specific learning targets from this exploration and research to ensure that, when they get to the idea phase, they can create a focused game targeting very specific learning objectives.

5. Team Building

Game jams always start with team builders. In a real game jam, the team members have often never worked together before; therefore, it's crucial to set a tone for collaboration and problem solving. It's the same for our students. In order to set them up for success, icebreakers and other team builders need to occur.

6. Ideation

After bonding as a team and analyzing content domains, the ideation phase begins. This is where teams brainstorm and collaborate on ideas for the game itself. Relying on its collective knowledge of game design and content, the team starts to craft ideas for a game that will target a specific learning objective. These objectives are tight, and there are often not too many of them. They are created in the Domain Analysis component (step 4 above), but here the team gets to start narrowing and picking these targets as well as decide on the mechanics.

7. Deadlines and Benchmarks

The game jam itself has a very specific deadline, usually a full day (eight hours) of work, including the presentations and pitches. However within the game jam day, there are further benchmarks. For example, at some point during the day, teams are no longer allowed to generate game ideas and are forced to work or "make." This helps create the urgency for the deadline and also helps to move along the process. Consider setting specific time limits for some of the steps in the game jam.

8. Presentation, Playing and Judging

The culminating event for the game jam is presenting the game product and having all participants play the game. Not only is this an important assessment, but it is also an important way to celebrate the jammers' hard work. Judges need to have specific criteria for evaluating the games. These criteria might be different for every game jam. They might include relevance to content or curriculum, marketability, player interest, ability to collaborate, and more.

As you consider a game jam for your classroom, you might focus the assessment on the content area, or simply on 21st century skills like creativity and collaboration. I know many of us have more freedom after "testing season," so that also might be a great time to give this idea a shot. Just make sure you're clear on the learning objectives and project outcomes that you expect from your students. Don't forget to watch the game jammers in action in the time-lapse video above to give you a full picture of what it would look like!

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Just what is a game jam? It is a short event, usually only a day or two, where game developers plan, design and create a short game. Similar to a music jam session, game jams don't involve much pre-planning and rely on immediate idea generation and improvisation.

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DOS Game

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Erin Hoffman and Matt Farber - Time Society Chronicles: Independence! - Play

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Write your own ending stories

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You don't need to write any code to create a simple story with Twine, but you can extend your stories with variables, conditional logic, images, CSS, and JavaScript when you're ready.

Twine publishes directly to HTML, so you can post your work nearly anywhere. Anything you create with it is completely free to use any way you like, including for commercial purposes.

The latest version of Twine is 2.8.1, released 3 January 2024.

Looking for the 1.x version of Twine? It's on the IF Archive.

The Twine Reference is a guide to the Twine user interface. If you're new to Twine, start here.

Once you're familiar with Twine, you should learn more about the story format you're using. Story formats are like game engines, and determine the features you'll have access to and the way you'll write code.

The Twine Cookbook has advice on how to choose a story format and easy-to-follow examples of how to accomplish common tasks with each of Twine's built-in formats.

Each of Twine's built-in story formats has an online guide:

Chris Klimas, who created Twine and leads its development, has a Patreon.

You can also make donations in support of Twine to The Interactive Technology Foundation, a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides support for the infrastructure of the interactive fiction community.

Some story format developers also accept donations. Visit the web site of the story format you use to find out how you can support continued development.

Non-financial support is important, too. You can help someone out with a question, contribute to the Cookbook, create tutorials of your own, help fix bugs in Twine or its story formats, or translate Twine's user interface to another language.

There are repos for Twine's story formats, too:

Twine is a registered trademark of the Interactive Fiction Technology Foundation. Hosting for this web site is also provided by the IFTF.

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Twine / An open-source tool for telling interactive, nonlinear stories

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Collaborative Writing

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Independent developer of narrative games and interactive stories.

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Check out Edutopia’s collection of articles, videos, and resources on using video games, simulations, and gaming concepts in the classroom.