Twine Project

https://agpd.itch.io/summer-vs-winter-person

Password: ETEC540

Note: I made sure it would function and fit perfectly on a mobile device. If you are on a computer, simply use the full-screen button, or scroll bars to enhance the size of the screen.
* I purposefully selected and added the scrolling feature, to consolidate the use of scrolling, as mentioned in our ETEC540 Module 5.1 [Introduction] notes.

Process & Reflection

After reading the directions for this assignment, I went to twinery.org and decided to use the online version. I searched for a few tutorials on how to use Twine and sought out tutorials that targeted beginners. Next, I realized I needed to come up with a story, so I originally wanted to use a storyline that I created once when I was putting my kids to sleep. It was about a skunk whose spray did not smell bad, in fact, the spray smelled like fresh bread, is teased, and comes to learn he should be grateful for having a spray that smells good after meeting and befriending a chipmunk who gets teased because they can’t fit acorns in their cheeks. After a quick search to see if a story like that was made already and checking its originality, I realized someone has already authored a book about a similar concept, but the skunk’s spray smelt like perfume. So I decided instead to make a quiz like I used to play in magazines as a teenager. I created a quiz that determines what season you like best; summer or winter. In case you can’t decide, take my quiz and I will help you find out!

When I started entering text in the passage boxes, I found myself taking a long time thinking about the content to include. It made the process lengthy and difficult because I was trying to organize my thoughts and also make sure I was using the right linking functions, titles of passages etc. I decided to write out the quiz and all the options in a document, then copy and paste the selections, and then focus on making the passages link after. Bolter (2001, p. 33) described a similar brainstorming method that happens when we are collecting our thoughts as part of our writing process. Once I had all my ideas down, I was able to transfer them to the passages and focus on the technical part of Twine, instead of feeling overwhelmed by trying to do both. 

After that, I wanted to learn how to use images, change font colour etc. So I used this website: https://www.adamhammond.com/twineguide/ to help me add some features. However, I decided that I would just stick to text for this project.

I underwent some difficulty in trying to take the HTML file, create a zip file and then embed it in WordPress. My research for this was lengthy, and I decided to upload it using itch.io, which made it easier to use a link for the user. I am impressed with those who could embed the game right into their site. I tried uploading the ZIP as a media file but it never was able to work in my efforts. One hiccup in the Twine project I posted, is that once you are on my site, and you click the link for the game, it does not open the link in a new tab or window, but instead just replaces my website on the tab. I would prefer if there was a way to open a new tab or make it “circular” as Bolter (2001, p. 28) describes by returning to the original text.

Using hyperlinks, and creating hyper documents/slides in my teaching has allowed me to create interactive learning experiences for students. Bolter (2001, p.27) compares hypertext to what was once used as footnotes and describes the difference between how we read and reference now, to past behaviour. It is incredibly helpful and time efficient to find more information or refer to the reference that was made with hypertext. The passages within Twine reminded me of when Bolter (2001, p. 31) described the tree diagram. Using google slides, documents or forms to create hyperlinks is incredibly simple, but I loved using a different interface for hypertext, with added design opportunities using CSS, Javascript or HTML.

References

Bolter, J.D. (2001). Writing Space: Computers, Hypertext, and the Remediation of Print (2nd ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781410600110