Towards a canon of “hypertext literature / interactive fiction / digital narrative”

Kim asked on Twitter:

“Is there a canon for digital narratives / interactive stories / hypertext literature yet? A list of accepted classics and forms?”

What followed was a lot of us going “we don’t know”. And I wasn’t exactly helpful, by pointing out that those three things are (in some ways) completely different.

But. Nobody got anywhere but not being helpful, and to do so, I’m going to express (a bit) of an opinion, and hopefully something a little absolute. I hate list posts, but let’s put something down for people to argue about.

So, specifically: if I had to draw up a Canon – a canon of the interactive-story-thingies (we all know what they are – “things that the reader/audience interpret differently by interacting” is my best explanation) what would I include?

The rough goals were: not necessarily the best, but important pillars; no bias to high- or low- brow; trying to cover all media appropriately; interpret the question as broadly as you would like; don’t take too long over it. Here’s where I am: 

See the list at Infovore

Off the top of my head, I’d add

  • ELIZA (Weizenbaum, 1966)
  • Colossal Cave Adventure (Crowther & Woods, 1977)
  • Cave of Time: Choose Your Own Adventure #1 (Packard, 1979)
  • Dragon’s Lair (Bluth et al., 1983)
  • Photopia (Cadre, 1998)

Post was last modified on 2 Oct 2022 7:34 pm

Share
Published by
Dennis G. Jerz
Tags: caving

Recent Posts

Another corner building. Designed and textured. Needs an interior. #blender3d #design #aesthetics #medievalyork #mysteryplay

Another corner building. Designed and textured. Needs an interior. #blender3d #design #aesthetics #medievalyork #mysteryplay

7 minutes ago

There’s No Longer Any Doubt That Hollywood Writing Is Powering AI

Two years after the release of ChatGPT, it may not be surprising that creative work…

2 days ago

The complex geometry on this wedge building took me all weekend.  #blender3d #medievalyork #mysteryplay #cgi #aesthetics #design

The complex geometry on this wedge building took me all weekend. The interior walls still…

4 days ago

Sesame Street had a big plot twist in November 1986

My older siblings say they remember our mother sitting them down to watch a new…

5 days ago