Literary Games

This course in “extra-literary” criticism tasks English majors and other students with investigating the ways video games are available for interpretation and formal analysis. We will read game studies and literary theory, play games, and--take note!--learn to build them. Students will be introduced to the Unity game engine and framework. (No prior experience with programming required.) Our main effort is to check and test literary theory in "defamiliarized" ludic contexts, designing sprites and worlds and complicating traditional intuitions about narrative, characters, and fiction by means of game experiences. Students will prototype a literary game for their final assignment.