What would you teach a group of 12 year old kids about text-based games?
I work in K- 12 school (ages 6 to 18). I am thinking about designing an after-school course on text-based games.
I think I can sell it to parents "A game your kids have to read..." and I'm pretty sure I can generate enough excitement with the kids to get 5 or 6 students. The class would last an entire school year (September to June), meeting once a week. So we would be looking at about 30 class meeting times (probably more like 20 with interruptions and field trips).
I have thought about this a bit, and here's my basic outline:
Text based games
The classics:
play part of Adventure
play part of zork I
play mud II (bartle's mud)
MUDS
Talk about different code bases
Play some muds:
fantasy
science fiction
popular fiction
building
build a mud using (mud code base 1)
build a mud using (mud code base 2)
interviewing a mud builder
interviewing a mud creator
MUSHES
Talk about different mushes
Play some MUSHES:
fantasy
science fiction
popular fiction
building
Build a mush using the pennmush server
MUXes
playing muxes
playing a Battle tech mux
Interactive fiction
The big difference in interactive fiction and MU*'s
playing IF
designing IF using Inform 7
Puzzles: what makes a puzzle fun?
Good writing
How to write a good story
How to write a good bad guy
How to run a TP
Coded systems versus free form RP
What do you all think?
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Game design and social networking
Sounds like a fun class!
I'd consider adding material on game design. Raph Koster's "A theory of fun for game design" might work well (it's cartoony and very smart). Basically, having kids think about what's fun and why, on a variety of levels.
I'd also consider adding material about social networking, and how social network sites (which these kids may already be familiar) become fun and what lessons can be drawn from that area for making text-based games.
They're kids...
...so chat security might be an interesting topic.