Hussey, Joshua
MWF 9:10 AM
Park Hall 0136
ENGL4890: Literature and Games
This course offers an interdisciplinary survey of games through the lenses of literature, culture, and new and old media. Topics, themes, and inquiries of the course will include: games and media theory; fictional works; history of narrative and non-narrative games; issues of identity, race, gender, class, and ability in games; worldbuilding concepts. Students will have the opportunity to analyze games as well as create media and story-rich games in capstone course projects. No previous experience in game design is necessary.
Possible authors/texts:
- (theory) Katie Salen, Eric Zimmerman, Donna Haraway, Janet Murray, Lisa Nakamura, Marie Laure-Ryan, Ian Bogost, Espen Aarseth, N Katherine Hayles, Marshall McLuhan, Jane McGonigal, Astrid Enslinn, James Paul Gee, Gonzalo Frasca, Alenda Chang, Jay David Bolter, Brian Sutton-Smith;
- (fiction) Gabrielle Zevin, Naomi Alderman, William Gibson, Philip Dick, Richard Powers, Neil Stephenson, Orson Scott Card, Jorge Luis Borges, Kazuo Ishiguro, Ernest Cline, Suzanne Collins, Ann/Jeff Vandermeer, Marc Laidlaw;
- (games) Emily Short [galatea], Eric Barone [stardew valley], Michael Mateas and Andrew Stern [façade], Bandersnatch, Lucas Pope [return of the obra dinn, papers please], Porpentine [with those we love alive], Toby Fox [undertale, deltarune], Steve Gaynor [gone home], Sam Barlow [her story], Night School [oxenfree], Simogo [year walk], Miller brothers [myst], Michael Joyce [afternoon, a story], Fail Better [fallen london], Zoe Quinn [depression quest]