Interactive Storytelling Project

Module title	Interactive Storytelling Project
Module code	EASM203
Academic year	2025/6
Credits	60
Module staff	Dr Amy Cutler (Convenor)

Duration: Term	1	2	3
Duration: Weeks		11	11

Number students taking module (anticipated)	16

Module description

This module offers the opportunity to produce a major piece of work as the culmination of your Interactive Storytelling MA. Whether you focus on game design, film, mixed reality, computing, interactive installation, performance or another hybrid format, you will be devising and evolving your project through a timeline which will give you hands on experience of project management through all appropriate developmental stages, from ideation to user testing. Harnessing skills acquired through the taught modules, this final project will showcase your own distinctive approach to interactive storytelling practice and will be paired with a reflective essay framing your critical and conceptual process.

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module supports you to evolve your own autonomous work of interactive storytelling from start to finish. Each project may be appropriate to a different niche within the interactive storytelling industries (such as critical heritage practice or indie game narrative). Tools may vary or be combined according to design needs and feasibility, from the use of smartphone apps to create augmented trails to world-building in game engines or the creation of continually transforming audience spaces using data sensors. Once your initial proposal has been submitted, you will be assigned a supervisor who will provide advice and guidance suitable to the contexts of your work. The sustained development of your project across the module will also be supported with full-cohort workshops as well as industry talks.

You will ultimately conceive, pitch, develop, write and finish a creative work that is purposeful, and deepens your critical understanding of the modern practice of storytelling and the technologies that support it. You will also gain practical skills as an entrepreneur in the creative industries and build a representation of yourself as an interactive narrative designer. The module also includes a self-reflective critical essay which will provide an analysis of the research contexts of your work; this will enable you to frame and position yourself as a critical storyteller.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

1. Demonstrate in-depth knowledge of the chosen project topic within the context of contemporary interactive storytelling, and an advanced application of research methodologies appropriate to the project
2. Solve challenges related to designing narrative via a range of tools and platforms, and understand their formal conventions and affordances in order to effectively produce critical and creative work

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

3. Demonstrate an advanced and intellectually mature appreciation of formal techniques and imaginative expression in the production of creative writing
4. Demonstrate an advanced and autonomous understanding of a variety of theoretical positions in the appropriate critical and professional terminology

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

5. Demonstrate an advanced capacity to communicate ideas clearly and effectively through prose and/or other formats
6. Demonstrate understanding of how to plan and effectively manage time to execute all stages of a major producing project

Syllabus plan

You are encouraged to begin to think about potential approaches for your Interactive Storytelling Project early in the year in discussion with your course tutors. You will develop a project pitch by the end of Term 2 before being assigned to a supervisor. During Term 3 you will work with your supervisor and attend shared development workshops; indicative topics: game jams, pitching, playtesting, troubleshooting, audience-building, and documentation. These are designed to give you an accurate experience of the industry and the iterative processes of independently designing, developing, implementing and publicly launching an interactive narrative experience. A fieldtrip linked to this module provides the opportunity for additional networking.

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities	Guided independent study	Placement / study abroad
26	574	0

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Category	Hours of study time	Description
Scheduled learning and teaching	8	4 x 2-hour cohort development workshops
Scheduled learning and teaching	8	4 x 2-hour industry talks
Scheduled learning and teaching	2	2h total of supervisions
Scheduled learning and teaching	2	2 x 1h practical support group tutorial
Scheduled learning and teaching	6	Field trip: real-world industry learning and networking
Guided independent study	574	Research, practical development, implementation, documentation, preparing assessment

Formative assessment

Form of assessment	Size of the assessment (eg length / duration)	ILOs assessed	Feedback method
Extended proposal plan	1250 words	1, 4, 5, 6	Written
Prototype / presentation	10 minute pitch in class including demo/work in progress	2, 5, 6	Verbal (tutor and peer feedback)

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Coursework	Written exams	Practical exams
100	0	0

Details of summative assessment

Form of assessment	% of credit	Size of the assessment (eg length / duration)	ILOs assessed	Feedback method
Final Interactive Storytelling Project	60	60-75 min interaction time (± 10 percent)	2, 3, 6	Feedback sheet with opportunity for tutorial follow-up
Critical Reflection	40	6,000 words (± 10 percent)	1, 4, 5	Feedback sheet with opportunity for tutorial follow-up

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Original form of assessment	Form of re-assessment	ILOs re-assessed	Timescale for re-assessment
Final Interactive Storytelling Project	Final Interactive Storytelling Project (60%)	2, 3, 6	Ref/def period
Critical Reflection	Critical Reflection (40%)	1, 4, 5	Ref/def period

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 50%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 50%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Each project will be different, and you will develop your own bibliography of primary and critical texts as well as software guidance support texts, with advice from an academic supervisor. Some indicative shared resources will include games cookbooks such as Serious Games Cookbook (Whitby et al), playtesting process guides such as Games User Research (Drachen et al), and essay resources for academic writing.

Key words search

Interactive Storytelling, Independent Project, Pitching, Game Design, Game Jam, Ideation, Devising, Co-Design, Interactive, Game Design, Video Game, Game Studies, Play, Serious Play, Creative Computation, Transmedia, Immersive, Experience Design, VR, AR, XR, Storytelling, Narrative, Digital, Film, TTRPG, Agency, Simulation, Non-Linear, Multi-Linear, Multi-Platform, Ludic, Procedural, Emergent, Indie, Twine, Interactive Documentary, Critical Heritage, Live Cinema, Projection, Database, Generative, Software, Robotics, Audio-Visual, Narratology

Credit value	60
Module ECTS	30
Module pre-requisites	EASM199
Module co-requisites	None
NQF level (module)	7
Available as distance learning?	No
Origin date	26/03/2025
Last revision date	25/04/2025