How to turn in your final paper

I will leave a folder in my mailbox in Turlington 4301, which is just across from the main elevator on the fourth floor. My mailbox is on the right side of the room. Please try to turn in your paper in the morning or early afternoon, as the mailroom will be closed after about 4:00 or 5:00. You may be able to get someone to open it for you, but I can’t guarantee that. If you arrive before I do and the folder isn’t there yet, then just leave your paper in the mailbox.

I would prefer that you not leave me any books, DVDs, video games, etc. with your paper, because it may be logistically difficult for me to return them to you. Instead, provide a note within or at the end of your paper to explain how I can view the works you’re discussing.

If there’s a specific reason why you can’t turn in your paper in person tomorrow, then please send me your paper by e-mail and explain why you can’t turn it in personally.

If your paper includes digital effects that have to be experienced on a computer, then please provide both a hard copy and a digital copy.

If you have already made arrangements with me about an extension, then you can ignore the above information.

Assignment for the final paper

Length: 12-15 pages. Due date: April 26th.

Assignment: Make an original argument about what is going to happen to typographic materiality in the digital era. How will graphics (or other digital technologies) affect the way in which the visual and physical aspects of lettering are exploited by artists and/or understood by audiences?

As evidence of your argument, choose one particular text (other than the texts I’ve assigned as required reading). Use this text as a case study of how typographic materiality will be affected by graphics and digital technology. In other words, explain how this text serves as an example of the changes (or continuities) in typographic materiality that you’re discussing.

In order to connect your argument with the existing scholarly discourse, include citations from at least three different scholarly sources that I have not assigned you to read. Provide an MLA-format Works Cited list at the end of your paper.

Material component: Use an appropriate font. At least once in your paper, use typographic materiality to illustrate the argument you are making.

Discussion question

Please write 150 words in response to the following discussion question by Thursday:

What text are you planning to write about for the final paper? What are some points you intend to make about this text?

Another amusing example of typographic materiality

Check this out.

For Friday

If you were not able to download the game, then please e-mail me ASAP from a non-UF account, and I will send it to you. Alternately, try this link, but be aware that it will only work for the first ten people who try it.

In addition, please read chapter 4, “Fuzzy and Jaggy: Ontological Descriptions of Videogame Type,” from Zach Whalen’s dissertation The Videogame Text: Typography and Textuality. You can find this dissertation here. Alternately, you can find it by going to the UF library catalog and searching for “whalen typography”. In order to access this dissertation, you must be on a UF server or logged into the UF library system remotely.

Change of plans

As one of you pointed out to me, the use of BitTorrent clients is prohibited by UF’s terms of service. This is going to require a change of plans. I apologize for any problems this may have caused.

Instead of The Broken Sword, please play Mystery House, which is available at this site. You can play this game using the same interface you used to play City of Secrets.

Broken Sword

Please check your e-mail for instructions as to how to obtain The Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars. When you have the .rar file of the game, unarchive it using a program such as WinZip.

In order to play this game, you will need to download and install ScummVM, which is a program that plays games designed with the LucasArts SCUMM engine on any computer platform. ScummVM is available at http://www.scummvm.org/downloads/ . You will also need the optional cutscene pack for The Broken Sword, which is available from the same link (click on ” Broken Sword Cutscene Pack (English, DXA compression”).

Once you have ScummVM, open it and click Add Game, then navigate to the folder containing the Broken Sword game files (on my computer this folder is called “Broken Sword 1 (comp)” and click Choose. This will open up a dialogue box. Click the “Paths” tab on the top of the dialogue box, then click “Extra Path,” then choose the folder with the cutscene pack (on my computer this folder is called “Sword_DXA_Cutscenes). Then click OK. You should then be able to start the game by clicking on the game’s title and pressing the Start button.

I know this sounds complicated, but if I can do it, then so can you.

See http://strategywiki.org/wiki/Broken_Sword:_The_Shadow_of_the_Templars for a walkthrough of the game and a list of controls. Essentially, you left-click on things in order to move the protagonist around and to use objects. Press ESC or F5 to access the menu.

Comics conference

If you attended one or more sessions of the comics conference, then you can earn extra credit by posting a reply to this blog post. Please write 150 or more words about what was discussed at the session you attended, and how it relates to the topics we have been considering in this course.

For Friday

If you are having trouble with City of Secrets, unfortunately there is no walkthrough, but this page offers some useful hints. In order to actually read the hints, you have to use a ROT-13 decrypter; there is a link to one of these on the same page as the hints.

For Friday, please read this blog posting by Emily Short: The Prose Medium and IF.

For Wednesday

For Wednesday, please start playing City of Secrets, which is available from this link.

To play this game, you will need an interpreter that can run .blb files. If you are using a Macintosh, then you can run such files using Zoom. If you are using Windows, then I suggest WinGlulxe.

As an optional reading, you may wish to look at Dennis Jerz’s article “Somewhere Nearby is Colossal Cave”, which you can find here. This is somewhat beyond the scope of what we’re talking about now, hence why I am not requiring you to read it, but it is a good example of a scholarly work on interactive fiction that pays attention to visuality and forensic materiality.