I am a high school computing teacher, teaching software engineering and computer science. My students are aged 14 to 18. I am going to be running an after-school computer club, and I’d like to devote about 2 months to interactive fiction - first playing then making.
I’m looking for really good works of interactive fiction my students can explore. I want them to play some of the best IF out there, so they can really experience the genre.
We will be using inform to create IF, if that makes a difference in your recommendations.
These are all relatively old parser games. There will be tons of games that are more recent or that show more of the choice-based side of the community. I list these because they are personal favourites from my preferred IF-history time slot that I believe will interest eager young minds.
I’ve had some students love playing A Beauty Cold and Austere, and Junior Arithmancer is also satisfying and puzzly. Both are math-centered games.
Some smaller, slick and well-some games are Dual Transform and Suveh Nux, both puzzly. More conversation and exploration focused games would be Galatea and the Warbler’s Nest.
You could start with @dee_cooke 's Barry Basic games. At least 2 of them were written for the Text Adventure Literacy Jam and placed very highly. TALP is a contest to introduce people (especially kids) to IF, so tutorials are required. They’re really fun, start easy, and ramp up in difficulty.