Co-Habited Texts: Designing Cooperative Interactive Fiction as Auto-Ethnographic Method
Proposal Type
Individual Talk
Location
Algorithms & Imaginaries
Start Date
July 2026
End Date
July 2026
Abstract
Co-Habited Texts: Designing Cooperative Interactive Fiction as Auto-Ethnographic Method
Authors: Abhik Hasnain, Adeline K. Piercy
Keywords: Cooperative Interactive Fiction, Electronic Literature, Multiplayer Narrative, Auto-Ethnography, Collaborative Authorship, Narrative Design Toolkits, Experimental Game Design, Digital Textuality.
Despite decades of experimentation in interactive fiction (IF), electronic literature lacks robust frameworks for cooperative play. Current IF engines such as Twine, RenPy, and Ink are not built to support co-op experiences without complex mods or hack— while dialogue managers available through asset stores for Unity, Unreal, and Godot focus on direct dialogue as the sole driver of the co-op experience.
Seeking to intervene in this underdeveloped creative space for collaboratively writing electronic literature, this paper reflects on our experiences designing Ether 5, a split-screen cooperative interactive fiction experience that showcases a coherent packaged solution to the aforementioned gap. We also present a toolkit that bundles strategies and methodologies that can be used for authoring multiplayer interactive fiction.
Ether 5 is made using InterTwine, a co-op IF creation tool we are actively developing. In Ether 5, two players take the role of Ninith and Bex, queer cyborgs surviving in the city of Kuruio as they navigate and plan against the Queer Relocation Federation’s initiative for off-planet rehabilitation of “strange” bodies.
In this paper, we reflect on our misadventures as authors in Kuruio, and discuss how shared spaces can provide ground for experimentation for auto-ethnographic exploration through co-op play and collaborative authorship. We examine how meaning emerges through negotiated decisions, shared spatial perception, and asymmetrical narrative knowledge between players in electronic literature.
Ultimately, we explore how our toolkit can power cooperative IF by reconfiguring existing game design elements to support cohabited play through electronic text. Using Ether 5 as a case study, we argue that cooperative interactive fiction remains critically underexplored, and offer a design framework, a writer-first toolkit, and an auto-ethnographic analysis to advance its creative, technical and theoretical potential.
Co-Habited Texts: Designing Cooperative Interactive Fiction as Auto-Ethnographic Method
Algorithms & Imaginaries
Co-Habited Texts: Designing Cooperative Interactive Fiction as Auto-Ethnographic Method
Authors: Abhik Hasnain, Adeline K. Piercy
Keywords: Cooperative Interactive Fiction, Electronic Literature, Multiplayer Narrative, Auto-Ethnography, Collaborative Authorship, Narrative Design Toolkits, Experimental Game Design, Digital Textuality.
Despite decades of experimentation in interactive fiction (IF), electronic literature lacks robust frameworks for cooperative play. Current IF engines such as Twine, RenPy, and Ink are not built to support co-op experiences without complex mods or hack— while dialogue managers available through asset stores for Unity, Unreal, and Godot focus on direct dialogue as the sole driver of the co-op experience.
Seeking to intervene in this underdeveloped creative space for collaboratively writing electronic literature, this paper reflects on our experiences designing Ether 5, a split-screen cooperative interactive fiction experience that showcases a coherent packaged solution to the aforementioned gap. We also present a toolkit that bundles strategies and methodologies that can be used for authoring multiplayer interactive fiction.
Ether 5 is made using InterTwine, a co-op IF creation tool we are actively developing. In Ether 5, two players take the role of Ninith and Bex, queer cyborgs surviving in the city of Kuruio as they navigate and plan against the Queer Relocation Federation’s initiative for off-planet rehabilitation of “strange” bodies.
In this paper, we reflect on our misadventures as authors in Kuruio, and discuss how shared spaces can provide ground for experimentation for auto-ethnographic exploration through co-op play and collaborative authorship. We examine how meaning emerges through negotiated decisions, shared spatial perception, and asymmetrical narrative knowledge between players in electronic literature.
Ultimately, we explore how our toolkit can power cooperative IF by reconfiguring existing game design elements to support cohabited play through electronic text. Using Ether 5 as a case study, we argue that cooperative interactive fiction remains critically underexplored, and offer a design framework, a writer-first toolkit, and an auto-ethnographic analysis to advance its creative, technical and theoretical potential.
Bio
Abhik Hasnain (he/they) is a Digital Humanities graduate student at the University of Alberta. He is an active research member of the SHFT Group led by Dr. Eric Kaltman and the CRYPT Lab led by Dr. PB Berge, and a Graduate Student Fellow at the Digital Scholarship Center. His research examines regional game development ecosystems, accessible production frameworks, and computational media tools as sites of intervention. Abhik is also a computational media practitioner, game developer and programmer experienced in building AI-driven workflows for SSH research.
Adeline K. Piercy (she/they) is a Digital Humanities graduate student at the University of Alberta, Co-President of the Digital Humanities Student Association, and a member of the CRYPT Lab led by Dr. PB Berge. She also teaches Professional Communications at MacEwan University. Adeline’s work focuses on queer and feminist issues and explores trauma, neurodivergence, and self-exploration. Their current research challenges patterns of gendered exclusion in videogame culture, from ‘girl game’ movements to game design interventions.