Poetry Planet – a prototype for a recombinatory writing game

Poetry Planet is a prototype under development titled “Open-World Games: A Creative Way for Students to Read and Write.”

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AI generated image of an artificial planet. Illustratiopn to the UiS project "Poetry Planet"
Image credit: Dall E 3, AI Image Generator.

The goal of the project is to develop a prototype for a recombinatory writing game (RWG) that can be developed with future funding toward a playable game.
The goal is to then test and further develop the game in upper-secondary classrooms across Norway as part of the Creative Writing Games for Reading (CWGR) project at UiS.

The project manager is associate professor Allen C. Jones (UiS).
The advistory board includes Rose Michael (RMIT,  Australia), Justin Thurman (La Grange College, USA), with senior advisor game designer Brooke Maggs.
The project is working in association with the Department of Cultural Studies and Languages at UiS, NettOp UiS and Screen Story in Stavanger.

The project is a Plogen Programme funded by UiS and Validé.

Open-World Word Games

Project definitions

  • Open world: exploration and building as main “game” elements
  • Recombinatory writing game (RWG): creative game based on combining/reorganizing texts
  • Critical deformation: reorganizing words in a text as a “reading” method
  • Play: playfullness and creativity as a mindset/game experience
  • Juxtaposition: suprising text combinations as a game experience
  • Creative Writing Game for Reading (CWGR): any game that uses creative writing as a method for reading

Creativity is a fundamental part of advanced thinking and writing

Project manager and associate professor Allen C. Jones , University of Stavanger

Game mechanic examples

Below you'll see a few examples of different game mechanics from the prototype of the Poetry Planet game.

Game mechanic "Shelter"

  1. Create sentences
  2. Circle an area
  3. Stay safe one night
An illustration from the game wich is developed as part of the research project Poetry Pilot.
Illustration of the game mechanic "Shelter".

Game mechanic "Mining Mechanic"

  • Remixing words

Research shows that remixing words in a text helps us to think in new ways about it.

An illustration from the game wich is developed as part of the research project Poetry Pilot.
Illustration of the game mechanic "Mining Mechanic".

Game mechanic "Riddle Solution"

  • The teams trade riddle sentences built from the novel The Great Gatsby.
An illustration from the game wich is developed as part of the research project Poetry Pilot.
Illustration of the game mechanic "Riddle Solution".

Project partners