In this assignment, students build a choose-your-own-adventure game that integrates generative AI to create a dynamic, interactive “infinite story” experience. The game is powered by nested dictionary (JSON) objects that store pre-existing scenes. Each scene is a nested dictionary, containing user choices, descriptions, and more. Students are challenged to navigate and manipulate these deeply nested data structures, which helps them appreciate the utility and complexity of dictionary objects. When a user ventures into an undefined scene, the program makes an API call to ChatGPT to generate the next scene, allowing the adventure to continue seamlessly. To the best of our knowledge it is one of the first assignments in intro CS that uses ChatGPT.

What makes this assignment truly nifty is how it teaches students to leverage generative AI in a creative, meaningful way. By blending generative storytelling with technical skills, students get to see the power of AI in extending their projects beyond predefined boundaries, creating an open-ended, exciting experience.

Many students expanded on this assignment for their final projects, creating sophisticated programs like AI-driven Chess and Go games. Using the techniques from this assignment, they leveraged the course’s OpenAI integration to build functional AI agents that enhanced gameplay. These projects showcased the flexibility of the assignment, inspiring students to think critically about the creative and practical applications of AI in real-world contexts.