Interactive Storytelling ( Computer Game ) Jehee Lee Seoul National University

Storytelling Storytelling was a natural, almost inevitable consequence of human evolution Why is storytelling such an important component of culture? –Stories are the vehicle by which cultural knowledge is communicated from one generation to the next Why should information be transmitted by stories? –The information context pertains to social reasoning and interpersonal behavior

Narrative Social relation, associative, parallel, pattern-type information is difficult to serialize and communicate Narrative is a reformatter that converts the information to a serial format A story is definitely a linear sequence of events, called plotline

The nature of Stories Strong structure –The conventional structure of stories Stories are about people Conflicts and choices keep the story going forward Stories take place on stages, not maps

Granularity of Stories The story is composed of story granules, such as bits, scenes, and sequences –Bits are the shortest –Scenes is longer in length. The scene is the shortest unit that can convey the context of an event –Bits and scenes combine with each other to form sequences

Plot versus Interactivity Andy Cameron –I will argue that there is a central contradiction within the idea of interactive narrative—that narrative form is fundamentally linear and non-interactive. The interactive story implies a form which is not that of narrative… –In a narrative, this notion of significance seems inversely defined, since the ability to alter events in the plot actually works to diffuse the significance of the story. If viewers can change characters’ actions with the wave of their hands, why should they care about the story? What indeed then is the story?

Plot versus Interactivity Andrew Grassner –The popularity of the concept of interactive fiction for computer-based stories and games is surprising. Is there anything compelling in our cultural history that suggests people want to participate in received stories? Are there stunning examples of successful interactive fictive experiences that have turned doubting Thomases into true believers? NO. –It’s the Myth of Interactivity again – recall that this myth tells us: Interactivity make games better, and a game designer should try to make the experience as richly interactive as possible. … This belief in the universal power of interactivity is what leads people to try to marry interaction and storytelling

Choices in Interactive Storytelling A storyworld is composed of closely balanced decisions that can reasonably go either way The storybuilder’s most important task is creating and harmonizing a large set of dramatically significant, closely balanced choices for the player How do you pare away the boring decisions? How do you keep the storyworld interesting?

Game and Storytelling Games do not necessarily deliver stories Interactive storytelling and games with stories are close cousins –There are a number of successful games with interesting stories –Have you ever seen any successful interactive drama?

Branching Trees Different plot based on each decision Exponentially increasing number of scenes Very difficult to create many good scenes

Bifurcating Plotlines The Garden of Forking Paths –In Ficciones (1994), Jorge Luis Borges –He was interested in bifurcating plotlines, but didn’t want to spend his energy for righting uselessly long stories

Foldback Schemes It simply folds the storyline back to some predetermined path Lots of choices, but choices don’t really matter

Constipated Stories Lots of choices may be offered –One takes you forward –Some lead to death –Some are side trips –Some lead you back Usually artificially limit choices –Desert island –Boat –Spaceship

Peeping Many things happening, but can only view one at a time Can’t change what happens Been done as a live-action play

Linear with Puzzles Open world with puzzles that block your way Puzzles should be solvable from story No real choices in outcome Myst, 7 th guest, … Puzzles are sometimes replaced by shooting/action games Start End Watch Some Video Solve Puzzle Watch Some Video Solve Puzzle

Linear with Puzzles Puzzles should be related to plot –7 th guest had puzzles that had nothing to do with story Puzzles should be solved by what is available in the game Game shouldn’t take 4 weeks with 40 minutes of material

Open Environment The player explores and interacts with world Role playing games Hard to have any plot or drama

A Man’s Love Story Interactive Drama with Live Action Footage –Scene-based granularity level –No predetermined plotline –Many independent scenes

Video versus Animation Live action video –Repetition of scenes – obvious & unnatural –Takes lots of CD space –Easier for long linear scenes –More realistic Animation –More flexible in action and special effects –Easier to splice in extra action –Can control detail of characters

Smart Synthetic Characters Should non-player characters in interactive drama be intelligent? Plot-orientated versus character-orientated –We may specify all the branches of plotlines, or –We may design lots of smart characters with personalities and allow them to interact with each other Characters get smarter, less plotlines should be specified

Multi-User Games Solves problem of developing interesting characters Hard to have narratives A massively multi-user game creates a society, in which interesting events happen The Interaction among players can make stories