4,164 research outputs found
SAGA: A DSL for Story Management
Video game development is currently a very labour-intensive endeavour.
Furthermore it involves multi-disciplinary teams of artistic content creators
and programmers, whose typical working patterns are not easily meshed. SAGA is
our first effort at augmenting the productivity of such teams.
Already convinced of the benefits of DSLs, we set out to analyze the domains
present in games in order to find out which would be most amenable to the DSL
approach. Based on previous work, we thus sought those sub-parts that already
had a partially established vocabulary and at the same time could be well
modeled using classical computer science structures. We settled on the 'story'
aspect of video games as the best candidate domain, which can be modeled using
state transition systems.
As we are working with a specific company as the ultimate customer for this
work, an additional requirement was that our DSL should produce code that can
be used within a pre-existing framework. We developed a full system (SAGA)
comprised of a parser for a human-friendly language for 'story events', an
internal representation of design patterns for implementing object-oriented
state-transitions systems, an instantiator for these patterns for a specific
'story', and three renderers (for C++, C# and Java) for the instantiated
abstract code.Comment: In Proceedings DSL 2011, arXiv:1109.032
Optimizing Player and Viewer Amusement in Suspense Video Games
Broadcast video games need to provide amusement to both players and audience. To achieve
this, one of the most consumed genres is suspense, due to the psychological effects it has on both roles.
Suspense is typically achieved in video games by controlling the amount of delivered information about
the location of the threat. However, previous research suggests that players need more frequent information
to reach similar amusement than viewers, even at the cost of jeopardizing viewers' engagement. In order
to obtain models that maximize amusement for both interactive and passive audiences, we conducted an
experiment in which a group of subjects played a suspenseful video game while another group watched it
remotely. The subjects were asked to report their perceived suspense and amusement, and the data were
used to obtain regression models for two common strategies to evoke suspense in video games: by alerting
when the threat is approaching and by random circumstantial indications about the location of the threat.
The results suggest that the optimal level is reached through randomly providing the minimal amount of
information that still allows players to counteract the threat.We reckon that these results can be applied to a
broad narrative media, beyond interactive games
Exploring Apprenticeship Learning for Player Modelling in Interactive Narratives
In this paper we present an early Apprenticeship Learning approach to mimic
the behaviour of different players in a short adaption of the interactive
fiction Anchorhead. Our motivation is the need to understand and simulate
player behaviour to create systems to aid the design and personalisation of
Interactive Narratives (INs). INs are partially observable for the players and
their goals are dynamic as a result. We used Receding Horizon IRL (RHIRL) to
learn players' goals in the form of reward functions, and derive policies to
imitate their behaviour. Our preliminary results suggest that RHIRL is able to
learn action sequences to complete a game, and provided insights towards
generating behaviour more similar to specific players.Comment: Extended Abstracts of the 2019 Annual Symposium on Computer-Human
Interaction in Play (CHI Play
Towards Intelligent Interactive Theatre: Drama Management as a way of Handling Performance
In this paper, we present a new modality for intelligent interactive
narratives within the theatre domain. We discuss the possibilities of using an
intelligent agent that serves as a drama manager and as an actor that plays a
character within the live theatre experience. We pose a set of research
challenges that arise from our analysis towards the implementation of such an
agent, as well as potential methodologies as a starting point to bridge the
gaps between current literature and the proposed modality.Comment: International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling (ICIDS)
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Looking at the Interactive Narrative Experience through the Eyes of the Participants.
The topic of interactive narrative has been under research for many years. While there has been much research exploring the development of new algorithms that enable and enhance interactive narratives, there has been little research focusing on the question of how players understand and internalize their interactive narrative experiences. This paper addresses this problem through conducting a phenomenological study on participants playing FaƧade; we specifically chose a phenomenological methodology due to its emphasis on the participantsā lived experience from the participantsā viewpoint. We chose FaƧade, because it is the only accessible example of an experience that revolves around social relationships, conflict, and drama as its core mechanics. In this paper, we discuss sixteen themes that resulted from the analysis of the data gathered through the study. In addition, we reflect on these themes discussing their relationship to participantsā backgrounds, and project implications on the design of future interactive narratives
Player agency in interactive narrative: audience, actor & author
The question motivating this review paper is, how can
computer-based interactive narrative be used as a constructivist learn-
ing activity? The paper proposes that player agency can be used to
link interactive narrative to learner agency in constructivist theory,
and to classify approaches to interactive narrative. The traditional
question driving research in interactive narrative is, āhow can an in-
teractive narrative deal with a high degree of player agency, while
maintaining a coherent and well-formed narrative?ā This question
derives from an Aristotelian approach to interactive narrative that,
as the question shows, is inherently antagonistic to player agency.
Within this approach, player agency must be restricted and manip-
ulated to maintain the narrative. Two alternative approaches based
on Brechtās Epic Theatre and Boalās Theatre of the Oppressed are
reviewed. If a Boalian approach to interactive narrative is taken the
conflict between narrative and player agency dissolves. The question
that emerges from this approach is quite different from the traditional
question above, and presents a more useful approach to applying in-
teractive narrative as a constructivist learning activity
Authoring Edutainment Stories for Online Players (AESOP): Introducing Gameplay into Interactive Dramas
The video gaming industry has experienced extraordinary technological growth in the recent past, causing a boom in both the quality and revenue of these games. Educational games, on the other hand, have lagged behind this trend, as their creation presents major creative and pedagogical challenges in addition to technological ones. By providing the technological advances of the entertainment genres in a coherent, accessible format to teams of educators, and developing an interactive drama generator, we believe that the full potential of educational games can be realized. Section 1 postulates three goals for reaching that objective: a toolset for interactive drama authoring, ways to insulate authors from game engines, and reusable digital casts to facilitate composability. Sections 2 and 3 present progress on simple versions of those tools and a case study that made use of the resulting toolset to create an interactive drama
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