A Novel Multi-Agent Planning System for Digital Interactive Storytelling

Digital Interactive Storytelling (DIS) is a relatively novel area of computer entertainment that aims at investigating interactive applications capable of generating consistent, emergent, and rich stories. To provide new solutions for DIS, we designed and are implementing and evaluating a novel multi-agent DIS framework, DIEGESIS, which includes agents' coordination and new planning and re-planning solutions. In this article, we discuss the design and implementation of DIEGESIS, explaining in detail the mechanisms of our planning algorithms, and the story execution and agent coordination algorithms, along with a planning methods evaluation and agent planning and coordination examples. We are currently in the process of creating a large DIS scenario, involving the story of Homer's Troy, with several levels that will allow us to further evaluate and expand our system

A Creative Exploration of the Use of Intelligent Agents in Spatial Narrative Structures

This thesis is an interdisciplinary study of authoring tools for creating spatial narrative structures– exposing the relationship between artists, the tools they use, and the experiences they create. It is a research-creation enterprise resulting in the creation of a new authoring tool. A prototype collaborative tool for authoring spatial narratives used at the Land|Slide: Possible Futures public art exhibit in Markham, Ontario 2013 is described. Using narrative analysis of biographical information a cultural context for authoring and experiencing spatial narrative structures is discussed. The biographical information of artists using digital technologies is posited as a context framing for usability design heuristics. The intersection of intelligent agents and spatial narrative structures provide a future scenario by which to assess the suitability of the approach outlined in this study

INVESTIGATION INTO GAME-BASED CRISIS SCENARIO MODELLING AND SIMULATION SYSTEM

A crisis is an infrequent and unpredictable event. Training and preparation process requires tools for representation of crisis context. Particularly, crisis events consist of different situations, which can occur at the same time combining into complex situation and becoming a challenge in coordinating several crisis management departments. In this regards, disaster prevention, preparedness and relief can be conceptualized into a design of hypothetical crisis game. Many complex tasks during development of emergency circumstance provide an opportunity for practitioners to train their skills, which are situation analysis, decision-making, and coordination procedures. While the training in physical workouts give crisis personal a hand-on experience in the given situation, it often requires a long time to prepare with a considerable budget. Alternatively, computational framework which allows simulation of crisis models tailoring into crisis scenario can become a cost-effective substitution to this study and training. Although, there are several existing computational toolsets to simulate crisis, there is no system providing a generic functionality to define crisis scenario, simulation model, agent development, and artificial intelligence problem planning in the single unified framework. In addition, a development of genetic framework can become too complex due to a multi-disciplinary knowledge required in each component. Besides, they have not fully incorporated a game technology toolset to fasten the system development process and provide a rich set of features and functionalities to these mentioned components. To develop such crisis simulation system, there are several technologies that must be studied to derive a requirement for software engineering approach in system’s specification designs. With a current modern game technology available in the market, it enables fast prototyping of the framework integrating with cutting-edge graphic render engine, asset management, networking, and scripting library. Therefore, a serious game application for education in crisis management can be fundamentally developed early. Still, many features must be developed exclusively for the novel simulation framework on top of the selected game engine. In this thesis, we classified for essential core components to design a software specification of a serious game framework that eased crisis scenario generation, terrain design, and agent simulation in UML formats. From these diagrams, the framework was prototyped to demonstrate our proposed concepts. From the beginning, the crisis models for different disasters had been analysed for their design and environment representation techniques, thus provided a choice of based simulation technique of a cellular automata in our framework. Importantly, a study for suitability in selection of a game engine product was conducted since the state of the art game engines often ease integration with upcoming technologies. Moreover, the literatures for a procedural generation of crisis scenario context were studied for it provided a structure to the crisis parameters. Next, real-time map visualization in dynamic of resource representation in the area was developed. Then the simulation systems for a large-scale emergency response was discussed for their choice of framework design with their examples of test-case study. An agent-based modelling tool was also not provided from the game engine technology so its design and decision-making procedure had been developed. In addition, a procedural content generation (PCG) was integrated for automated map generation process, and it allowed configuration of scenario control parameters over terrain design during run-time. Likewise, the artificial planning architecture (AI planning) to solve a sequence of suitable action toward a specific goal was considered to be useful to investigate an emergency plan. However, AI planning most often requires an offline computation with a specific planning language. So the comparison study to select a fast and reliable planner was conducted. Then an integration pipeline between the planner and agent was developed over web-service architecture to separate a large computation from the client while provided ease of AI planning configuration using an editor interface from the web application. Finally, the final framework called CGSA-SIM (Crisis Game for Scenario design and Agent modelling simulation) was evaluated for run-time performance and scalability analysis. It shown an acceptable performance framerate for a real-time application in the worst 15 frame-per-seconds (FPS) with maximum visual objects. The normal gameplay performed capped 60 FPS. At same time, the simulation scenario for a wildfire situation had been tested with an agent intervention which generated a simulation data for personal or case evaluation. As a result, we have developed the CGSA-SIM framework to address the implementation challenge of incorporating an emergency simulation system with a modern game technology. The framework aims to be a generic application providing main functionality of crisis simulation game for a visualization, crisis model development and simulation, real-time interaction, and agent-based modelling with AI planning pipeline

A methodology for the analysis of interactive narrative environments : a four-factor framework

Stories have been engaging humans for thousands of years, but in interactive narrative environments, the narrative is perceived to diminish as the source of engagement. One reason for this apparent diminution, is that in interactive environments there has been difficulty in understanding the relationship between design of the unfolding story, and the ability of a user within the story to alter the course of events. As yet there are no standard or accepted evaluative methods to understand interaction at a granular level, and to understand how stories and narratives flow across the expanse of technologies and mixed realities that characterise the way people communicate, share knowledge and are entertained. This thesis presents a novel methodology called the Four-Factor Framework, that takes as its premise that there are four fundamental elements in interactive stories and narratives that can be observed.Doctor of Philosoph

DIEGESIS A multi-agent Digital Interactive Storytelling framework using planning and re-planning techniques

In recent years, the field of Digital Interactive Storytelling (DIS) has become very popular both in academic circles, as well as in the gaming industry, in which stories are becoming a unique selling point. Academic research on DIS focuses in the search for techniques that allow the creation of systems that can generate dynamically interesting stories which are not linear and can change dynamically at runtime as a consequence of a player’s actions, therefore leading to different story endings.To reach this goal, DIS systems usually employ Artificial Intelligence planning and re-planning algorithms as part of their solution. There is a lack of algorithms created specifically for DIS purposes since most DIS systems use generic algorithms, and they do not usually assess if and why a given algorithm is the best solution for their purposes. Additionally, there is no unified way (e.g. in the form of a selection of metrics) to evaluate such systems and algorithms.To address these issues and to provide new solutions to the DIS field, we performed a review of related DIS systems and algorithms, and based on the critical analysis of that work we designed and implemented a novel multi-agent DIS framework called DIEGESIS, which includes –among other novel aspects- two new DIS-focused planning and re-planning algorithms.To ensure that our framework and its algorithms have met the specifications we set, we created a large scale evaluation scenario which models the story of Troy, derived from Homer’s epic poem, “Iliad”, which we used to perform a number of evaluations based on metrics that we chose and we consider valuable for the DIS field. This collection of requirements and evaluations could be used in the future from other DIS systems as a unified test-bed for analysis and evaluation of such systems