Lecture Notes on Interactive Storytelling

These lecture notes collect the material used in the advanced course 'Interactive Storytelling' organized biannually at the Department of Future Technologies, University of Turku, Finland. Its aim is to present the key concepts behind interactive digital storytelling (IDS) as well as to review proposed and existing IDS systems. The course focuses on the four partakers of IDS: the platform, the designer, the interactor, and the storyworld. When constructing a platform, the problem is to select an appropriate approach from tightly controlled to emergent storytelling. On this platform, the designer is then responsible for creating the content (e.g., characters, props, scenes and events) for the storyworld, which is then experienced and influenced by the interactor. The structure and relationships between these partakers is explained from a theoretical perspective as well as using existing IDS systems as examples.</p

"Rabbit! rabbit!", "Watt", "The curtains": an interpretation of cinematic storytelling through three different media (3D animation, stop-motion animation and live-action)

This three short-film project tries to comparatively evaluate the visual storytelling properties of three film techniques, live-action, 3D Computer Animation and Stop-motion (clay-mation). All of the three films aim to tell a different enjoyable story adapted to the strengths and weaknesses of each technique. To be able to establish an internal consistency and better comparability, the films are based on a common theme which is 'solitude' and a common genre which is 'supernatural horror'. This paper discusses the features of visual storytelling on each of those techniques comparatively and tries to evaluate their strengths in creating feeling and emotions. To provide a basis, this paper also examines the mythical and archetypal story behind and functions of storytelling in addition to its essentials. It also discusses the importance and necessity of 'solitude' in the context of storytelling. Solitude's role in fear is discussed as well. Eventually it blends the research and discussion material with the short-films "Rabbit! Rabbit!", "The Curtains", and "Watt" in an attempt to better understand the technical aspects of the three techniques as well as their conceptual and semantic projections on and of the story

Hands-off Interactive Storytelling in Cinematic Virtual Reality

This is a research by creative practice that aims to explore a form of hands-off interactivity in cinematic virtual reality (CVR). The proposed model for interactive storytelling is based more on intuitive reactions than on conscious decision-making, enhancing diegetic and, thus, narrative immersion. The initial hypothesis states that hands-off interactivity can allow a user to experience a diegesis in which they can avoid being “pulled-back” from the immersion, an interruption of the story produced by the consciousness of explicit interaction and extra-diegetic interfaces. To achieve this, this project uses immersion, spatial storytelling, and dramatically-motivated soundscapes to facilitate and encourage navigation through simultaneous acoustic and dramatic spaces in one immersive environment. Using this setup, the interactive storytelling takes place as users are presented with two simultaneous storylines with their respective protagonists, which happen to be interdependent, influence each other, and are part of one integral story. Users would then be able to freely navigate and alternate between the two storylines – being influenced by strategically designed visual and acoustic diegetic stimuli – and thus play an active role in getting to make sense of the narration. This way, users generate inputs with organic movements around the fixed axis in which CVR uses are placed. This research is strongly focused on creative practice, the generation of creative outputs, and the analysis of the procedures and production workflows, to understand what are the creative and technical challenges for the proposed type of interactive storytelling. The project is also faced from an interdisciplinary approach that, while centred in a filmmaker’s perspective, makes a critical integration of concepts and techniques from other relevant disciplines to approach the expressive challenges proposed by CVR as an experimental medium

Directed Emergent Drama

A fully interactive drama, where the player interacts with intelligent Non- Player Characters (NPCs), can revolutionise entertainment, gaming, education, and therapy. Creating such a genuinely interactive drama that is entertaining and gives players a sense of coherency as active participants in the unfolding drama has seen a substantial research effort. Authors have the power to shape dramatised stories for theatre or television at will. Conversely, the authors' ability to shape interactive drama is limited because the drama emerges from players' and NPCs actions during game-play, which significantly limits authoring control. A coherent drama has a recognisable dramatic structure. One philosophy is to use planning algorithms and narrative structures to reduce required authoring. However, planning algorithms are intractable for the large state-spaces intrinsic to interactive dramas, and they have not reduced the authoring problem sufficiently. A more straightforward and computationally feasible method is emergent interactive drama from players' and NPCs' actions. The main difficulty with this approach is maintaining a drama structure and theme, such as a mystery theme or a training scenario, that the player experiences while interacting with the game world. Therefore, it is necessary to impose some form of structure to guide or direct the unfolding drama. The solution introduced in this thesis is to distribute the computation among autonomous actors that are guided by goals and drama structures which a centralised autonomous director agent distributes among the actors, which comprises the following four main elements: a) autonomous rational actor agents that know they are acting and can negotiate dialogues between them to remain realistic while simultaneously progressing the drama, without the player knowing, b) Bayesian network to model the actors reasoning, including beliefs about other actors' mental states c) an autonomous director agent uses "schemas", conceptual structures based on motifs, to guide the actors

Convergência entre o cinema e a realidade virtual

Doutoramento em Ciências e Tecnologias da ComunicaçãoEsta tese tem como objectivos centrais apontar hipóteses sobre a origem dos problemas de criação e desenvolvimento emocional em plataformas de entretenimento interactivo e na sequência da comprovação dessas hipóteses apontar possíveis soluções. Nesse sentido este projecto assume relevância na discussão centrada sobre o desenvolvimento de elementos emocionais para narrativas interactivas estruturadas em ambientes virtuais. A forma de enquadrar o conhecimento a trabalhar foi concretizado no estudo sobre aspectos da resposta emocional na convergência entre o Cinema e a Realidade Virtual (RV). Procurou-se definir similaridades e diferenças não apenas nos artefactos criativos mas também nos aspectos comunicacionais entre o artefacto e os receptores. Foi a partir desta primeira abordagem que desenvolvemos a nossa hipótese principal: que a RV sofre de um deficit de estimulação de diversidade emocional nos seus receptores quando comparada com o Cinema. Com esta hipótese foi necessário proceder a estudos empíricos no sentido de determinar a veracidade das nossas conjecturas teóricas. Assim testámos 14 artefactos de RV em termos emocionais e depois comparámos os resultados com testes prévios realizados sobre segmentos fílmicos. Deste estudo empírico retirámos a confirmação da nossa hipótese mas determinámos também a (provável) dificuldade que as nossas hipóteses teriam de enfrentar. A um nível emocional mais profundo, descobrimos que a provável causa da falta de diversidade deriva de um paradoxo, entre a interactividade necessária ao artefacto e a inactividade necessária ao receptor para que este possa sentir determinadas emoções. Estamos assim perante um paradoxo da emoção inter(activa). Partindo deste paradoxo, desenvolvemos um estudo de análise de conteúdos sobre um grupo de sequências fílmicas previamente testadas por nós e em outros testes psicológicos, em termos da especificidade das emoções despoletadas por cada sequência. A análise foi realizada com base em critérios da linguagem formal fílmica mas em vez de realizar um estudo subjectivo de cada sequência, desenvolvemos uma abordagem empírica tendo como grupo alvo, realizadores e argumentistas de cinema. A análise dos excertos produziu uma base de dados de técnicas estilísticas que serviriam ao desenvolvimento da nossa metodologia de design de emoção geral assim como para responder ao caso específico levantado pelo paradoxo anterior. Para este caso específico desenvolvemos uma nova técnica de interacção a que chamámos de toque físico-virtual. Com os estudos empíricos realizados e as metodologias de design de emoção geral e específica estabelecidas, avançámos para a primeira aproximação à prototipagem, ou seja para a conversão das semânticas fílmicas em semânticas RV e por fim procedeu-se à implementação do protótipo. O protótipo foi depois submetido a um conjunto de testes para determinar da sua suficiência, usabilidade e facilidade de uso. Os resultados obtidos indicam que foi atingindo um nível satisfatório na estimulação da diversidade emocional.This thesis has as its central objectives the identification of the source of problems in the elicitation of emotion within interactive platforms, followed by the advancing of possible solutions to the hypotheses thus arrived at. In this regard, the dissertation seeks to make a valid contribution to discussions related with the development of emotional elements in interactive narratives built into virtual environments. The conceptual framework has been grounded in research on aspects of emotional response in the convergence between Film and Virtual Reality, looking for similarities and differences not only in creative artefacts but also in the communication between those artefacts and their consumers. From this first approach, we have stated our main hypothesis: that VR suffers from a deficit in the emotional diversity elicited in receivers when compared with that of Film. With this hypothesis, it was necessary to proceed first with empirical studies in order to ascertain the veracity of our theoretical conjectures. So we have tested 14 VR pieces in emotional terms through self-reports and then we compared the results with previous studies carried out in the analysis of film. From this empirical study we find our hypothesis confirmed but we have also determined the (probable) main difficulty with the reliability of the hypotheses. At a deeper emotional level, we have discovered that the probable cause of lack of diversity derives from a paradox, between the interactivity needed by the artefact and the inactivity needed by the user to feel certain emotions. We are therefore faced with a paradox of emotion inter(activity). Taking our lead from this paradox, we developed a content-analysis study of a selected group of film sequences previously tested by us and in other psychological studies, in terms of the specificity of the emotions elicited by each film clip. The analysis was made following objective film stylistics criteria but instead of doing a subjective analysis of each sequence, we developed an empirical approach grounded in the ideas of a group of filmmakers and film writers, analysing our excerpts in order to produce a database of possible formal film techniques. The database would serve as our main design methodology for emotional diversity and for dealing with the specific problematic areas we had found previously in our interactive artefacts study. For this specific problem, we developed a new interactive technique that we named virtual body touch. With the empirical studies carried out and the methodologies for the general and specific design of emotional diversity established, we moved on to the first stages in prototyping, mainly the conversion of film semantics methodologies into VR semantics. The prototyping then used these converted interactive categories and parameters to produce results in respect of scenery and characterization. Finally, we have submitted the prototype to a series of validation tests to determine the sufficiency, usability and easiness of the tool. This validation process obtained results which indicate a satisfactory level of appraisal by the experimenters. Finally, we present possible suggestions to be taken up and explored in further research work

Texts of Discomfort: Interactive Storytelling Art

Can discomfort be blissful? This volume presents an in-depth reflection of the selected artworks for the Art Exhibition of the 13th International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling - ICIDS 2020 - organized at Bournemouth University - UK, during the most memorable year of the XXI century (so far). The title of the book is the homonym of the curatorial theme of the exhibition Texts of Discomfort. In these pages, interactive storytellers explain their work and the ways discomfort - and bliss - is rooted in their art