iMyth

Tag: Interactive Storytelling

  • Storyworld Presentation

    This posting compliments a prior posting I created concerning the use of social media to perpetuate the interactive storytelling experience. The interactive storytelling experience is not a one time event nor is it bound to the individual. For interactive storytelling to have an impact on its intended audiences, all aspects of the story need to penetrate almost every aspect of their lives and the lives of their piers,( friends, families, playmates, …). The story must be shared and discussed for the experience to live beyond the specific interactive storytelling phenomenal experience.  This is the realm and function of Storyworld. 

    I created a Storyworld presentation for the folks of my company based on my experiences attending the 2012 Los Angeles Storyworld Conference.  I don’t know of a method WordPress can display a Powerpoint document so I am I am embedding the presentation in the blog. Google view is supposed to be able to play it but I have not got it to work yet.. If there is anyone that needs me to re-post it I’ll be happy to work with you to get it.

    [gview file=”http://chrisroda.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Storyworld2012Appended2014.pptx”]

    I was able to get this to view in window using Internet Explorer. The results are fairly under-whelming. I get bupkiss with Chrome. You may need to just download the presentation for yourself and view it as was intended.

     

  • Modeling

    Over the weekend I read Chris Crawford’s chapter on “Modeling”. Overall I like his approach to modeling human response and behavior. I think he’s got a good thing going. I especially like the way he translated boolean into numerical form. It makes a lot of sense. Hi eight steps for establishing modelling rules seem like good guidelines.

    Crawford mentioned during an earlier chapter that to represent the vast and numerous storyworlds, interactive storyworld creators would need to employ more procedural methods for modeling reality. I think this approach needs to be extended to modeling behavior. While his technique for contracting multiple rules with one numerical equation is pretty nift, I can’t help but wonder if this can’t be pushed further.

    Boolean logic is also another attribute that can be improved upon. Boolean expressions are good for modelling simple transitional states. However, reality is very rarely black and white. More often it is multiple shades of grey. I like to replace my Boolean expressions with Fuzzy Logic operations. I feel I get a more organic response with Fuzzy Logic where boolean tends to be mechanic. Extending this further I would like to get my hands dirty with Fuzzy Cognitive maps. Instead of creating rules to represent behavior, Fuzzy cognitive maps create vast matrices keeping record of those sensitive relationships. I have not been able to implement  FCM’s yet. However, they will be one of the first features included on the Raconteur Engine.

  • Chris Crawford’s Part III

    I’m about half way through reading Chris Crawford’s “On Interactive Storytelling”. I am glad I picked up this version. After reading the older version I realized he has made many changes; mostly for the better.

    I do have to admit I am a bit concerned after reading Part III in his book, “Evolutionary Strategies”. He spends the four chapters analysing and criticizing all other attempts at Interactive Storytelling.  While his observations seem to hold water I am a bit concerned of his decided fatality of each of the prior media formats leaves very little opportunity to jump to the next level.

    The branching tree strategy seems very limited by its pure scale. I would agree this is far too limiting and not a good way to go..

    Interactive Fiction seems very interesting. I can’t help but wonder if the obstacles this format faces are not similar obstacles a successful interactive story telling engine will have to overcome. It seems like limited vocabulary and the rut stuck in puzzles will be very formidable to overcome.

    Role playing games are very dear to my heart. I loved playing Dungeons and Dragons when I was a kid. I love playing it with my kids. However, the warnings of the genre being too specialized and refined are valid. Folks who love role playing game don’t want interactive storytelling. However, I feel as if some kind of Juxtaposition between Interactive Fiction and Role Playing games is where Interactive Storytelling will need to grow from.

    I also agree that Video games can not be Interactive stories. they are two separate mediums and combining them will not only be expensive but time consuming and ultimately wasteful. I do love the end note of the chapter that hints at  procedurally generated environments. I like to deviate from the word “Procedural” and focus on Grammar Based Universes instead. I feel that GBU’s are a key component to Interactive Storytelling and thus I have devoted a large portion of my web site to this study.

    I wonder why Crawford did not consider movies. He basically tore apart this concept earlier in the book. I guess he felt it was not necessary to beat a dead horse. Indeed fil is almost as non-interactive as you can get. But there are some very important components in film which will need to migrate. Timelessness, witty dialogue, strong character rapport, mystery, suspense, thematic representation and allegorical reference will all need to be found in Interactive Storytelling if it will ever gain popularity.

    Interactive Storytelling will need to grow from one or all of these mediums. I hope Crawford can provide a little guidance in the rest of the book. Up to now I’m feeling a bit “hopeless”.

  • Immersive Storyworld

    Immersive Storyworld (aka. Virtual Amusement Park)

    The Immersive Storyworld has two immediate ambitions. The first is to provide an engrossing interactive story experience. The second is to create a transmedia storyworld from the immersive experience.

    The Immersive Storyworld facility is divided into two areas; the lounge and the storyworld Stage. One facility may be equipped with more than one stage. However,for simplification, all of the unique stages may be considered as one large unified stage. Inside the lounge, spectators may interact with each other and watch video displays. The video monitors display the storyworld’s interpretation of guests’ activities inside the stage. Certain guests viewing the activities may have a limited amount of interaction with the guests in the storyworld. However, this will be described later.

    All activity inside the storyworld and all that is displayed outside is monitored and controlled by the storyworld engine(swe). All environments, characters and story elements are pre-installed into the swe. The swe captures the activities of the player characters in the stage and re-creates them virtually in a stylized representation set forth by the storyworld designer. That representation is fed back to the player characters to generate their perception of the storyworld. The representation is also processed and displayed by the swe to guests in the Lounge. All elements defining each storyworld are stored in the swe. All events occurring within the storyworld stage are recorded. The swe may replay any scenario of the storyworld any number of times. All perception of the storyworld must be through the swe.

    Guests participating in the storyworld stage are called player characters. Player characters have no direct, real world communication with other guests. Instead they are bound to the communication interface set by the storyworld designer. Each player character is equipped with a headset, earphones and a motion tracking suite. The headset displays the storyworld’s visual interpretation of the stage and all characters contained within. The earphones supply the audio interpretation of the storyworld and its inhabitants. The motion tracking suite enables the swe to monitor and track the exact position and orientation of the player characters. More sophisticated versions of the tracking suite will be able to track facial motion and expressions. All speech and motion of the player are sampled and saved by the swe.

    The storyworld stage is constructed like a generic motion picture or stage set. Platforms, walls, stairs, doors and variably shaped objects behave as the physical environment for the player characters. However, the appearance of the real world stages are not how guests perceive them. The positions and orientations of the environments have been pre-installed into the swe. The swe recreates the appearance of the environment in the  designer’ stylized interpretation. This new appearance is displayed in the character players’ headsets and the guests’ displays in the lounge.

    The swe takes the recorded player position and orientation of a player character and transforms him into a stylized storyworld denizen. The storyworld interpretation of denizens is how other players and guests perceives each player character. Just as the swe re-interprets the contents of the stage, so too are the player characters. If a player character looks at himself in a storyworld mirror, he would not see himself wearing a motion suit and headset but a unique, stylized denizen of the storyworld.

    The player characters’ environment is a stylized interpretation of the storyworld stage. The swe takes the fundamental physical characteristics of the stage and,  using style guides, templates and grammar based rules, transforms into a virtual storyworld.  Similarly, the players characters’ actions and movements are transformed by the swe with the same grammar based rules to generated integrated, naturally looking characters.

    All changes in the storyworld, both concerning the characters and the environment, are recorded by the swe. The swe renders a 3D representation of the storyworld as observed from the perspective of the player character. That 3D representation is then displayed in the headset of the player. Thus even though each player is observing the same storyworld, no two perspectives are the same. The reality of the storyworld is generated uniquely per player. This enables each player to perceive the reality of the storyworld with an altered consciousness based on the players’ emotional, physical and spiritual state. Just as a the storyworld can be viewed from any players’ perspective, then so too may the world be observed from any perspective. Active and passive spectators can observe the activities of the storyworld from an unlimited number of entertaining and informative perspectives. Similarly, just as the perspectives of the players may be manipulated by the swe, then so too may any of the spectator perspectives.

    The storyworld stage is created from a composite of re-configurable stage elements. These elements can be any physical structure such as floors, walls, ceilings, stairs, doors, windows, railings, drop-offs, hills, roads, rocks, etc. Any possible structure, both man made and natural, can be represented. Other than shape, size and density, these structures contain no other identifiable detail. The swe will supply all detail when the storyworld is generated for the observer. The position and orientation of the structures must be pre-established to maintain parity with the representation stored within the swe. This will guarantee one to one correspondence between what the players observe and what the swe controls. Movable structures such as props,(window sills, weapons, rocks, vehicles, etc.), must be tracked by the swe at all times, insuring prop integrity from all perspectives. Tactile features such softness vs. hardness, heat vs warmth will need to be worked out as technology continues to develop.

    All structures in the storyworld stage need to be re-configurable for two reasons. The first is they may change during course of a player’s story. The storyworld stage is meant to be  experienced multiple times by many guests. Therefore, once a player is finished with a particular stage, that stage must return to its exact same configuration before the next player character starts. This insures all player characters starting from a similar starting point and giving the swe an opportunity to reset the storyworld to its original configuration. The second reason is the inter-changeable nature of the storyworld stage itself. Once an individual stage has finished it’s utility,  it can be reconfigured with other elements from different stages to construct brand new stages. The components of the stage need to be recyclable. Of course, certain “one-off” components will be needed from time to time. However, if the bulk of the stage components are re-usable then stages become portable and scalable.

    Since all structures must be tracked by the swe then anything that can possibly change should be considered a character. Players should be considered as “Player Characters”. Props and other mobile structures should be considered as “Prop Characters”. Walls, platforms, ceilings and other structures should be considered as “Static Characters”.

    Player characters in the storyworld perceive themselves to be stylized characters in the virtual landscape. Player characters observe other characters the same way they observe themselves. Similarly, all non-player characters are represented in the same stylized fashion. Player characters, co-players and NPC’s are all denizens of the storyworld. A player character should not be able to differentiate other co-players from NPC’s. Similarly, other players will not be able to differentiate the player characters from other NPC’s.

    Since all characters appear in the same stylized fashion, the real world location of the guests is irrelevant. Multiple player characters may share a  stage location. However, one guest may be participating with another player 2000 miles away in the similar stage configuration. Guests will not be able to differentiate other player characters from NPC’s. Similarly, a player character will not be aware of the real physical location of other characters or NPC’s. As long as guests can interact with each other in the virtual landscape of the storyworld, there should be no limitations to the player characters’ ability to interact. Physical contact and all stimulation related to touch and feel  are more challenging issues and will need to be resolved at a future date. Some props can be configured dynamically in order to provide some kind of physical resistance incited by other players or NPC’s. For example, slamming or striking into another person or object should provide realistic resistance. However, anything requiring more intimacy will need to be worked out.

    An interactive storyworld may be a vast, galaxy sized epic spanning thousands of generations. However, it may also be the size of a broom closet existing for a five minute short story. The choice is made by the storyworld designer. The stages are configured to correspond to one chapter or scene in the master storyworld. The storyworld designer may choose to lay down all chapters of a story  in one location.  The swe keeps track of all events. This information can be passed to the next chapter or scene in the master story. Similarly, individuals can re-experience that portion of the storyworld multiple times. The swe keeps track of each and every session and makes the information available for any guest to review. Regretfully, all active player characters may not be available to recreate a session.  Other player characters’ recorded activities will be played back  through NPC’s. The player character should not be able to identify the difference.

    The active story is the state of the storyworld narrative during the player characters’ experience. This active story can be experienced through three perspectives; active, passive and omniscient. The active perspective is viewed from the eyes of the characters in the storyworld. Any character can be “played” by any playing guest. The player has full control over the character and all activities of that character are recorded. If desired, they can play through the perspective of a Non-Player Character. There may be certain limitations to ensure the NPC fulfills his responsibilities. This may manifest itself as the character not being able to perform certain activities unless certain “objectives” are accomplished first.

    The second perspective is the passive or  the cinematic perspective. In this situation the guest has no control, no influence and no involvement in the activities of the storyworld. They are pure observers. Their perspective is not driven from the characters but from the cinematic direction of the storyworld designer. The goal of the designer is to produce the most effective and entertaining  story experience. They choose the camera perspectives, music and sound effects and the chronological order of the viewed scenes. This creates an experience very similar to watching a film or television show. The only difference is that when viewing the storyworld, the activities of the characters are less contrived and open to serendipity. Guests in the lounge are treated to this cinematic perspective. If a guest wishes to experience the storyworld without some kind of participation, this is the best alternative. Versions of the cinematic are available for review and for posting on social media.

    The third storyworld perspective is the god-like omniscient perspective. The guest may view the storyworld from any possible perspective, including the non-rendered, “real world” perspective. Similarly, the guest is not limited to just one sequence of actions. If there are multiple variations of the storyworld occurring consecutively, the guest may “switch between channels”, choosing which occurrence to observe.  From this omniscient perspective, the guest has no direct control over any character or environment but may “influence” their behavior. Depending on the freedom allotted by the storyworld designer, the guest may change the behavior, placement or functionality of any storyworld variable excluding those controlled by active guests. Allowing this perspective adds an extra dimension of variability and randomness to the active guest experience. It may be used to alter the mood, tone or theme of the scene. This may be done to make the experience harder or easier or with the intention to keep player characters confused and always on their toes.

    During a session of the storyworld, all perspectives are not only viewable but they are recordable, playable and able to be up-loaded on any social media. This empowers the story to continue from the storyworld stage and into the perspectives of the active and passive participants. Thus any scenario may be viewed from any perspective at any time by any third party. The intention of this is to create stories about the storyworld experiences. Over time the second hand stories may become more popular than the first-hand experiences.

    The installation of a storyworld stage is intended to be temporary. Just as films and museum exhibits travel and move from venue to venue, so too do the individual storyworld stages. An individual set may be part of a larger story. In order to experience the entire story, guests may be required to participate in each installment. Certain facilities may be unable to entertain certain storyworld installments. Thus these can only be experienced at the locations equipped to handle them. Temporary installments create urgency for player participation. Without limited engagements, some guests may be less motivated to visit which translates to bad business for the location. The size and sophistication of a facility may control the number of storyworld experiences it can house. There may be multiple active storyworld experiences occurring at the same time in any one location. Similar to a movie studio, movie theater or museum, a single facility can house multiple storyworld stages concurrently.

     

  • Future Angle for Interactive Storytelling

    After having read Chris Crawford’s book on Interactive Storytelling he tells of a definite upward struggle to get the genre of Interactive Storytelling off the ground. Indeed for the amount of time he has been working on this topic it seems as if it will never take off.

    In contemplating how to make a living off of Interactive Storytelling I came to the quick realization that indeed there is no market. The field is just in its infancy. What the field really needs is a vehicle that demonstrates that Interactive Storytelling to be an economically viable field. That has not happened yet. When that does however, I believe there be an enormous landslide of attention devoted to the development and expansion. There is a lot of ground to cover.  The idealistic dreams of pioneer is still a pipe dream away.

    One possible way of demonstrating the economic viability of Interactive Storytelling is to marry the interactive experience with social media. The story of the actual experience is enjoyable. In fact, escapism may be underlying goal of many of the participants. However this is only an first person experience. The emotional experience is contained only within the individual. However, as Chris Crawford mentioned, storytelling arose from the interaction of the language and social nodes trying to rationalize the visio-spatial and environmental understanding of reality. Thus the storytelling experience calls out to be shared socially. The stories about the stories are what will give life to the genre and act as the vehicle which will transport it to its future incarnations.

    The Raconteur engine will be a juxtaposition of the classical Story Telling Engine and an interface to the on-line social media which so predominates our current society. Its hard to tell how long this social media boom will last. Regardless, like it or not, it is here and it must be considered as a vehicle for almost all social interaction. (Gen X’ers and older may argue.) Thus it is my hope to exploit the social media aspect in order to help drive and fund the Interactive Storytelling elements. Regardless of the longevity of social media, storytelling is part of what it means to be human and will be with us for as long as we exist.

  • Rewards, Perspective & Time

    I’m really bummed. After a long run this morning, I cleaned up and wrote this beautiful blog supporting the topic. I pressed the”update button” and nothing. Everything went away. Thus now I must try to regurgitate what was once very warm in my brain.

    One of the big differences between game engines and the Raconteur engine is the motivation to keep the player “in the game”. I must emphasise the Raconteur engine is not a game engine. Thus many of the core mechanics must change. Visitors of the Raconteur engine are not really players in the game but visitors to the story world. However for simplicity, I will call visitors of the story world as “players in the game” since both serve a simmilar function.

    Growing, expanding, leveling, defeating your opponnent are all the rewards which keep the players playing within the game engine. What sets the Raconteur engine apart from other “game” engines is the reward system – the reason to keep participating. With a game engine the goal is to win, grow, get larger, go further, collect more dots, beat the other guy; win. The Raconteur engine is not a game engine. Therefore another must be established.

    What draws us to film, books, television and other print media? It’s certaiinly not the opportunity to win. I think rather its about curiosity and resolution. What builds that curiosity is rapport. Rapport is an extremly human “feeling” that controls almost everything we do in life. Why Rapport is so important to us and why it is a cornerstone to our foundation of happiness is the subject for another article. Regardless, the curiosity we have for the characters is what compells us us to participate and resolution is the reward we get for playing.

    Since Rapport is so important to pull us into the storyworld then perspective must be one of the primary parameters. Almost any situation can be perceived in almost any emotional context. The rapport we have with the character dictates the emotional response to every situation. Therefore, perspective must be one of the primary tools for keeping the audience in the game.

    Perspective is such a very illusive topic. What complicates things is that perspective is not bound by time; it is four dimensional. The brain can tell no difference between the memories of the past, the perception of the present and the visions of tomorrow. All of this contributes to the emotional state of every character, Thus exposure to perspective must be independent of time. Iif some characters are devoting their perspective to the past and others are focussing on the future,how will the Raconteur engine deal with the characters in the present? Two timescales must be established. The first is the story world time. This is constant and moves very similarly to to our own time. The second is the per character perspective time. This time is ultimately bound by the story world time. However, it is not bound by the same restrictions. in fact it is bound only by the exposure to any other perspective it can get in contact with.

    There will be more on each of these topics.

  • Immediate Plans for the Future

    I have to admit I’m a bit concerned I don’t yet have a grand vision for where all this is headed.  However, I do have a small handful of small projects which may help provide some vision. This particular blog doesn’t really fall within the Grammar Based Universes or Interactive Storytelling categories but is really a combination of both.

    The projects I pursue have two purposes:

    1. To push the field of Interactive Storytelling into the next big wave. (Don’t know what the next big wave is yet? Hold on it is coming!)
    2. Create Business opportunities such that I may be able to focus 100% in this direction and provide abundance for my family.

    Keeping those themes in mind, here are the next projects to focus on:

    • Create First Unity Project 11/25/13
    • Integrate Houdini with Unity using Houdini Engine
    • Create a moving character in Houdini and get it into Unity
    • Create an articulated character in Houdini and get it into Unity
    • Develop FLOPS engine (It’s gotta be portable, fast and easy to use!)
    • Finish up my HDA builder
    • Test some of Chris Crawford’s ideas
    • Create a Plot Driven Story Universe
    • Port Houdini Engine to other packages such as Cry, Unreal, Frostbite and Touch.
    • Create a story Language based on Chris Vogler’s Writer’s Journey
    • Create larger, all media encompasing story language.

    That’s a lot to do … and get it all done by the end of the week? – SURE!

  • First Unity Project

    I created my first Unity project.

    First Unity Project

    I’m actually impressed how easy it was . Of course the scene I created was very simple. However, Unity should supply a suitable test bed for many of the concepts I am developing. Look for more good things coming from this website.

  • Concerns About Plot-driven devices

    I too have my concerns about a plot-driven device. If you follow just one plot then you’re not really in an interactive story anymore, you’re on rails … such as Uncharted. How could you possibly visualize all the possible plots? It’s like looking at an infinite 4 dimensional hypercube. You could constrain the fourth dimension … isolating your domain to a three dimensional cube within one relative time epoch. Even then you are left with an infinite number of paths traversing the cube; each path representing a unique plot. How could you possibly focus only on the interesting or entertaining plot lines without once again putting yourself on rails?

  • Crawford’s “on Interactive Storytelling”, part I

    I have bee reading, although very slowly, Chris Crawford’s “On Interactive Storytelling. I’m only about half way through the book but I find it very fascinating.

    In particular his “Data-Driven” strategies. He sites references of Aarne-Thompson, Vladimir Propp and Georges Polti. I can’r help but wonder where Joseph Campbell’s system would fit or more particular, Chris Vogler’s interpretation of the Writer’s Journey. When writing screenplays, I would often get ideas by placing Chines Zodiac archetypes in a Vogler situation and let them play against each other. Although the interaction were in my head I could not feel as if I was following a rule based system.

    I’m only part way through the Language-based Strategies, I also find this extremely relative. Before reading this book I had been studying up on compiler design so I might be able to create such a Languages-based system.

    I’ll have more notes as I finish the book.