Dynamic emphatical narration for reduced authorial burden and increased user freedom in interactive storytelling

Interactive storytelling systems have become very popular as they engage users in the creation of narrative. A fundamental challenge for such systems is that the users feel unconstrained in their exploration of the environment and yet retain for the author some control of what the user does. Traditi...

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Main Authors: Gonzalo Méndez, Raquel Hervás, Pablo Gervás, Alejandro Martín, Frank Julca
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2019-01-01
Series:Connection Science
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09540091.2018.1454891
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author Gonzalo Méndez
Raquel Hervás
Pablo Gervás
Alejandro Martín
Frank Julca
author_facet Gonzalo Méndez
Raquel Hervás
Pablo Gervás
Alejandro Martín
Frank Julca
author_sort Gonzalo Méndez
collection DOAJ
description Interactive storytelling systems have become very popular as they engage users in the creation of narrative. A fundamental challenge for such systems is that the users feel unconstrained in their exploration of the environment and yet retain for the author some control of what the user does. Traditional solutions address this challenge by hardening the authoring task, since much effort has to be devoted to create the story and the necessary mechanisms to provide the user with enough freedom that, at the same time, keeps the story consistent. We propose a solution based on dynamic narration that combines a set of authored materials associated with particular points in the environment and the exploratory movements of the user, and includes statements of varying emphasis to guide the user towards the desired elements. This allows the system to generate a narration in real time while giving the user the possibility to decide what to do. The solution has been field tested and results are reported on three different aspects: the freedom of the user in terms of combinations in which the authored material is traversed; the divergence of user explorations from author's intentions; and user response to guidance statements of differing emphasis.
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spelling doaj-art-eff2e1a5b33041518e69e57763dadd9b2025-08-20T03:06:27ZengTaylor & Francis GroupConnection Science0954-00911360-04942019-01-01311335910.1080/09540091.2018.14548911454891Dynamic emphatical narration for reduced authorial burden and increased user freedom in interactive storytellingGonzalo Méndez0Raquel Hervás1Pablo Gervás2Alejandro Martín3Frank Julca4Universidad Complutense de MadridUniversidad Complutense de MadridUniversidad Complutense de MadridUniversidad Complutense de MadridUniversidad Complutense de MadridInteractive storytelling systems have become very popular as they engage users in the creation of narrative. A fundamental challenge for such systems is that the users feel unconstrained in their exploration of the environment and yet retain for the author some control of what the user does. Traditional solutions address this challenge by hardening the authoring task, since much effort has to be devoted to create the story and the necessary mechanisms to provide the user with enough freedom that, at the same time, keeps the story consistent. We propose a solution based on dynamic narration that combines a set of authored materials associated with particular points in the environment and the exploratory movements of the user, and includes statements of varying emphasis to guide the user towards the desired elements. This allows the system to generate a narration in real time while giving the user the possibility to decide what to do. The solution has been field tested and results are reported on three different aspects: the freedom of the user in terms of combinations in which the authored material is traversed; the divergence of user explorations from author's intentions; and user response to guidance statements of differing emphasis.http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09540091.2018.1454891interactive storytellingnarrativecomputational creativityauthoringstory structure
spellingShingle Gonzalo Méndez
Raquel Hervás
Pablo Gervás
Alejandro Martín
Frank Julca
Dynamic emphatical narration for reduced authorial burden and increased user freedom in interactive storytelling
Connection Science
interactive storytelling
narrative
computational creativity
authoring
story structure
title Dynamic emphatical narration for reduced authorial burden and increased user freedom in interactive storytelling
title_full Dynamic emphatical narration for reduced authorial burden and increased user freedom in interactive storytelling
title_fullStr Dynamic emphatical narration for reduced authorial burden and increased user freedom in interactive storytelling
title_full_unstemmed Dynamic emphatical narration for reduced authorial burden and increased user freedom in interactive storytelling
title_short Dynamic emphatical narration for reduced authorial burden and increased user freedom in interactive storytelling
title_sort dynamic emphatical narration for reduced authorial burden and increased user freedom in interactive storytelling
topic interactive storytelling
narrative
computational creativity
authoring
story structure
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09540091.2018.1454891
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