Game Design Innovations in Interactive Fiction

2. Game Design Innovationsin Interactive Fiction _ Michael Rubin Orange River Studio

3. Introduction • Who am I? • My credentials

5. Introduction • The quest for the "meaningful" game • Evocative, memorable, rich stories • Interactive, vivid characters • Games about individuals, not things or actions • "Stories are about people."–Chris Crawford, "Interactive Storytelling" • "Story is the shared exploration of a relationship over time."–Corvus Elrod, "Man Bytes Blog"

7. Interactive Fiction • You mean text adventures, right? • CYOA • Zork, Planetfall, and Infocom • Crappy parsers • *Yawn* • No idea what you're talking about • What do you think of when you hear "interactive fiction"?

8. West of HouseThis is an open field west of a white house,with a boarded front door.There is a small mailbox here.>OPEN MAILBOXOpening the small mailbox reveals a leaflet.> _

9. "Will you read me a story?" "Read you a story? What fun would that be? I’ve got a better idea: Let’s tell a story together." Adam Cadre, Photopia (1998)

10. "Some people have fun spending hours pushing virtual buttons and pulling virtual levers for no reward other than a message like 'You have gained a fabulous treasure!' or *** You have won ***. Then there are the people like me who like the pleasures literature has to offer -- big chewy ideas to think about, narrative twists and turns, funny or beautiful turns of phrase, that sort of thing -- and also like wandering around someone else's world and knocking over vases." Adam Cadre, 1999 (SPAG)

11. What if? • "This is one of those games that will have you breathing hard as you uncover the mystery." • "...(it) exemplifies wonderful characterization, character interaction, and open-ended gameplay." • "I was so deeply affected by this game that after finishing it the rest of my day was pretty much a write-off. I was emotionally ruined." • "You make the story unfold, by your actions - and the relationship you establish between yourself and the other characters will directly affect the ending of the game." • "The emotional impact of this game is ridiculously effective. It's beyond words." • "Sing, burp, yell, light your pants on fire and see what happens!"*

12. Evolution courtesy of thundafunda.com

13. A Unique Medium • Extrapolating from IF to other game media can be challenging because: • Text-based • Turn-based • Player Input

14. Areas of Exploration • Alternative conversation interfaces • Conversations with NPCs and conversation flow • Stories that incorporate meaningful choice • Stories integrated into gameplay • Other areas to explore • Interactive fiction as promotional component

15. Alternative Conversation Interfaces Blighted Isle Varicella Blue Lacuna

16. Conversation Interfaces • Typical IF conversation interfaces • Simple yes/no/silence (Spider and Web) • TALK TO <npc> (Many; Vespers) • Menu conversations (Photopia) • ASK/TELL <npc> ABOUT <topic> (Many)

17. "The dialogue system...generally allows for free interaction [and] often facilitated impressively smooth conversations." by Eric Eve, (2007)

18. Blighted Isle • A game that experiments with different modes of interaction with NPCs • Allows for alternative conversation interfaces • hyperlinks • numbered topic suggestions • no additional help • Allows topic suggestions of varying degrees (low, medium, high) • A good way of introducing players to IF conversation • Also a good way to help players out of difficult spots

19. The young woman is wearing a single ear-ring. "I saw you lying here when I came out of the house just now," she explains, gesturing vaguely behind her, "so I came straight down to see if - well, you seem to be alive at any rate, but are you all right?" (You could say yes or no, or ask her who she is.) >NO "No, not really. I feel half-drowned," you grunt. "You look it," she agrees, "But who are you? You're not from around here and I - well I don't mean to seem inquisitive, but it's not every day I find a strange man washed up almost on my doorstep, and what with - anyway, who are you?" (You could tell her about yourself, ask where you are, or ask her who she is.) >TELL HER ABOUT MYSELF

20. "Perhaps the most disturbing work of interactive fiction ever written." "This game will totally capture you. Almost everything is interactive. And, while some NPCs are quite interesting, others are totally fascinating." by Adam Cadre (1999)

21. Varicella "You are Primo Varicella, Palace Minister at the Palazzo del Piemonte. This title is unlikely to impress anyone." • Experiments with the use of emotional modifiers (tones of voice) • Cordial • Hostile • Servile • Impact on result of classic ASK/TELL commands

22. >TONE CORDIALYou adopt a cordial manner.>ASK STEWARD ABOUT NAILS“How’s the manicure proceeding?” you ask.“Shouldn’t be much longer, sir,” the steward says.The steward expertly attends to your fingernails with an emery board.>TONE HOSTILEYou adopt a hostile tone.>ASK STEWARD ABOUT NAILS“How much longer is this going to take, you mediocre manservant?” you bellow.“Shouldn’t be much longer, sir,” the steward says.The steward lightly blows on your fingertips.

23. "You make the story unfold, by your actions - and the relationship you establish between yourself and the other characters will directly affect the ending of the game." by Aaron Reed (2009)

24. Blue Lacuna • Takes a different approach by highlighting keywords of different types in the prose • blue nouns • green exits • bold topics • Type the single word as a command to perform the expected action (examine nouns, move in direction of exit, direct the conversation toward the topic) • Central concept: "Type words that interest you to advance the story"

25. Blue Lacuna • As conversations move forward, old keywords become no longer relevant and are not repeatable; conversations thus move through a series of phases • Also includes a "compassless" navigation system • Still allows the typical IF commands • Includes a custom extension ("Smarter Parser") to look for a number of forms of input that newer players might use, and interpret them or provide a helpful error message • > I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO • > I WANT TO GET THE SWORD

26. The Tumble, On the BalconyThe balcony overlooks the roomy interior of the lodge, running the length of one wall covered in shelves. Beneath your feet, the chattering stream that named this place emerges from its bed under the loft, tumbling down the exposed rock face to the main floor below.Stairs parallel the stream's journey down to the kitchen, and an open doorway leads back into the dark interior of the loft.Only the glow of the fire below is reflected in the black skylights slanting above you. It must still be very early.>downYou descend the curved staircase silently, following the stream as it tumbles down the slope, touching the polished wood of the banister more for comfort than balance.

27. Rume examines you in return, thoughtful, her expression unreadable. "No goodbyes from a wayfarer, then," she says in a quiet voice that hangs heavy nonetheless among the wooden rafters, seeping only reluctantly to the level of your ears. "No scenes, no protests. Yes, I understand. The way of your people, I imagine; a quiet departure in dim night, stealing away to new dawns in new worlds, fresh and unspoiled."She lowers one hand to the railing and grips it calmly, but her knuckles are white. "An easy road," she adds, "for the man I thought you were.> easy"Easiest for someone, yes," Rume muses, taking another savage pull at the sikar, watching you. "But for whom? The one who wayfares? Or the one he leaves behind?

28. Conversations with NPCsConversation Flow Galatea Alabaster

29. by Emily Short (2000) "A conversation with a work of art."

30. Galatea • "...exemplifies wonderful characterization, character interaction, and open-ended gameplay." • Multilinear plot; no single path to "victory" • Ambitious approach to NPC conversation, in terms of volume and complexity • Many hundreds of quips • Keeps track of the state of the conversation • Keeps track of which conversational options have been used • Reacts differently according to what has been said and done

31. Galatea • "The options in Galatea are all predicated on the idea that, if you want a positive interaction with another human being, you have to approach that person willing both to listen and to talk about yourself." (Short) • The title character has moods, background, and memory; how she treats you will depend on how you choose to treat her • NPC designed to continue the conversation herself if the player stops to listen to her rather than talking

32. >examine galateaShe is facing away from you. You cannot see her face, only her hair, and the line of her shoulder. It's hard to know what she's looking at -- the velvet backdrop, if she has her eyes open, but there's not much to see in that. Mostly, it is obvious, she is not looking at you.Her green dress widens out at the knee, falling over the pedestal on which she stands in a way that would probably be very awkward, if she wanted to move.>ask galatea about curtainShe turns -- not her whole body, just her head, so that you can see one ear behind the cascade of hair. "What's so fascinating about the curtain that it merits your fixed attention?"She laughs; turns a bit towards you; seems to relax a shade. "Nothing," she says, "except that it presents no surprises."You raise an eyebrow. Processing humor in an apparently spontaneous manner is a rarity.

33. An experiment in open authorship (multiple authors, 2009)

34. Alabaster • A conversation system that not only keeps track of quips and topics previously used or discussed, but also models the structure of conversation threads • Where are we in the conversation? • Where can we go from here? • How to continue conversation if player remains silent • Ability of NPCs to change subject (or stick to the current one) • A more natural flow of dialogue • In this case, a "fractured fairy tale" involving Snow White

35. Alabaster • Explores different types of NPC initiative • Quips are given two kinds of priority: • "obligatory" or "optional" • "immediate" or "postponed" • Results in a variety of ways an NPC would continue • Responses to direct stimuli (immediate obligatory) • Continuations of earlier speech (immediate/postponed optional) • Planned sequences (postponed obligatory) • Pieces of sequence can occur in different orders

36. Alabaster • Threaded conversation system • keeps track of which quips follow naturally from which others • Allows NPCs to actively change the subject or to challenge the player's attempt to change the subject • Structure applied to conversation "beats" provides a rhythm • PC comment • NPC challenge (if relevant) or NPC response • optional: Grounding beat (pause in conversation) • optional: NPC starts new conversation thread

37. Alabaster • Begins to deal with the issue of NPCs repeating topics • Allows players to repeatedly ask about common topics • NPCs response generated from several random elements • Always contains roughly the same set of facts • NPCs notice and remark on the repetition

38. Alabaster • Also allows NPCs to: • Ask questions • Remember the answers • Pester the player if he doesn't respond • Refuse to move to new topics • Incorporates both open-ended and restrictive questions • Also includes "restrictive and release"

39. Conversation Innovations • NPCs that are more vivid, responsive, central rather than acting as vending machines • Allows games to experiment with character interaction and relationships as the focal point of play • Choices (and their impact) related to NPC interactions as much as player actions

40. Stories that incorporateChoice De Baron Blue Lacuna

41. Choice

42. (2006) "...it succeeded in its ambitious aim of making me think about human will from a novel angle."

43. De Baron • "The Baron is a provocation, both in form and content."- Emily Short • Begins as a quest to rescue your kidnapped young daughter from the evil Baron • A game about talking to characters and confronting moral dilemmas with each one; every choice has some bearing on the thematic issues at work • Choices (commands) are often followed by multiple-choice questions asking the player why that choice was made; the motivation then impacts the description of the result

44. On a path in the forestHere the path is narrow and winding, and hardly recognisable under the snow. Moonlight penetrates the dense foliage only sporadically. Eastwards lies the baron's castle; to the west, your own footprints lead back to the village.From the trees to the left, a dark shape suddenly jumps forward. It is a she-wolf; she stops a stone's throw away from you, in the middle of the path, fixating you with two eyes that mirror the moon. From her throat comes a fierce growl.>_

45. Blue Lacuna "How long has it been since you played an IF game that really reacted to your actions and shaped itself accordingly, offering you a wide gamut of choices – some of them don't even look like choices – which allow you to shape the course of the story in uncountable ways?" • Described as one of the most ambitious works of interactive fiction ever written • Enormous in size; describes itself as an "interactive novel" in ten chapters • Ambitious in the extent to which it allows the player to shape the narrative and define character interactions

46. Blue Lacuna • "Blue Lacuna: Aspects of an Interactive Novel"(http://www.lacunastory.com/overview-paper.pdf) • Three major goals of the project: • Create an interface for IF that was more intuitive and required less instruction to those unfamiliar with the medium • Tell a story that revolved around and relied upon the player's ability to make serious choices with dramatic repercussions • Create a character to meet and converse with who is complex enough to develop a unique and personal relationship with the player, and whose ultimate fate is not predestined

47. Blue Lacuna • Major design goal was to: • create a story space where meaningful choices are possible • make choices take place early enough to have repercussions • have each ending be equally dramatically valid and interesting • Tells very different stories to different people • story of a young gay man who must battle with a crazed lunatic to do what he knows is right • story about an aging and bitter widower who rediscovers what it means to love and sacrifice • story about rejecting complacency in the face of temptation • story about love conquering all

48. Blue Lacuna • Progue: a sophisticated conversationalist • Not just in the conversation method, but in the way the NPC reacts to the choices made by the player • Over the course of the narrative, Progue evolves through five unique psychological states, each with different behavior patterns, default responses, and conversational scenes • Player has numerous opportunities to define the relationship • Progue forms an opinion about the player on three axes: • affinity axis • submission axis • romance/paternalism axis • Moves toward one of twelve archetypes that define behavior

49. Stories Integrated intoGameplay Blue Lacuna Anchorhead

50. Blue Lacuna • Drama Management • Attempts to overcome the problem that pacing is in the hands of the player; puzzles often halt the narrative • Game features mechanisms designed to help keep the story moving forward if the player gets stuck or bored • Progress along four major pathways: • Puzzle chain • Dream chain • Progue's psyche chain • Event chain • Chains are interconnected • Also keeps tabs on how bored the player is