Interactive Storytelling for Multiple Media

1. Interactive Storytelling for Multiple Media Tools and Limitations Dallas Dickinson November 1, 2006 Austin Community College

2. Who I Am and Why You Should Care • Dallas Dickinson, Director of Production, Caliber Games • Educated as a playwright • Wrote/produced children’s theatre for Disney • Wrote/produced several film shorts • Designed/produced lots of casual games for Sony Online • Produced MMOGs Planetside and Star Wars Galaxies • All of these are VERY DIFFERENT media for a writer to tackle

3. Some Storytelling Forms • Oral (yay,Homer!) • Theatrical, aka Oral Plus Props (yay, Greeks!) • Various written forms, from the Novel to the Short Story to the Poem • No feedback, except from editors • Radio, aka Oral Plus Sound FX • Film and TV • Also very little feedback, but at least multi-episode TV shows can react, slowly, to the audience • Interactive (Computers are the future!)

4. So What About These “Computor” Games? • Single player games have one set of challenges • Multiplayer games have others • Is the goal to “make it feel like a movie?” • Or is the goal something else entirely? • Can we teach through story in games? • What about world domination?

5. History of Storytelling in Computer Games • 1966: ELIZA • First Interactive Fiction (loosely defined) • Turing Test! • User-Generated Content = Holy Grail • 1975: Colossal Cave Adventure • First text adventure game • 1977: Zork • Refined the genre, added a significant storyline (both a history and a plot for the game) • 1978: Essex MUD • First multi-user dungeon, precursor to today’s MMOGs

6. History of Storytelling in Computer Games • 1981: Ms. Pac-Man • Cut scenes!, kind of • 1981: Ultima I • One of the first RPGs • Standard “Hero’s Journey” backstory and plot • 1983: Planetfall • Floyd’s sacrifice = real empathy • 1984: King’s Quest • 3rd person narrative

7. History of Storytelling in Computer Games • 1987: Maniac Mansion • LucasArts knows a thing or two about story • Multiple character choices and endings • Lots of Cut Scenes • 1991: Wing Commander II • Extensive Cut Scenes and real Voice Actors • 1992: Alone in the Dark • Superfine cinematic music • 1993: Myst • Detailed (approaching photorealistic) world • Goal is explicitly “to figure out the story”

8. History of Storytelling in Computer Games • 1995: Command and Conquer • Extensive voice-over • 1996: Resident Evil • In-engine cut scenes • Survival/horror genre (Alone in the Dark came first) • 1997: Ultima Online • One of the first MMOGs • User-generated content still = Holy Grail

9. History of Storytelling in Computer Games • 1998: Half-Life • Tight narrative in a FPS • Linear, string-of-pearls structure • Extensive use of cut-scenes • Lots of foreshadowing • 1998: Baldur’s Gate • Generally linear storyline (string-of-pearls) but with extensive side-quests and flavor stories • Gives the impression of a deeper world • 2000: The Sims • Create-your-own-story hits the mainstream

10. History of Storytelling in Computer Games • 2001: Max Payne • Playable flashbacks/dreams • Bullet-time is both a feature and a storytelling tool • 2001: GTA III • Same as Baldur’s Gate, but more refined and with hookers • 2004: Doom 3 • Best use of environment/mood/lighting yet • 2004: Everquest 2 • Full VO in an MMOG - yikes! • 2004: World of Warcraft • Extensive story-based quests with scripted emotion animations

11. Some Storytelling Tools • Action • Character • Conflict • Conversation • Exposition • Emotion • Environment • Foreshadowing • Focus • Genre • History • Mood • Point of View • Setting • Subplots • Tone

12. What Makes Interactive Storytelling Different? • Branching • Choices • “Bushiness” • Feedback (what the audience does/says) • AI Behavior • Mutable or Unpredictable Player Goals • This all adds up to…

13. Authors Giving Up Control • So how do you tell a compelling story without keeping control? • Let players create their own stories? • Give up control at points, but eventually return to the string-of pearls? • Create extensive AI systems that can react to a HUGE variety of feedback actions? • Other ideas?

14. This is Even Harder in an MMOG • Multiple players/audience members • Whose story is it? • Griefers • If they can disrupt a story, they will • More loss of control • What is the player looking at? • No flashbacks, no slo-mo, no pause button

15. So What Can We Do? • Try desperately to control the story • Many online games do this with lots of “Private Instanced” content • It’s easier in single-player games • Create games where story isn’t just the glue sticking objective-based gameplay sections together • What about games where the only point is to interact emotionally with characters? • Is the goal to Be Like the Movies, or Not?

16. Some People Who Are Working On the Problem • Chris Crawford and “Storytron” • http://www.storytron.com/ • Online Alchemy and “Dynemotion” • http://www.onlinealchemy.com/AITech.asp • Scott McCloud “The Story Machine” • http://www.scottmccloud.com/inventions/machine/machine.html

17. And the Producer Shows Up to Make People Sad • Voiceover and Cut-scenes are expensive • Both in terms of dollars and time • However, we *think* that we understand how they work • The more complex and “unpredictable” your story is, the harder it is to test • Not just for bugs, but for Fun and Quality • The reason we follow the Movie mentality is that we know it works • Business is ruled by fear and uncertainty • Some crazy person is going to have to pull a Will Wright and build a new kind of game