In this post I’m going to further flesh out the relationship between world structure and narrative structure, look at the various models and apply these to my current projects. Ultimately this will lead to focusing on AI Narrative which will firm the bases of practical experimentation over the next few weeks, using the new Charisma.ai app.

Many stories are written using the three act narrative model as it provides a strong narrative arc which emotionally engages the viewer. It is one which is very familiar and can be found in countless stories.

In VR, the player is immersed in a world where they can seemingly go anywhere. They do not necessarily follow a linear track unless the world around them is designed in a way that gives them very little choice but to do so.

Players interaction with the environment or characters in the scene, are pivotal to where players could go next and so are a key narrative device.

My thoughts are that each act could be structured as three levels (3 scenes in unity). Within these worlds there could be a multitude of characters, environments and endings (When I think about this I can’t help but chuckle at the many days and weeks spent reading the fantasy fighting novels as a teenager, and particularly the many fingered and thumbed marking of pages as if doing some kind of hand yoga).

This structure would lead to a high level of complexity. This would be difficult to manage and could lead to a breakdown in narrative structure, leading to the loss of story identity (the hook/tag whatever you pitched the project as anyway).

Narrative Mapping 

There are many different structures that are used in game narrative. Below I have used models to illustrate this quickly.All Diagrams used for reference only and are attributed to Kano Ashwell, S. 2015.

The Time Cave

Gauntlet

Branch and Bottleneck

Quest

Open Map

Sorting Hat (Branch & Bottleneck/gauntlet)

Floating Modules (non-structure)

Loop and Grow 

I never lift content from another blog but I needed some visual reference on here. Kano Ashwell has a much better grasp of game narrative structure but as I would never use any content on my blog without fair attribution (as I’d hate that to happen to my work) please check out These Heterogeneous Tasks Blog for a much more complete description.

In Lunarium, I have been working with a model that includes a linear structure to begin with in the labyrinth, which then becomes an open world, then branches into two paths which then can be open world but ultimately ends in two endings.

AI Narrative Modelling

There are many really interesting things about the Charisma.AI app, the primary one is that the app makes it easier to write intuitive interactive stories. However, the app also helps to analyse the effectiveness of the narrative structure. This can be used to great effect when identifying which parts work well and which need improvement. It could also be used to modify a story to amplify an experience. This analysis is critical if it is essential that key plot points are experienced by participant/player/reader/audience.

Next Steps 

After much research in which I have attempted to better understand narrative, VR Narrative and AI narrative; I’m going to begin conducting sone practical experiments.

I’m going to begin by properly reading the Charisma docs and then apply this to a really simple (and I mean simple) narrative, within the Lunarium world.

So for example, I could begin with the Mystic of Lunarium’s backstory.

Why did she imprison innocent young teenagers in her sinister and aboding world?

I could then think about the Experimental VR Narrative and consider how AI might assist in this narrative experience … (This is a lot more tricky).

References

Recommended Reading:
Story by McKee
Save the Cat by Blake Snyder

Evaluation of an automatically-constructed graph-based representation for interactive narrative

https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3337722.3341858
Accessed 28/05/2020

Kano Ashwell, S. 2015. Standard Patterns in Choice-Based Games.

1. https://heterogenoustasks.wordpress.com/2015/01/26/standard-patterns-in-choice-based-games/
2. Accessed 28/05/2020 
3. 
   

In this post I’m going to further flesh out the relationship between world structure and narrative structure, look at the various models and apply these to my current projects. Ultimately this will lead to focusing on AI Narrative which will firm the bases of practical experimentation over the next few weeks, using the new Charisma.ai app.

Many stories are written using the three act narrative model as it provides a strong narrative arc which emotionally engages the viewer. It is one which is very familiar and can be found in countless stories.

In VR, the player is immersed in a world where they can seemingly go anywhere. They do not necessarily follow a linear track unless the world around them is designed in a way that gives them very little choice but to do so.

Players interaction with the environment or characters in the scene, are pivotal to where players could go next and so are a key narrative device.

My thoughts are that each act could be structured as three levels (3 scenes in unity). Within these worlds there could be a multitude of characters, environments and endings (When I think about this I can’t help but chuckle at the many days and weeks spent reading the fantasy fighting novels as a teenager, and particularly the many fingered and thumbed marking of pages as if doing some kind of hand yoga).

This structure would lead to a high level of complexity. This would be difficult to manage and could lead to a breakdown in narrative structure, leading to the loss of story identity (the hook/tag whatever you pitched the project as anyway).

Narrative Mapping 

There are many different structures that are used in game narrative. Below I have used models to illustrate this quickly.All Diagrams used for reference only and are attributed to Kano Ashwell, S. 2015.

The Time Cave

Gauntlet

Branch and Bottleneck

Quest

Open Map

Sorting Hat (Branch & Bottleneck/gauntlet)

Floating Modules (non-structure)

Loop and Grow 

I never lift content from another blog but I needed some visual reference on here. Kano Ashwell has a much better grasp of game narrative structure but as I would never use any content on my blog without fair attribution (as I’d hate that to happen to my work) please check out These Heterogeneous Tasks Blog for a much more complete description.

In Lunarium, I have been working with a model that includes a linear structure to begin with in the labyrinth, which then becomes an open world, then branches into two paths which then can be open world but ultimately ends in two endings.

AI Narrative Modelling

There are many really interesting things about the Charisma.AI app, the primary one is that the app makes it easier to write intuitive interactive stories. However, the app also helps to analyse the effectiveness of the narrative structure. This can be used to great effect when identifying which parts work well and which need improvement. It could also be used to modify a story to amplify an experience. This analysis is critical if it is essential that key plot points are experienced by participant/player/reader/audience.

Next Steps 

After much research in which I have attempted to better understand narrative, VR Narrative and AI narrative; I’m going to begin conducting sone practical experiments.

I’m going to begin by properly reading the Charisma docs and then apply this to a really simple (and I mean simple) narrative, within the Lunarium world.

So for example, I could begin with the Mystic of Lunarium’s backstory.

Why did she imprison innocent young teenagers in her sinister and aboding world?

I could then think about the Experimental VR Narrative and consider how AI might assist in this narrative experience … (This is a lot more tricky).

References

Recommended Reading:
Story by McKee
Save the Cat by Blake Snyder

Evaluation of an automatically-constructed graph-based representation for interactive narrative

https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3337722.3341858
Accessed 28/05/2020

Kano Ashwell, S. 2015. Standard Patterns in Choice-Based Games.

1. https://heterogenoustasks.wordpress.com/2015/01/26/standard-patterns-in-choice-based-games/
2. Accessed 28/05/2020 
3. 
   

When applying AI narrative in a project, it seems important to first look at the narrative of AI narrative. That is to say, the historical context through which AI Narrative is viewed as this could inform how it is used in practical terms.

What is AI? Where did it originate? Has the description evolved ? How is AI used to form narrative in media ? How is it used to form the media through narrative ?

I’m going to look at this pretty broadly and identify some examples that seem important to me (which are by no means exhaustive.. and may even seem off topic).

Automata

https://www.stolenhistory.org/threads/the-draughtsman-writer-automaton-by-henri-maillardet.317/


Animation 

Film 

Uncanny Valley 

Cyborg

https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/english/currentstudents/undergraduate/modules/fictionnownarrativemediaandtheoryinthe21stcentury/manifestly_haraway_—-_a_cyborg_manifesto_science_technology_and_socialist-feminism_in_the_….pdf

And the following article in Medium. 

https://medium.com/predict/design-manifesto-goodbye-human-hello-alien-f9d607b65e00



The Turin Test 

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/turing-test/

Cybernetic (Systems Control)

Cybernetics or Communication and Control in Animals & The Machine ©️ Norbert Weiner 

Full copy of the original Text is available here https://archive.org/details/CyberneticsOrCommunicationAndControlInTheAnimalAndTheMachineNorbertWiener/page/n5/mode/2up

2nd Order Cybernetics  

Quantum Mechanics : Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle, two slits experiments and the Wave/Particle Collapse. 

Policing 

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=2ICJDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA410&lpg=PA410&dq=cybernetics+and+policing&source=bl&ots=cfBQq000ue&sig=ACfU3U0jtKxguDtQuWm0gE490PswqF2yxQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwio9qv5ptbpAhV8SBUIHUVJAjUQ6AEwCnoECAoQAQ#v=onepage&q=cybernetics%20and%20policing&f=false

Covid – 19 Societal Control – Policing by Consent. 

Films 

In the same way that typing google into a google breaks the internet (Joke) typing Netflix AI into google to search all films representing AI on Netflix leads to Netflix use of AI (well it amused me..)

I recently watched 2036 Origin Unknown which took a poignant look at humanity and AI.

And it reminded me of HAL 9000.

Games 

The Standard News Article 
https://www.standard.co.uk/tech/bulletproof-ai-game-charismaai-guy-gadney-interview-a4406041.html

Some of these examples are pretty negative and it’s not my intention to cast a negative light on AI, I’m just trying to understand the narrative that surrounds AI and try to understand it better. 

References (TBC) 

http://lcfi.ac.uk/media/uploads/files/AI_Narratives_Report.pdf

What is narrative and how is it structured?

When I think about this, I am reminded of the helix project. Part of this experimental work was focused on trying to find a way to capture, organise, connect and disseminate, practice-based research.