Argax Project

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Dissertation Outline

  1. Introduction

    Quick intro to IN; a definition; relation to narrative, games, digital media; ID, a subset of IN. Goals of this document.

  2. Theory: A Poetics of Interactive Narrative

    Narrative (narratologists) vs. Interaction (ludologists) paradox/strain. Know it's some new beast--more than either--but what kind? Ideas/flavor: Murray, Laurel (satori), etc. Start with narrative (with an eye to interaction).

    1. The Substance of Narrative
      1. Evolution of the Current Poetics.
        1. Aristotle.
        2. Smiley.
        3. Laurel.
        4. Mateas.
        5. Problems within the Current Poetics.
      2. A Reconstructed Poetics.
        1. Medium.
        2. Object.
        3. Manner.
        4. Placement of User Interaction.
        5. Application to System Architectures
      3. Conclusion: A New Poetics of Interactive Narrative
    2. The Structure of Action
      1. Aristotle
      2. Freytag
      3. Freytag's Triangle
      4. Chatman
      5. Propp and Story Morphology
      6. Conclusion
    3. User Response

      Satisfaction, and all that other stuff. (Maybe not any answers, but at least point out the questions.)


  3. Traditional INs: Practical Considerations
    1. Improv rules (reincorporation, etc.)
    2. Gamebooks
    3. GMing/table-top RPGs (fudging rules for story, etc.)
    4. LARPs
  4. Producing the Action: Computer-based Approaches to ID
    1. Intro

      Focus on ID. Other computer-based IN: story generation, hypertext stories. Modeling author, character, or story.

    2. Simple Story Systems
      1. Linear
      2. False Branching
      3. Branching
      4. Open
      5. Supportive
      6. Combinations
      7. Examples
      8. Conclusion
    3. Rule-based

      Story-grammars.

    4. Emergent: Bottom-up

      Modeling characters. Complex world simulations.

    5. Directed: Top-down
      1. Assembled scenes
        1. Mateas
        2. Crawford
        3. (Grasbron + Braun, others)
      2. Case-Based Reasoning
        1. Fairclough
        2. Peinado
      3. Planning
        1. Young
      4. Commonalities: story atoms, drama manager, rules/story form
  5. Design
    1. Story World
    2. Verbs and Actions
    3. Encounters
    4. Threads?
  6. The Game: Wharf

    Scenes. Characters. Location

  7. Experiment
    1. Claims about new system [Still evolving]
      • As described as Features?
    2. Setup [Still evolving]
      • Running with no DM
      • Running with single storyline DM
      • Running with full DM
    3. Pilot Study
    4. Results
  8. Conclusion

    Contributions, etc.

Previous Version:
   30-Mar-2007
Argax Project : Dissertation : Outline
http://www2.hawaii.edu/~ztomasze/argax
 Argax Logo Last Edited: 18 Sep 2007
©2006 by Z. Tomaszewski.