Nicolas Szilas

Working Notes, by Zach Tomaszewski

for ICS 699, Fall 2005, directed by Dr. Kim Binsted

Nicolas Szilas

• French. Basic website: http://nicolas.szilas.free.fr/research/index.html
• IDtension project: http://www.idtension.com/
  
  • Hosted by VR Lab of Macquarie University, in Sydney, Australia.
  • In the interest of a dynamic interactive drama system with meaningful events and deep interaction.
  • Based on two principles: ID must be based on theories of narrative; sequencing of dramatic actions must derive from a cognitive and emotional simulation of the audience.
  • Components:
    • A narrative logic based on structuralist theory to produce set of possible actions. Manipulates the world of the story
    • Story world. Includes those elements manipulated by the narrative logic: goals (world states desired by characters), tasks (activities that lead to goals), obstacles (practical elements of the world precluding some tasks), actions (what character do, including info transmission, influences, tasks, sanctions), characters (entities with goals and capable of actions).
    • Audience (user) model, based on pragmatics theories.
    • Narrative sequencer. Organizes dramatic actions according to user model. Expresses need for surprise or conflict. Needs include: ethical consistency, motivational consistency, relavance, complexity, characterization, conflict.
    • Theatre, responsible for representing actions to the user and accepting their interaction.