Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Embedded Narratives in Procedurally Generated Environments

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Interactive Storytelling (ICIDS 2020)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNISA,volume 12497))

Included in the following conference series:

Abstract

Procedural Content Generation can help alleviate the workloads of designers, with the drawback of reducing their control over the final product. At the same time, many games have a growing focus on conveying a narrative using environmental storytelling which requires a high degree of control to embed in a virtual environment. This paper seeks to reconcile the apparent conflict in these two approaches, and explores a method in which Procedural Content Generation can be used to create virtual environments with embedded narratives. This is done using a Space-Time Drama Manager to dynamically place narrative elements in the virtual environment. A prototype game was developed and evaluated in a between-groups test (n = 69). Participants in the control condition all experienced the same environment, while those in the experimental condition each experienced a different procedurally generated environment. No significant difference was found for any of the measures. This was attributed to the fact that it is possible to convey an embedded narrative consistently to players, even when the environment which contains the narrative elements is procedurally generated, yielding a different experience for each participant.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Aylett, R., Louchart, S.: Being there: participants and spectators in interactive narrative. In: Cavazza, M., Donikian, S. (eds.) ICVS 2007. LNCS, vol. 4871, pp. 117–128. Springer, Heidelberg (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-77039-8_10

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  2. Baynham, M.: Narratives in space and time: beyond “backdrop” accounts of narrative orientation. Narrat. Inq. 13(2), 347–366 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Bevensee, S.H., Dahlsgaard Boisen, K.A., Olsen, M.P., Schoenau-Fog, H., Bruni, L.E.: Aporia – exploring continuation desire in a game focused on environmental storytelling. In: Oyarzun, D., Peinado, F., Young, R.M., Elizalde, A., Méndez, G. (eds.) ICIDS 2012. LNCS, vol. 7648, pp. 42–47. Springer, Heidelberg (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-34851-8_4

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  4. Bruni, L.E., Baceviciute, S.: Narrative intelligibility and closure in interactive systems. In: Koenitz, H., Sezen, T.I., Ferri, G., Haahr, M., Sezen, D., C̨atak, G. (eds.) ICIDS 2013. LNCS, vol. 8230, pp. 13–24. Springer, Cham (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02756-2_2

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  5. Busselle, R., Bilandzic, H.: Measuring narrative engagement. Media Psychol. 12(4), 321–347 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1080/15213260903287259

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Santo, C.: Firewatch. Campo Santo C̨atar (2016)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Carson, D.: Environmental storytelling: creating immersive 3D worlds using lessons learned from the theme park industry (2000). https://tinyurl.com/ybj6vrcm. Accessed 8 Mar 2020

  8. Carson, D.: Environmental storytelling, part ii: bringing theme park environment design techniques to the virtual world (2020). https://tinyurl.com/yca4kd9s. Accessed 8 Mar 2020

  9. Connor, A.M., Greig, T.J., Kruse, J.: Evaluating the impact of procedurally generated content on game immersion. Comput. Games J. 6(4), 209–225 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40869-017-0043-6

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Fina, A.D.: Crossing borders: time, space, and disorientation in narrative. Narrat. Inq. 13(2), 367–391 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Fullbright: Gone Home. The Fullbright Company (2013)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Insomniac Games: Marvel’s Spider-Man. Sony Interactive Entertainment (2018)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Jenkins, H.: Game design as narrative architecture. In: Ardrip-Fruin, N., Harrigan, P. (eds.) First Person: New Media as Story, Performance, and Game, pp. 118–130. MIT Press, Cambridge (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  14. Korkihort, J.: The Origin of the Disneyland Wienie. MousePlanet (2016). https://tinyurl.com/y7gplufe. Accessed 13 Mar 2020

  15. Kvisgaard, A., et al.: Frames to zones: applying mise-en-scène techniques in cinematic virtual reality. In: 2019 IEEE 5th Workshop on Everyday Virtual Reality, WEVR 2019, 23-03-2019. IEEE, United States (2019). https://doi.org/10.1109/WEVR.2019.8809592

  16. Larsen, B.A., Schoenau-Fog, H.: The narrative quality of game mechanics. In: Nack, F., Gordon, A.S. (eds.) ICIDS 2016. LNCS, vol. 10045, pp. 61–72. Springer, Cham (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48279-8_6

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  17. Maxis: The Sims 4. Electronic Arts (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  18. Mojang: Minecraft. Mojang and Microsoft Studios (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  19. Naughty Dog: Uncharted. Sony Interactive Entertainment (2007–2017)

    Google Scholar 

  20. Nenad, M.: Designing game worlds. Coherence in the design of open world games through procedural generation techniques, pp. 353–363 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1145/3270316.3270319

  21. Portnow, J., Floyd, D.: Procedural generation - how games create infinite worlds - extra credits (2015). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgbuWfGeG2o. Accessed 11 Feb 2020

  22. Ricoeur, P.: Narrative time. Crit. Inq. 7(1), 169–190 (1980)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Santiago, D.: Procedurally crafting manhattan for “Marvel’s Spider-Man”. GDC (2019). https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1025765/Procedurally-Crafting-Manhattan-for-Marvel. Accessed 11 Feb 2020

  24. Schoenau-Fog, H.: Adaptive storyworlds: utilizing the space-time continuum in interactive digital storytelling. In: Schoenau-Fog, H., Bruni, L.E., Louchart, S., Baceviciute, S. (eds.) ICIDS 2015. LNCS, vol. 9445, pp. 58–65. Springer, Cham (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-27036-4_6

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  25. Shaker, N., Togelius, J., Nelson, M.J.: Procedural Content Generation in Games. Springer, Cham (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42716-4

    Book  Google Scholar 

  26. Unity Technologies: Unity (2020). https://unity.com

  27. Valve: Half-Life 2. Valve Corporation (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  28. Valve: Portal. Valve Corporation (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  29. Zakowski, S.: Environmental storytelling, ideologies and quantum physics: narrative space and the bioshock games. In: DiGRA/FDG&# 3916 - Proceedings of the First International Joint Conference of DiGRA and FDG. Digital Games Research Association and Society for the Advancement of the Science of Digital Games, Dundee, Scotland (2016)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Architecture, Design, and Media Technology, Aalborg University Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Thomas Lund Nielsen, Eoin Ivan Rafferty, Henrik Schoenau-Fog & George Palamas

Authors
  1. Thomas Lund Nielsen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Eoin Ivan Rafferty
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Henrik Schoenau-Fog
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. George Palamas
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Henrik Schoenau-Fog .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Ecole Nationale d’Ingénieurs de Brest, Brest, France

    Anne-Gwenn Bosser

  2. University of Southampton, Southhampton, UK

    David E. Millard

  3. Creative Technology, Bournemouth University, Poole, Dorset, UK

    Charlie Hargood

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this paper

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this paper

Nielsen, T.L., Rafferty, E.I., Schoenau-Fog, H., Palamas, G. (2020). Embedded Narratives in Procedurally Generated Environments. In: Bosser, AG., Millard, D.E., Hargood, C. (eds) Interactive Storytelling. ICIDS 2020. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 12497. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-62516-0_3

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-62516-0_3

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-62515-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-62516-0

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation