[MUD-Dev] A footnote to Procedural Storytelling

[Brandon J. Rickman]

On Wed, 3 May 2000, Zak Jarvis wrote:

> > From: Travis Nixon [tnixon at avalanchesoftware.com]
> I just purchased the book.  Its single Amazon review was not particularly
> positive. I agree with you entirely. I am *convinced* that interesting
> stories can be entirely generated procedurally. The real issue is the
> presentation of the story, not whether it can be generated. I don't think
> anything that resembles what we call computers is going to become the next
> ee cummings, but I absolutely believe that we can write programs which
> generate interesting stories which digital characters act out.

I agree, I think presentation is the key.  In simplified terms, most
story-gener engines try to create interesting plots.  But we all know that
the entire plot of a movie can be described in three or four sentences -
assuming that you leave out the various sub-plots and, er, those opaque
stylistic elements that don't seem relevant at all.  Creating the plot is
one possible first step towards crea a story, but it always needs some
kind of [seeminly unnecessary] elaboration to make the plot something more
than a plot.  We do, after all, still go see movies even if we already
know the plot.

> > This level of detail is going to happen in games.  That's not even a
> > question in my mind.  But, I can guarantee that it's not going to happen
> > while artists are still building each and every item separately.  (the
> > computer, the speakers, the telephone, the soda can, my keyring, assorted
> > ...
> 
> This level of detail is challenging but certainly not impossible. Pretty
> simple rules placed each and every one of those objects. The problem is
> that there are a LOT of those simple rules which caused your clutter. A
> couple of minor revolutions in computer graphics will be required, but it's
> not an insurmountable problem.

Any advances in the "computer graphics" used to represent a story will
result in a parallel improvement in the textual representation (i.e.
words) of stories Because the problem isn't "I don't have enough
polygons", the problem is "I don' know how to begin/I don't know the
correct order of events."

Being able to recognize a "cluttered desk" is equivalent to a polygon
renderer deciding that there are too many objects to draw all of them,
thus the level of detail presented to the user is unusually indistinct.
 
> > The same thing will happen with "stories" in rpgs.  Those games that will
> > blow you away in the future won't be the ones that have human writers
> > writing out every plot twist and developing every character.
> > The ones that blow you away will be the ones that have a "story server"
> > generating those kinds of things at a pace that no group of human
> > beings could hope to match. (well, unless you're sega and have a
> > development staff of over 200 for shen mue)  Novels definately have
> 
> Yep. Though an important detail there is that Sega was only creating a game
> for a single user, it's taking them MUCH longer than they anticipated to
> create and it's a finite experience. Tools, tools, tools!

Sounds like the good stories will be the ones that aren't really
interactive, but you still think they are.

- B!





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