An implementation of real-time 3D interactive drama

Abstract

Interactive fiction and adventure video games are narrative genres which provide the player with the option of acting as the main character of the story. However these genres do not fully match the expectations of their authors and readers because the player cannot deeply affect the storyline.

This article describes a system integrating highly interactive narrative structures in a real-time 3D environment.

Based on a theoretical foundation of narrative and drama, an interactive drama engine (IDE) has been implemented. It comprises an action calculus system, a text-generation system, a behavior engine, an animation engine as well as an innovative adaptive user interface. The IDE is demonstrated with two scenarios.

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Index Terms

• Applied computing

  • Arts and humanities

    • Performing arts

  • Computers in other domains

    • Personal computers and PC applications

      • Computer games

• Computing methodologies

  • Artificial intelligence

    • Distributed artificial intelligence

• Information systems

  • Information systems applications

    • Multimedia information systems

      • Massively multiplayer online games

• Software and its engineering

  • Software organization and properties

    • Contextual software domains

      • Virtual worlds software

        • Interactive games

• Theory of computation

  • Theory and algorithms for application domains

    • Algorithmic game theory and mechanism design