Great topic John! To me one that is at the heart of VR storytelling.
>>However my basic philosophical problem with nonlinearity is that it is not
>>nonlinear at all. It is parallel-linear (actually tree-shaped).
>No butterflys in Brazil causeing hurricans on Eastern Sea Fronts.
You can set up the parallel-linear in several ways. A can lead to B or C, B
can lead to C or A (time travel :), all lead to D. One beginning, multiple
paths, one ending.
A can lead to A-1,2,3. A can lead to B. B can lead to C. B can lead to
B1,2,3. There can even be looping back and crossovers to make the authoring
easier. Alternate realities all with multiple endings.
However it is done, the butterflies better have a good reason to be
affecting the weather before I will go to the extra work to program them to
do so.
>>IMPORTANT QUESTION: WHO DETERMINES WHAT THE ALTERNATIVE STORYLINES ARE?
>
>A team of writers, and let me emphasize, A TEAM. Since it is only
entertainment, and not
>real life but close enough for entertainment,
A story could be given much more coherency by a single author, but given
the present tools I agree with Kahuna. Teams. Integration is problematic
though.
>>The author does, of course! Therefore there is an inherent hard-limit on
>>the number of potential storylines within the same story. Worse yet,
>>forcing an author to create N good stories instead of 1 good story may lead
>>to a lack of quality in all N stories.
That isn't a function of the medium though. Just the fact there aren't
enough hours in the day. This is why the team approach makes sense.
>>Questions:
>> - Is this worth doing?
How many people on this list are going to say no to this? :)
>> - Does this add nothing more than replay value to the story?
>
>It adds what ever a good story teller can put into it.
Hear, hear!! It increases the palette the storyteller has to work with, so
it should completely alter the way stories are told. Hard to do for now.
The formulas are still being worked out. Right here and now in fact! I love
this list.
>> - If the story was written to serve a moral, what purpose does it serve to
>>allow characters to change the course of events to corrupt that moral being
>>told? (I can just imagine a nonlinear story for kids about staying away
>>from drugs, and having the user -- who is now in control of the story --
>>able to do whatever he/she wants... might be scary if the story was not
>>intelligently written to account for all possibilities)
>
>If we are to believe the teachings of many prophets, you can learn from
any event, whether
>it is positive or negative. The task of the writer is to plan for this in
advance.
Practically speaking, not all possible outcomes can be included in the
script. Just don't write in and ending where taking drugs and winding up
happy is a possible outcome.
>>The alternative is to simulate the human brain in characters' reactions,
>>which I don't quite think we can handle yet.
VRML AI has a long way to go, but just as characters are central to any
story, (seemingly) intelligent characters are central to VR storytelling.
We'll just have to fake it for now.
>These first attempts should be dedicated to more of a hands on
developement of plots
>and subplots and linking them together. Achieveing that will give us
insight into human
>interaction, and plot interaction.
I agree, we have to start experimenting with it. There are bound to be
failures along the way, but it is the only way.
>So,,, lets do it, lets create a nonlinear interactive story, and stop
talking >about it.
Working on it! It isn't easy. :)
>>So it seems to me, at the current level of technology, that the following
>>is true:
>> - true nonlinearity is technically impossible currently
If not outright nonexistent, technical or no. Time makes everything linear.
>> - creating branching stories is N times harder than 1 good story
Yes. Also N times more satisfying for the 'reader' (I hope).
>> - creating branching stories is N times harder to tell a moral
Every story has a moral of some sort or another. I don't see why it would
be any harder in a branching story. Unless you were telling N morals.
>> - linear stories may still be the best way to go
NO, NO, NO!!
VR = interactive. Interactive = nonlinear. VR = nonlinear.
>>If the last assumption is the best, my original question stands: How can
>>VRML and linear storytelling co-exist?
3D and linear can co-exist. VR (immersive and interactive) cannot. By
interactive I mean actually affecting the storyline with interaction, not
just being able to roam around 3D space or move the story down its linear
path by clicking.
I have a question. Has anyone ever seen a nonlinear story (if you choose to
kill the villan go to page 167) that they thought was any good? I haven't.
What makes us think that VR can do it any better? I obviously do, but
sometimes I'm not so sure that this isn't just blind faith.
Dennis
