Plan and build a Storytelling API

On the long run the mission is to create a virtual storyteller which represents key aspects for good human storytelling and creates believable immersions. The first goal will be to enable a storyteller to present dialogs, spoken by a None Player Characters (NPCs) like a real person would do.  

This means actions and reactions in the written dialogs should feel like a real person would tell it. In short terms that means:

·       A real person is based on motivations which leads to what they say and what they don’t.

·       A real person modulates sentences different in the given situation.

·       A real person doesn’t repeat a sentence twice in the exact same way.

·       A real person has a personality which adds bias to every action.

To achieve this, the first milestone will be to brainstorm possible solutions on how to realize such a behaviour. The questions to ask might look like this:

1.    To achieve the overall goal is this milestone feasible?
- Do we ask the right questions?
- Is something missing, needs adjustments or is it wrong?
- Are there any boundaries which might block the Quest?

2.    How could such a solution be achieved?
- What requirements must be set?
- How would the different steps look like?
- How would the different steps work together?

3.    On what technologies could it build upon?
- Might a Chatbot be a solution?
- Is Machine Learning feasible for it?
- Would AI be helpful for this?

4.    How could a demo look like?

The first milestone is not about building a final solution. It is to identify the best way in preparation for a next milestone.

‍

‍

Quest about Plan and Build a Storytelling API

This Quest is not about saving the world, but to increase the quality of our free time between saving the world.

Roleplaying Games (RPGs) comes in a high variety and a lot of different rulesets to choose from. Everything is in common, that all players play a character (PC) and explore a fictional world which they experience with the eyes of their characters. One of the player is the GameMaster (GM). He presents the world to the players, descrips the scenery and he plays all non player characters (NPCs) to interact with. The GM presents the story frame, which then is filled by the player experiences playing on the PC’s. Briefly summarized it is a creative and collaborating story writing.

For a good game, GMs prepare a story, play all NPCs and react dynamically to the players actions. This works very well in a personal meeting, but fails if you can’t meet in person (like playing on a device). The question arises on how to improve storytelling on devices and close the gap between Interface/Humane and Human/Human interaction.

How can automated dialogs be used to tell a story? How could it support a GM to prepare and present the game to the players? And how could it offer good controls for an inexperienced user?

‍

About Alexander Liebhardt

I'm a 24/7 Nerd working in a bunch of disciplines all around web development. With a strong technical background in creating System-System and Human-S interfaces as well as working reactive with high scalable and async technologies. I love to develop technical solutions. In my free time I love to play Pen & Paper roleplaying games with friends or if personal meetings are not possible, on devices. And this is where the idea build a Storytelling API kicked in.

‍

· Love to tell stories  

· Understand, how they work  

· Understand, what’s important to get immersion to live

· Have a creative mindset  

· Basic technical understanding  

‍

It is a personal Quest, so no financial aspects are included. But if you like RPGs and like to improve your experiences playing such games, we might build a strong tool to do so together.  

Like RPG, this is a collaboration work. So everybody is welcome to join me on this Quest.

‍

Check out this article about storytelling in a brave new world.