1. Authoring Game-based Interactive Narrative using Social Games and Comme il Faut
Josh McCoy, Mike Treanor, Ben Samuel, Brandon Tearse,
Michael Mateas and Noah Wardrip-Fruin

2. The Prom
About high school kids and their dramatic lives in the week leading up to their prom
A storytelling game
The gameplay is about the fiction

3. The Prom

4. Social Games The primary mode of interaction for The Prom
Actions characters take to modify social state
Influenced by
Reiss’ basic needs
Goffman’s dramaturgical analysis

5. An Angry Break Up Social Game

6. An Angry Break Up Social Game

7. An Angry Break Up Social Game

8. An Angry Break Up Social Game

9. An Angry Break Up Social Game

10. An Angry Break Up Social Game

11. An Angry Break Up Social Game

12. Comme il Faut A computational model of social interaction
Characters, relationships, social history, zeitgeist…
Designed for player experience and not simulation
Authoring Strategy for Game-based Interactive Narrative

13. Why Karen would want to break up with Robert
She has the character trait of jealous
Her sense of romance is low with him
He did something that could be cheating
And possibly many more reasons…

14. The Social Fact Database
Every social action is collectively remembered
This history influences character motivations
How Karen knew Robert “cheated” on her
Can trigger social statuses
E.g. guilty, embarrassed, beat up on, etc.

15. The Cultural Knowledgebase

16. There are Many Outcomes to Social Games
If he didn’t cheat, she could just yell at him
She could have made fun of him
He could have rejected the social action
i.e. convince her that it really wasn’t a big deal to dance with Lily
Each outcome changes the social state differently

17. Authoring for Comme il Faut

18. Authoring for Interactive Narrative
It’s hard!
Beads on a string
Branching stories

19. Authoring for Interactive Narrative
Computation models and simulation help
E.g. physics in FPS, mundane activity in The Sims

20. Exploring the Design Space

21. Conclusion Comme il Faut enables: Computational models
Specific stories
Narratively meaningful player choice
Computational models
The gameplay of The Prom is the fiction

22. University of California at Santa Cruz
Questions?
University of California at Santa Cruz
Mike Treanor