14 functions for interactive hero-centric story generation

Abstract

Digital storytelling empowers the player as the main character who proactively interacts with virtual characters rather than being a passive audience in traditional storytelling. With an increasing awareness of the various emotional and cognitive benefits that game-based interactive learning brings to education [1], modern storytelling in the form of video games has become a popular digital education tool. In the interdisciplinary field of story-based educational video games, new challenges arise from the need to balance the conflicting goals of an intriguing and believable storyline, individualized game experience, and successful learning content delivery. In this project, the author proposes a function-oriented system that facilitates the development of interactive hero-centric stories. The system proposes a common narrative structure consisting of 14 functions for the development of an intriguing and believable story plot. On top of the narrative model, a player model is developed in ensuring an individualized game experience throughout the gameplay. For the continuous evaluation of learning progress and knowledge retention, a learning model is incorporated into the system. Lastly, a case study titled “The Ultimate Immune Warrior in COVID-19” has been developed to illustrate the proposed system.