Cover sheet for Research Proposal and Final Dissertation

The Practice and Innovation of Interactive Storytelling in Video Games

1 Introduction

Background

Interactive narrative games are a type of game in which players can influence the outcome of the game through different decisions and actions in the game. Players can make different decisions during the game based on their own judgment, which will ultimately affect the story's direction and ending. (Wikipedia contributor, 2019) In this type of game, the story line is not linear, but rather like a tree diagram with many branches, which means that every choice the player makes can lead the story in a different direction and to a different ending. In addition, when players explore different storylines, they often involve complex character relationships and moral tests. Players need to weigh different values and possible consequences in their interactions.

Importance of research

It is important to study interactive narrative in video games because, firstly, it allows players to influence the course and outcome of the game by making choices, which greatly enhances the player’s immersion and allows for a richer experience and a more personalised play process. Secondly, interactive narrative allows for more complex and controversial issues to be discussed, such as moral issues, social focus issues and the impact of personal choices on outcomes, which can lead to deeper thinking and discussion when players make decisions. Interactive narratives can also be used for educational purposes, as players experience different content such as historical events, scientific exploration or language learning, they are exposed to and gradually understand diverse cultures and technologies. In addition, as games with interactive narrative types become more popular, game designers and developers will be pushed to create new technologies and methods to support more complex storylines and character development. These technologies can gradually be applied to other fields to promote technological development. (Ryan, 2004)

1.3 Research objectives

The main objectives of this research are to clarify the concept of interactive narrative, analyse the advanced technologies applied in interactive narrative, such as VR and AR, study innovative practice cases, evaluate their attractiveness and engagement, assess user acceptance and preference through user evaluation research, and predict the future direction and possible technological innovation of interactive narrative based on existing research.

2 Literature Review

2.1 Review of existing studies

Current academic research on interactive narrative games focuses on how to increase the attractiveness of the story and the player's sense of involvement by increasing the player's interaction with the game plot. The main findings on this topic are:

2.1.1 player-generated narratives

Research shows that the story in video games is not just a pre-set story, but is selectively generated through the player's decisions. This interactive narrative is called a player-generated narrative, and this narrative can increase the player's sense of participation and immersion. (Turley, 2018)

2.1.2 Innovation and application of interactive storytelling

The interactive narrative journal introduces how interactive narrative combines traditional storytelling with video games, allowing players to influence and dominate the narrative. (Barbara & Haahr, 2024) From interactive fiction to interactive narrative games, and then to playing with VR/AR technology, this allows players to gradually bring themselves into the plot when participating in the narrative.

2.1.3 The use of interactive storytelling in education

A pilot study that introduced the game "Undertale" into the classroom found that introducing video games into the classroom can increase student engagement, increase student classroom activity, and fully understand the content learned through multiple modes of learning. (Turley, 2018)

2.2 Theoretical framework

2.2.1 Janet Murray's Model

This model emphasises the three core characteristics of participation, immersion and transformation as key factors that distinguish interactive narratives from traditional narratives. This model can help researchers analyse how to enhance the interactivity of stories and the sense of participation of players through technological means. (Murray & Internet Archive, 1997)

2.2.2 David Herman's Story Logic

This model is not only used to analyse traditional literature and film, but also interactive media. The theory of this model focuses on how the narrator constructs the world view, characters and events in the story, and how the target audience understands these story elements. (Herman, 2004)

2.2.3 Nick Montfort's multi-threaded narrative

Nick Montfort's research emphasises how players can influence the progress of the story by choosing and exploring maps. He analyses how complex, multi-threaded narratives can be constructed in digital media or games, and understands the narrative in games and interactive texts from different perspectives. (Montfort, 2005)

2.3 Research gaps

There are two other issues that have not been fully researched in the technical aspects of interactive narrative video games:

The technological innovation of interactive narrative games, especially the application of AI and machine learning in interactive narrative games, is still an important and largely unexplored area. Although some games have already integrated these technologies, how to more effectively use AI to generate unique dynamic narratives and how to use machine learning to enhance the interactivity and immersion of the game are all very worthy of research. (Yannakakis & Togelius, 2018)(Riedl & Bulitko, 2012)

How games reflect and shape socio-cultural norms (Malkowski & Russworm, 2017) and how they are accepted and understood in different cultural contexts (Wolf, 2015) are also issues that need further research.

3 Research questions and hypotheses

3.1 Main research questions

How interactive narrative games use modern technology to change the way traditional games are narrated, thereby enhancing the immersion and player involvement.

3.2 Secondary research questions

What is the definition of interactive narrative games, and what are the main differences and connections between them and traditional game narratives?

What technologies play a key role in interactive narrative games and how do they influence the narrative of the game?

Which technologies have proven to be the most effective in practice and how do they work? Analyse market trends and how the future of interactive narrative games will evolve and how we should adapt to these changes?

3.3 Hypothetical

Interactive narrative games that use advanced technology can increase players' sense of participation, immersion and satisfaction more than traditional games. The higher the degree to which players can influence the story and its ending, the better the player's participation and the game experience. Interactive narrative games have the highest degree of narrative freedom, and the final narrative direction and ending will be very rich, thereby increasing the player's willingness to play and the number of repeat plays.

4 Research methods

4.1 Type of study: mixed method

4.1.1 Quantitative analysis

Using existing market sales data, user downloads, online activity, and user ratings of games on authoritative gaming media websites to quantify game market performance and player activity data. (Bryman & Internet Archive, 2016) (Creswell, 2014)

4.1.2 Qualitative analysis

Analyse discussions on mainstream gaming platforms (steam, epic, etc.), gaming forums (NGA, IGN, etc.), social media (Youtube, Twitch, Discord, etc.), and obtain players' views and feelings about the game's narrative, technology, and experience of the game. (Yin, 2014)

4.2 Research design

4.2.1 Content analysis

Systematically analyse player comments to identify common themes, preferences, opinions and suggestions regarding interactive narrative games. Natural language processing tools may be used to assist in improving the accuracy of the analysis.

4.2.2 Trend analysis

Analyze historical market data and user activity data to evaluate how specific narrative techniques or game design affect the popularity and sales of a game.

4.2.3 Comparative study

Select some representative interactive narrative game samples, analyse their performance in the market and players' evaluation. Find the influencing factors by comparison.

4.3 Data collection method

4.3.1 Player comment data

Choose mainstream platforms such as Steam, Epic and other gaming platforms, as well as Reddit, Discord and other gamer communities to collect player reviews.

4.3.2 Market data analysis

Game ranking data, sales volume, download volume and revenue data are obtained from public reports published by game publishers and developers as well as major sales platforms.

4.3.3 Social media comment analysis

Search for discussions about the target game on major social media platforms such as Twitter and YouTube using keywords and hashtags.

4.3.4 Authoritative commentary and analysis

Collect data published by authoritative game analysis media such as IGN and GameSpot, and conduct qualitative analysis of the content of the reviews, focusing on the analysis of the characteristics of the target game, such as narrative depth and interactivity.

4.4 Data analysis methods

4.4.1 Player comment analysis

Use natural language processing software packages such as NLTK or SpaCy for word frequency statistics and sentiment analysis.

4.4.2 Statistical analysis

Use Python's Pandas and Statsmodel libraries to perform correlation analysis and regression analysis.

4.4.3 Trend analysis

Excel for data trending analysis.

4.4.4 Data Visualisation

Use Python's Matplotlib and Seaborn libraries to create dashboards and graphs.

5 Research Schedule/Timeline

6 Expected Outcomes

The research will demonstrate the effect of advanced technology on improving the immersion of the narrative, how the freedom of the narrative increases player satisfaction, and the impact of personalised narrative trends on player repeat play rates. These research results will help developers enrich game design and provide them with a reference on how to use technology and narrative innovation to improve player satisfaction. In addition, the research results will provide data support for understanding the market performance and player behaviour of interactive narrative games, in order to promote game design innovation and technological development.

7 References

Barbara, J., & Haahr, M. (2024). The Role of Voice in Virtual Reality Interactive Narratives. Journal of Interactive Narrative, 1(1). https://doi.org/10.62937/JIN.2024.VQRM5201

Bryman, A., & Internet Archive. (2016). Social research methods. In Internet Archive. Don Mills, Ontario, Canada : Oxford University Press. https://archive.org/details/socialresearchme0000brym_o2i8

Creswell, J. W. (2014). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (4th ed.). Sage Publications Ltd.

Herman, D. (2004). Story logic : problems and possibilities of narrative. University Of Nebraska Press.

Malkowski, J., & Russworm, T. M. (2017). Gaming representation : race, gender, and sexuality in video games. Indiana University Press.

Montfort, N. (2005). Twisty little passages : an approach to interactive fiction. Mit Press ; London, England.

Murray, J. H., & Internet Archive. (1997). Hamlet on the holodeck : the future of narrative in cyberspace. In Internet Archive. Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press. https://archive.org/details/hamletonholodeck00murr

Riedl, M. O., & Bulitko, V. (2012). Interactive Narrative: An Intelligent Systems Approach. AI Magazine, 34(1), 67. https://doi.org/10.1609/aimag.v34i1.2449

Ryan, M.-L. (2004). Narrative across media: the languages of storytelling. In M.-L. Ryan (Ed.), Library Catalog (Blacklight). University of Nebraska Press. https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/5636079

Turley, A. C. (2018). Reading the Game: Exploring Narratives in Video Games as Literary Texts. Scholarworks.indianapolis.iu.edu. https://scholarworks.indianapolis.iu.edu/items/d186111f-5123-4958-a27a-4523ed774179

Wikipedia Contributors. (2019, January 24). Interactive storytelling. Wikipedia; Wikimedia Foundation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interactive_storytelling

Wolf, M. J. P. (2015). Video games around the world. Mit Press.

Yannakakis, G. N., & Togelius, J. (2018). Artificial Intelligence and Games. Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63519-4

Yin, R. K. (2014). Case Study Research and Applications: Design and Methods (6th ed.). Sage Publications.