INTERACTIVE SYSTEM DESIGNS

Interactive System Designs

Interactive System Designs

3. Building interactive versions of the designs so that they can be communicated and assessed

Interactive narrative system is being used to denote a new kind of computerized system that enable users to create their own stories and experience while using the system. In traditional narrative forms, e.g. written novels or movies, the discourse of the storytelling is determined in advance by the author. In interactive narrative systems, the discourse is not completely predefined but emerges as a result of the interaction between the user and the system, and the user's ability to influence the discourse is by selecting different paths through the narrative. Design, implementation, and use of interactive narrative systems have been reported from such diverse areas as entertainment, illness treatment, training of collaboration skills, and assessment of competence.

The class of interactive narrative systems is difficult to define and delimit both because of the diversity of systems and the rapid technological developments that constantly move the boundaries of what we are able to implement. In this article, we will use the term interactive narrative systems, or just interactive narratives, to denote systems with four fundamental characteristics that are inspired by. First, they integrate several elements based on various modalities, e.g. sound, text, video, graphics, and animation. Second, they integrate complex structures to control and synchronize the individual elements. Third, they are characterized by an intensive interaction between the user and the system. Fourth, they are based on a narrative structure that regulates how the use of the system can develop over time. The first two characteristics are consistent with simple definitions of multimedia systems. The last two characteristics are introduced to emphasize the combination of storytelling and user activity. The four characteristics also explain why the class of interactive narrative systems has been described as being considerably more functionally complex than traditional interactive systems.

The characteristics of interactive narratives and their inherent complexities may also influence the development process. It seems reasonable to expect that development of systems with such qualities demand highly structured design and implementation processes. However, this expectation is not confirmed by studies of practice. Research shows that contemporary interactive narrative systems are designed and created primarily by intuition. No methodological support is applied, and projects are characterized by very unsystematic work practices. It seems as if this category of system development projects completely ignores the body of knowledge that has been established in software engineering and information system development. A fundamental lesson learned through many studies and experiments in these areas is that improvements in analysis and design processes require systematic work practices that involve well-founded methods. Attempts to establish a better methodological foundation are occurring, e.g. There are also a few examples of methods for developing interactive narrative systems, but they tend to focus on certain aspects of such systems, e.g. So presently, interactive narrative systems are usually designed in an ad-hoc manner.

This article explores what the process of designing an interactive narrative system can learn from an ...