Redcap

Storyworld concept for IDtension

Based on the initial story, the goal is to create an interactive drama where the player plays the Little Red Cap.

In order to achieve high interactivity, the story must be decomposed into small reusable units, that is goals and tasks in the IDtension model. This reusability is essential. For example, if the wolf can disguise himself into the Grand Mother, then the Little Red Cap can disguise herself into the She Wolf, to create an interesting dramatic situation. Similarily, if the wolf can ask Red Cap what she is doing in the forest, the player can ask the same question…

The design consisted in finding a set of goals, tasks and obstacles that could be used (instanciated) in many situations.

The goals implemented in the (unfinished) Little Red Cap story are:

  • be at (a place)
  • have food
  • please grandmother
  • know where is (another character)
  • know intention (of another character)
  • possess (an object)
  • look like (another character)
  • look oneself
  • hunt (a prey)
  • get rid of (another character)

To reach each of these goals, one or more task must be created: eat (to have food), offer (to please grandmother), etc.

Obstacles are associated to tasks: "doesn’t like" is considered as an obstacle to "offer", if, for example, Grandmother does not like what the Little Red Cap offers to her.

The most interesting aspect of this scenario is the possibility of disguisement (let another character believe that one is someone else), which is a fundamental aspect of the original story. Unfortunately, this possibility exceeded the current capabilities of the IDtension engine, in terms of knowledge based reasoning and text generation.

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