Consider the scene in the Little Red Riding Hood where Red first encounters the Wolf. In PaSSAGE’s version, one of two different scenes will occur, as selected based on what PaSSAGE has learned about the player’s preferences thus far in the story: either the traditional event (where the Wolf sends Red to find some flowers), or an alternative event (where the Wolf attempts to convince Red to help him capture the Woodsman) will occur. For the reader’s familiarity, suppose that PaSSAGE selects the traditional event. The Wolf initially blocks Red’s entry into the forest, and when Red first asks to pass by, the Wolf attempts to delay her. At this point, she is given two options - to continue to listen to the Wolf’s story (indicating a preference for detailed plots), or provoke the Wolf into fighting her (indicating a preference for combat). Based on this choice (and others), PaSSAGE learns a bit more about the player’s preferences, and updates its player model accordingly. Furthermore, this particular section of dialogue includes a mechanism for steering players who prefer combat along the event’s more fighting-oriented course of action. In the figure below, players who prefer fighting see the character speech and options to respond on the left, while all other players see the content on the right (in our particular implementation, the Wolf is replaced by a Troll).
Tags: Scenes