Interactive+Storytelling+-+Chris+Crawford

=Chris Crawford's Definition of Interactivity= //A cyclic process between two or more active agents in which each agent alternatively listens, thinks, and speaks.//

=Chris Crawford's Most Important Lesson= Interactivity depends on the choices available to the user. = = =Chris Crawford's Lessons=

From //Chris Crawford on Interactive Storytelling// ISBN: 0-321-27890-9


 * 1) Stories are complex structures that must meet many hard-to-specify requirements.
 * 2) Stories are about the most fascinating thing in the universe: people.
 * 3) Puzzles are not a necessary component of stories.
 * 4) Spectacle does not make stories.
 * 5) Visual thinking should not dominate storytelling.
 * 6) Stories take places on stages, not maps.
 * 7) The overall quality of interactivity (human-with-human or human-with-computer) depends on the product, not the sum of the individual qualities of the three steps. You must have good listening and good thinking and good speaking to have good interaction.
 * 8) Your designs should aspire to the ideal of metaphorically having sex with your users.
 * 9) Fast turnaround is always better than slow turnaround.
 * 10) The overall quality of an interaction depends on its depth as well as its speed.
 * 11) Interactive storytelling systems are not //"games with stories"//.
 * 12) A storyworld is composed of closely balanced decisions that can reasonably go either way.
 * 13) A storybuilder's most important task is creating and harmonizing a large set of dramatically significant, closely balanced choices for the player.
 * 14) When you can't bash through a problem, go over its head.
 * 15) Interactivity requires verb thinking.
 * 16) Crawford's First Rule of Software Design: Ask, "What does the user DO?"
 * 17) Branching tree designs are always too much work for the designer and not enough meat for the player.
 * 18) Emergence is not the same thing as magic.
 * 19) Tackle the toughest problems first.
 * 20) Interactive storytelling requires a sublanguage that both computers and humans can use.
 * 21) The personality model must cover the behavioral range of your storyworld.
 * 22) Keep the personality model as small as possible.
 * 23) Achieve conciseness through orthogonality.
 * 24) The personality model mirrors the behavioral universe of the storyworld.
 * 25) Don't create special-case personality variables for individual verbs.
 * 26) Use environmental manipulation to heighten drama, not foil the player.
 * 27) Use goal injection to divert the player toward a better course.
 * 28) Use a companion with an alterable personality to guide the player.
 * 29) The Ticking Clock of Doom is effective but must be camouflaged.
 * 30) Dropping the fourth wall is heavy-handed; use it only for comedic effect.
 * 31) Do not impose your //preferences// on players; permit them all reasonable options and then impose the //consequences// of their choices.
 * 32) Use scoring systems to guide players instead of mandates and prohibitions that constrain them.
 * 33) In tragedy, the reward is applause, not victory.
 * 34) Interactive storytelling requires thousands of verbs.
 * 35) It's difficult to recognize how astoundingly stupid an apparently reasonable algorithm can be.
 * 36) Calculating anticipation behavior requires complex algorithms.
 * 37) Someday inference engines will be useful in interactive storytelling - but not yet.
 * 38) The development environment is just as important as the engine.
 * 39) Use menu-driven systems for script editors.
 * 40) Clearly indicate and define required but undefined arguments.
 * 41) Provide all required lines of script on script initiation.
 * 42) Lose the acronyms. Spell it out.
 * 43) Use strongly typed, color-coded variables and functions.
 * 44) Interactive fiction will not lead to interactive storytelling.
 * 45) So far, hypertext fiction offers little more than interesting academic possibilities.
 * 46) "Digital" does not mean "interactive".

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