Procedural Storytelling in Game Design
Tags: #gaming #ai #design #narrative #storytelling #interactive fiction
Authors: Tanya X. Short, Tarn Adams
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Overview
This book is a guide for game designers who are looking to implement procedural storytelling into their games. The book begins with an overview of the basics, with examples of different types of procedural generation and how they can be applied to story. The book then examines a variety of different approaches to procedural narrative design, from fully generated stories to curated narrative systems that combine pre-authored content with elements that are generated on the fly.
The book also addresses the challenges of creating procedural narrative, such as ensuring that the story is coherent and engaging, avoiding repetitiveness, and dealing with the ethical implications of giving machines the ability to tell stories. Finally, the book provides resources for game designers who want to learn more about procedural storytelling.
I hope that this book will be a valuable resource for game designers of all levels of experience. Whether you’re a seasoned veteran or a complete newcomer, I believe that you’ll find something in these pages to help you on your journey to creating truly compelling procedural narratives.
Book Outline
1. Introduction
This book is an introduction to the field of procedural narrative design. Procedural narrative is a growing field, so we want to share our knowledge and experiences.
Key concept: “Procedural narrative design is not a new field, yet it remains one filled with hesitation, humility, and apologies.”
As experts in the field, we know that creating effective procedural narratives is difficult. There is no one right way to do it, so we’ve compiled a number of different approaches and perspectives to help guide you.
2. Keeping Procedural Generation Simple
When building a procedural generation system, you don’t need to create the most complex algorithm possible. Sometimes a simple solution is ‘good enough’.
Key concept: “When coming up with algorithms, start as simple as you can, test it to see if works, and if it doesn’t, go ahead and complicate things from there.”
This quote emphasizes the iterative nature of designing algorithms for procedural generation. Often, simple solutions are good enough, and complex algorithms should only be considered when necessary.
3. Generated Right in the Feels
Don’t get caught up in the technical aspect of procedural narrative design. Focus on creating systems and characters that elicit an emotional response from players. You do this by creating characters that feel real and that players can connect to.
Key concept: “The difficulty in game narrative is the same thing that’s hard everywhere: understanding and connecting to people, be they fictional characters, other players, developers, or even ourselves.”
This is the core idea of the chapter: the goal of procedural narrative is to make players feel something about the characters, which is also the most difficult part.
4. Adapting Content to Player Choices
Procedural narrative is not about creating complicated algorithms that can create an entire story on their own. Instead, it’s about carefully identifying the elements of your content that can be parameterized and then creating tools and systems that allow the game to dynamically adapt to the player’s actions.
Key concept: “Procedural storytelling does not need to involve complicated technology.”
Procedural narrative design is about carefully identifying elements of your content that can be parameterized in a way that creates variations in the experience.
5. Ethical Procedural Generation
Procedural generation is not just a technical challenge, but also an ethical one. Make sure your generated content is not harmful or offensive, and always keep an eye out for unintended consequences.
Key concept: “The more variables you introduce, the more likely there’ll be something you didn’t plan for, so if something doesn’t need to be defined in code it’s safer to simply sidestep it.”
This is about how data influences what a system generates and about how that can lead to unintended consequences, if you don’t carefully consider how your data is structured.
6. Retrospective: Murder on the Zinderneuf (1983)
Murder on the Zinderneuf was one of the earliest attempts at procedural narrative design. In this chapter, we examine the game’s structure and mechanics and see what made it so innovative (and what its limitations were).
Key concept: “An adventure game, he says, is so static that it’s hardly a game at all. It’s ‘really a puzzle that, once solved, is without further interest.’”
This is the key idea behind Murder on the Zinderneuf, which randomly generated a new murder mystery each time it was played. In doing so, the creators were trying to overcome the limitations of adventure games, as they were in the early 1980s.
7. Designing for Narrative Momentum
In this chapter, we look at techniques that we can use to maintain narrative momentum in a procedurally generated open world game.
Key concept: “So: how do we ensure our story is always moving forwards even when the player has a range of things to do at any given moment? And how do we prevent a non-linear environment from creating something tedious when experienced linearly by a temporally bound human player?”
These questions are at the heart of the chapter: How do you create narrative momentum in a game where the player has the freedom to explore an open world and potentially go off the critical path?
8. Curated Narrative in Duskers
In this chapter, we examine a technique for creating procedural narrative that allows for the best of both worlds: a curated narrative that players experience in unique ways. We look at how order matters, how to let the player drive, and how to use narrative to lure players into novel gameplay.
Key concept: “The unique nature of the story makes it special.”
Player stories are one of the most powerful things about games, and this is especially true of procedural games that can generate surprising and unpredictable moments.
9. Uncanny Text
Procedural text can be used in a lot of different ways, not just to create realistic dialog. It can be used to add flavour and personality to a game world, and to create a sense of the uncanny.
Key concept: “Playful Text,”
This is a talk about a philosophy of procedural text design that emphasizes “open, organic possibility spaces.” It’s an approach that leans into the random and unexpected, rather than trying to create a perfectly coherent and polished experience.
10. Dramatic Play in The Sims
This chapter looks at how to use the principles of dramatic play to design games that encourage players to roleplay and make choices that are not necessarily optimal.
Key concept: “Dramatic players want roles that feel unique and personal.”
This is the core idea of the chapter: How do you create a system that allows players to inhabit the role they are playing and for the world to respond in a way that makes them feel that their actions matter.
11. Memorable Stories from Simple Rules in Curious Expedition
In this chapter, we examine how the game Curious Expedition uses a simple ruleset to generate dynamic and interesting stories. The system relies on a combination of pre-written text fragments and a set of rules that dictate how they can be combined.
Key concept: “The reason these generated stories are able to feel relevant instead of seeming like techy text randomization exercises reminds me of how apples work in NetHack.”
The point here is that we can create the illusion of complexity and depth in our systems with relatively simple code. The players will fill in the gaps with their own imaginations, if we give them enough hooks to work with.
12. Amplifying Themes and Emotions in Systems
This chapter examines how we can use resonant real-world themes to amplify the emotional response of players interacting with game mechanics.
Key concept: “Colonization was a system of exploitation and conquest based in such a zero-sum value structure in which even the most innocent inevitably became marked as enemies that must be destroyed or treated as resources.”
This is the core thesis of the chapter, which looks at how to amplify the emotional undercurrents of gameplay systems and make them meaningful through the use of resonant themes.
13. Emergent Narrative in Dwarf Fortress
This chapter is about designing complex systems that encourage players to create their own narratives from the events they experience in the game. The author discusses how to identify and highlight potent mechanics and steer away from those that are likely to lead to dead ends.
Key concept: “An emergent story oftentimes passes through rapid plot beats that connect to each other, and if there aren’t sufficient connections, that story thread will fizzle; we work to identify those mechanics and game objects that are at a nexus of story flow and try to center them.”
This is about the importance of understanding how a game’s mechanics and story are interconnected and how to identify and emphasize the elements that are most likely to create emergent narratives.
14. Heavily Authored Dynamic Storytelling in Church in the Darkness
In this chapter, we look at a dynamic storytelling system that changes the nature of the story each time you play, by generating a new set of personality traits for the cult leaders. This creates many permutations and possibilities, allowing for a large variety of player stories.
Key concept: “The Church in the Darkness is a mystery game where not only do you not know who the murderer is, but you’re not sure a murder has taken place or will ever take place.”
This game uses a highly authored approach to procedural narrative. The story changes each time you play, based on how dangerous the cult is, but it was still conceived as a very authored experience.
15. Generating Histories
In this chapter, we explore procedural generation of history, by looking at how to define history in terms of historical entities and historical events, and how those interact via a system of historical logic.
Key concept: “To proceduralize, we must start to untangle the web. This means unpacking the biases encoded in our intuitions, examining our subject in detail, and articulating a vision for its simulation.”
This is the author’s core methodology for procedural generation: breaking down a complex subject into a set of rules that can be used to generate new content.
16. Procedural Descriptions in Voyageur
In this chapter, we look at how procedural generation can be used to create immersive, dynamic descriptions that change based on the game state. The author discusses how to design a system that generates text from a grammar, but that grammar is filtered by a set of rules and a world model.
Key concept: “It also quickly became apparent that letting the corpus dictate the frequency of everything didn’t work so well in an actual game.”
This is a key takeaway from the chapter: Procedural content is not just about random generation. You need to curate the output to make sure it makes sense in the context of the game, that it’s fun and interesting, and that it doesn’t undermine the balance of your game.
17. Generating in the Real World
This chapter looks at how to blend procedural generation and real-world storytelling, using techniques from immersive theatre and site-specific art to create spaces for emergent narratives.
Key concept: “It’s remarkable how physical components cause people to feel invested in procedurally generated content.”
This is the core principle of the chapter: even simple things like shuffling a deck of cards can create a powerful experience, if the player’s input is tied to the outcome. The author examines a number of existing analog works to see how they use procedurality to create emergent player-driven narratives.
18. Dirty Procedural Narrative in We Happy Few
This chapter is about the challenges of using procedural narrative in a game world that is also a procedurally generated sandbox. The author discusses how to create a system for telling stories in a world where we don’t know which parts of the narrative the player will see in what order.
Key concept: “A good story makes you feel something emotionally. I would even say that in a game it is very hard to make the player feel something other than frustration, boredom, flow, and satisfaction without a story.”
This is about the importance of storytelling in game design: stories are how we connect to characters and understand their motivations.
19. Beyond Fun in Frostpunk
This chapter is about exploring thematic elements in your game and how you can use procedural generation to elicit more nuanced emotions from your players. The authors discuss how they applied this to their game, Frostpunk, a game about what society is capable of when pushed to its limits.
Key concept: “So all of this theory is great and exciting, but in the end we had to make a game, Frostpunk, to be precise.”
This is about the importance of not getting too caught up in the theory: The ultimate goal is to make a game, and sometimes you have to make compromises in order to achieve that goal.
20. Procedural Storytelling in Dungeons & Dragons
This chapter explores procedural narrative in tabletop role-playing games. The author discusses how mechanics such as Moves, Dangers, and “failing forward” can be used to create emergent narrative in tabletop games, by providing the game master with the tools they need to generate content on the fly and react to the players’ choices.
Key concept: “TTRPGs give us the opportunity to look at this process of creation-through-discovery, pattern recognition, and the sorting of those patterns into stories in real time.”
Tabletop role-playing games give us a unique opportunity to explore the creative process itself. The game master is constantly improvising, creating content on the fly, and reacting to the player’s choices. We can learn a lot about procedural storytelling by looking at how it works in tabletop games.
21. Maximizing the Impact of Generated Personalities
This chapter looks at how to create interesting and engaging characters by focusing on the process by which players interpret those characters. The author discusses how to determine which your system depends on first, behaviour or reasoning, and how to present this information to the players.
Key concept: “So, if you pick a reasoning and a behaviour for your generated character, theoretically you’re done. You generated a personality. Congratulations. But is it an interesting personality? Does the player understand what it is? Are the connections between the reasoning and behaviour satisfying?”
These are the core questions you need to ask when designing procedural personalities. The goal is not just to create something that is technically sound, but also to create something that is interesting and engaging for the players.
22. Procedural Characters in State of Decay 2
This chapter looks at how procedural generation can be used to create a near-infinite number of characters, by starting with a small set of core elements and then using tags and rules to create variations. The goal is to make the characters feel unique, authentic, and relatable.
Key concept: “It couldn’t just be any system. Remember, one of the main purposes of the system was to make the deaths of our characters more meaningful to players. That meant not only making them unique, but also making them authentic and relatable.”
This is the core idea of the chapter: procedural characters need to feel real, or else their deaths will be meaningless to the player.
23. Plot Generators
This chapter is about making games that are good at generating player stories. The author argues that we do this by focusing on generating plot points, rather than trying to create fully-formed narratives. Plot points are like Lego bricks: They can be assembled in a near-infinite number of ways to create different stories.
Key concept: “The good news is that if things happen in your game, your game is a plot generator; good job; that was easy; everybody take five; we’re done here!”
The author wants to get across the idea that plot generators are not necessarily complicated. They can be as simple as a set of rules for how things happen in the game.
24. Generating Personalities in The Shrouded Isle
In this chapter, we look at how a minimal, trait-based approach to character generation can be used to procedurally generate a cast of flawed, believable characters. This limited set of elements gives rise to gameplay situations in which the player can interpret the character’s personality and motives, and this process is what makes these characters memorable and engaging.
Key concept: “Ultimately, character generation in The Shrouded Isle owes its success to the effective use of few core elements to create gameplay situations in which the player could interpret the character’s personality.”
This is the thesis of the chapter: the use of just a few core elements can lead to many emergent narrative possibilities.
25. Dialog
This chapter is about designing procedural systems for generating realistic character dialog. The author presents a data-driven approach to creating dynamic and context-sensitive dialog, by using a rule-based system that takes into account world state, character state, character history, and global state.
Key concept: “All these cases share a need to track state about the world in a uniformly manageable way, use that state to select just the right line from a big database of character speech, and remember what was said before when selecting the next line.”
These are the core requirements of any dynamic dialog system. The author describes a simple yet powerful way to achieve this, by thinking of dialog as a system of general rules with increasingly specific exceptions.
26. Tarot as Procedural Storytelling
Tarot is an example of an analogue procedural storytelling system. In this chapter, we examine the mechanics of tarot, how it uses multiple intersecting taxonomies to create meaningful readings.
Key concept: “Regardless of one’s belief in the divinatory power of tarot, it’s both a quick method for building intimacy and a powerful procedural generator, for the same reasons.”
This gets to the heart of how tarot works as a storytelling engine: it’s a system for generating random combinations of cards, each with its own set of meanings. It is then up to the reader to interpret those meanings and create a narrative out of them.
27. Things You Can Do with Twitterbots
In this chapter, we explore Twitterbots as a storytelling tool. The author discusses how to create bots that generate text, images, and videos, and how to design them so that they are engaging and interesting for viewers.
Key concept: “One genre of generated text that is a surprisingly good fit for tweets is worldbuilding.”
Twitter is well suited to procedurally generated content, as the small size of each tweet makes it easier to create something that feels meaningful. The author discusses a number of Twitterbots, each of which uses a different approach to generating text.
28. Creating Tools for Procedural Storytelling
This chapter discusses the best practices for creating authoring tools for procedural storytelling. The author offers guidance on creating content, adding variety to that content, importing content, and revising content. Finally, the author offers some thoughts on how to best budget for extensive iteration, reinforce good design practices, and manage the complexity costs of procedural storytelling systems.
Key concept: “No Tool Is Ever Ready until It’s Been Used to Write a Sizable Project
… and probably not until it’s been used to write two or three projects.”
This is one of the key takeaways from the chapter: You should not expect to create the perfect tool on the first try. Instead, iterate on your tools as you create more content with them.
Essential Questions
1. How do we make procedurally generated stories feel meaningful and engaging for players?
This question delves into the core challenge of procedural storytelling: making the generated content feel meaningful and engaging for players. The book explores different approaches to this challenge, from creating systems that generate surprising and unpredictable moments to carefully curating pre-authored content and allowing players to experience it in unique ways. Several chapters focus on the importance of understanding how players interpret and construct meaning from the information presented to them, and how to use that understanding to enhance their emotional engagement with the narrative.
2. How do we balance randomness and control in procedural storytelling to create engaging and coherent narratives?
This question highlights the importance of finding the right balance between randomness and control in procedural storytelling. The book encourages designers to embrace the creative potential of random generation while also cautioning against the pitfalls of creating content that feels too random or repetitive. Chapters like “Keeping Procedural Generation Simple” and “Adapting Content to Player Choices” offer practical strategies for finding this balance, emphasizing the importance of clear design goals and careful curation of the output.
3. What is the role of the player in procedurally generated narratives, and how can we empower them to be active participants in the storytelling process?
This question explores the role of the player in procedurally generated narratives. The book argues that players are active participants in the storytelling process, not just passive consumers of pre-authored content. Chapters like “Dirty Procedural Narrative in We Happy Few” and “Emergent Narrative in Dwarf Fortress” illustrate how to design systems that encourage players to fill in the gaps, make connections, and create their own interpretations of the events they experience, emphasizing the importance of player agency and the unique power of player-driven stories.
4. What are the technical and design challenges of creating procedural storytelling systems, and how can we overcome them?
This question touches on the technical and aesthetic challenges of procedural storytelling. The book explores different methods of generation, from simple text substitution to complex systems that model historical events or simulate entire worlds. It also examines the importance of creating tools that are both powerful and easy to use, allowing designers to iterate quickly and experiment with different approaches. Chapters like “Getting Started with Generators” and “Creating Tools for Procedural Storytelling” offer practical guidance on overcoming these challenges.
5. What are the ethical implications of procedural storytelling, and how can we ensure that our systems are used responsibly?
This question considers the broader impact of giving machines the ability to tell stories. The book urges designers to be mindful of the ethical implications of their work, recognizing that procedural generation can amplify both positive and negative ideas. It cautions against relying on biased data sources and stresses the importance of carefully curating the output to avoid perpetuating harmful stereotypes or generating offensive content. Chapters like “Ethical Procedural Generation” and “Talking the Talk” offer practical guidance on approaching these issues responsibly.
Key Takeaways
1. Start Simple, Iterate Quickly: Complexity is Not Always Necessary
Many chapters in the book emphasize starting with simple solutions, testing them, and only increasing complexity if necessary. This avoids over-engineering and allows for quicker iteration and a more focused development process. This is vital in procedural storytelling as complex systems can lead to unpredictable outcomes and create a burden for content creators.
Practical Application:
In designing a chatbot for customer service, don’t try to create a bot that can answer every possible question. Instead, focus on a smaller set of common questions and design the bot to handle those well. When the bot encounters a question it can’t answer, it should gracefully hand off the conversation to a human operator.
2. Prioritize Ethical Considerations: Procedural Storytelling Systems are Not Value-Neutral
The book highlights the ethical responsibility of giving machines the power to create narratives. Using biased data sets or failing to address potential harms can result in systems that perpetuate negative stereotypes or produce offensive content. Designers must prioritize responsible development practices and ensure inclusivity and ethical considerations are woven into the foundation of their systems.
Practical Application:
When designing an AI system for generating marketing copy, it’s important to consider the ethical implications of the language the AI uses. For instance, avoid using language that perpetuates gender stereotypes or reinforces harmful biases. Regularly audit the AI’s output to ensure it aligns with ethical standards and inclusivity.
3. Embrace Player Agency: Players are Active Participants in Procedural Narratives
The book challenges the traditional view of narrative as a linear, pre-authored experience. It demonstrates how procedural storytelling can create opportunities for player agency, allowing them to make meaningful choices that shape the unfolding narrative. Embracing player choices and providing opportunities for them to influence the story world leads to more engaging and personalized experiences.
Practical Application:
Imagine an educational game where students learn about historical events. Instead of presenting a fixed timeline, the game could procedurally generate different historical accounts based on the player’s choices, highlighting how different perspectives and interpretations shape our understanding of history.
4. Focus on Perceptual Uniqueness: Not All Variety is Created Equal
The book highlights the importance of perceptual uniqueness and avoiding the “10,000 Bowls of Oatmeal” problem. Simply generating a large volume of content isn’t enough; players need to perceive that content as varied and engaging. Procedural storytelling systems should prioritize creating experiences that feel distinct and memorable, rather than simply producing a large quantity of similar content.
Practical Application:
When developing a recommendation algorithm for a music streaming service, understanding how users perceive variety is important. Instead of simply recommending songs from different genres, the algorithm should consider factors like mood, tempo, and instrumentation to ensure the recommendations feel diverse and engaging, even within a specific genre.
Suggested Deep Dive
Chapter: Ethical Procedural Generation
Given the rapid advancements in AI, this chapter offers vital insights into the responsible development of procedural storytelling systems, highlighting the potential for unintended consequences and the need for careful consideration of ethical implications.
Memorable Quotes
Introduction. 2
“Procedural narrative design is not a new field, yet it remains one filled with hesitation, humility, and apologies.”
Keeping Procedural Generation Simple. 18
“When coming up with algorithms, start as simple as you can, test it to see if works, and if it doesn’t, go ahead and complicate things from there.”
Generated Right in the Feels. 24
“The difficulty in game narrative is the same thing that’s hard everywhere: understanding and connecting to people, be they fictional characters, other players, developers, or even ourselves.”
Adapting Content to Player Choices. 38
“Procedural storytelling does not need to involve complicated technology.”
Ethical Procedural Generation. 52
“The more variables you introduce, the more likely there’ll be something you didn’t plan for, so if something doesn’t need to be defined in code it’s safer to simply sidestep it.”
Comparative Analysis
Compared to other books on game design, “Procedural Storytelling in Game Design” dives specifically into the nuances of narrative generation within interactive systems. While books like “The Art of Game Design” by Jesse Schell offer a broad overview of game design principles, this book focuses specifically on the intersection of procedural generation and storytelling. It acknowledges the rich history of interactive narrative that predates video games, drawing connections to traditional practices like tarot reading and tabletop roleplaying games. This sets it apart from many game design books that primarily focus on digital mediums.
Reflection
“Procedural Storytelling in Game Design” is a valuable resource for anyone interested in pushing the boundaries of interactive narrative. It delves into both the technical and creative challenges of procedural storytelling, offering practical guidance and insightful reflections from experienced developers.
The book’s strength lies in its diverse range of perspectives and its focus on player experience. However, the book’s assumption that players are always actively seeking emergent narrative experiences might not be universally true. Not all players are equally interested in uncovering hidden stories or making complex connections. This potential disconnect between authorial intent and player reception is something to consider when implementing procedural narrative.
Overall, this book stands out as a much-needed contribution to the field of game design. It encourages a thoughtful and responsible approach to procedural storytelling, urging designers to consider not only the technical aspects but also the ethical and social implications of their work. As AI becomes more prevalent in storytelling, the lessons in this book will become increasingly vital for creating engaging and ethical interactive experiences.
Flashcards
What is a Player Story?
The player’s unique story about their experience playing the game.
What is Dirty Procedural Narrative?
A storytelling approach that encourages players to fill in the gaps and create their own interpretations, often used in procedural sandbox games.
What is Failing Forward?
In game design, encouraging players to take action that moves the narrative forward, even when they fail a skill check or encounter a setback.
What is a Story Daemon?
An AI system that manages the unfolding of story events, often used to adapt to player choices and create dynamically changing narrative experiences.
What is a trait-based approach to character generation?
A minimalist approach to character creation that focuses on core elements like traits and family roles, allowing players to more easily extrapolate personality.
What is “Google Milking”?
A technique for extracting knowledge from Google search queries by analyzing the language of questions asked, assuming that frequently asked questions reflect beliefs about the world.
What is Player Expression?
A game design concept that emphasizes player choice and agency, allowing for a wide range of player expression and unique gameplay experiences.
What is the 10,000 Bowls of Oatmeal problem?
A challenge in procedural generation where the sheer volume of generated content can overwhelm the player, making it difficult to perceive differences or find meaning.
What does it mean to “anchor” a generated character?
The process of linking generated characters to game mechanics, ensuring they are essential to the player’s experience and not just decorative elements.