What is a Convention in Interactive Narrative Design?

Abstract

This paper reports on an aspect of a long-term project to create a body of evidence-based interactive narrative design methods. In this context, we discuss aspects of formal design descriptions as a basis for a quantitative approach to verify the effects of design choices on the experience of audiences. Specifically, we discuss the notion of ‘design conventions’ by acknowledging earlier usages of the term and the related discourse in video game studies.