Planning Graphs for Efficient Generation of Desirable Narrative Trajectories

Abstract

A goal of Experience Managers (EM) is to guide users through a space of narrative trajectories, or story branches, in an Interactive Narrative (IN). When a user performs an action that deviates from the intended trajectory, the EM uses a mediation strategy called accommodation to transition the user to a new desirable trajectory. However, generating the trajectory options then selecting the appropriate one is computationally expensive and at odds with the low-latency needs of an IN. We define three desirable properties (exemplar trajectories, narrative-theoretic comparison, and efficiency) that general solutions would possess and demonstrate how our plan-based Intention Dependency Graph addresses them.