Introduction(The Road to StoryDrive.)
1.
Who This Book is For
(How our experiences in developing story-based military simulations can benefit all developers of serious games.)
PART ONE: CASE STUDIES
2.
The StoryDrive Engine
(Overview of the Crisis Decision Exercise designed for the Industrial College of the Armed Forces by Paramount Digital Entertainment.)
3.
Collaborative Distance Learning
(Overview of the ALTSIM project jointly developed for the US Army by the Paramount Simulation Group and the University of Southern California.)
4.
Branching Storylines
(Overview of the Leaders project jointly developed for the US Army by the Paramount Simulation Group and USC.)
PART TWO: STORIES AND STORY DEVELOPMENT
5.
A Good Story (The Simple Answer)
(One approach to writing successful Hollywood Stories.)
6.
Other Perspectives on Story
(The arc of the story.)
7.
War Stories and Parables
(Stories and their use in serious games.)
8.
Designing Simulation Stories from Tacit Knowledge
(The theory behind story-based serious games.)
9.
Simulation Stories and Free Play
(Example of techniques for giving the users a sense of free will in branching story based simulations such as the Leaders Project.)
10.
Experience Management
(Concepts behind methodologies for maintaining dramatic control of stories.)
11.
Story Representation in Experience Management
(A technical discussion of the computational issues related to the creation of an experience management system based on the ALTSIM project.)
PART THREE: CHARACTERS
12.
Creating Multidimensional Characters
(Techniques for making sure characters have dimension. includes the use of character bibles, and other devices that strengthen and differentiate characters and their motivation.)
13.
A Really Good Villain
(Pedagogical and dramatic roles that characters can play in the service of the story.)
14.
Synthetic Characters
(Uses of synthetic characters within story based simulations.)
PART FOUR: MAN IN THE LOOP vs. THE AUTOMATED GAME MANAGER
15.
The Instructor as Dungeon Master
(The pedagogical implications of the dungeon master role when taken on by an instructor.)
16.
Automated Story Generation
(Current research into automated systems that create story content on the fly.)
PART FIVE: COMPLETING THE PYRAMID
17.
Game Play
(The most critical element in all games is the game play itself. Selecting media formats and delivery platforms based on game play, paying attention to game play, testing for game play, revising games for guaranteed effective game play.)
18.
Evaluation and Testing
(How to assemble teaching points in such a way that they form a meaningful and coherent story in which the entire experience serves the critical objective of the lesson. Determining the instructional effectiveness of the lesson.)
PART SIX: BUILDING THE IMMERSIVE ENVIRONMENT
19.
Content Scripting Tools
(Outlining and scripting scenarios.)
20.
Selecting Media and Platform: An Overview
(The advantages and disadvantages of different forms of media as carriers of game content.)
21.
Immersive Desktop Experiences
(Multi-media experiences that simulate computer based systems operation.)
22.
The Internet
(Ways in which the Internet enhances and detracts from game delivery.)
23.
Interactive Video and Interactive Television
(How media elements can be used to create interactive characters and allow motion through a video based immersive environment instead of creating a graphics based 3D world; the coming promise of interactive television.)
24.
Real-Time 3D Virtual Worlds
(Building the virtual environment, constructing the space, the characters, the staging; skills required, degree of difficulty.)
25.
Audio
(The critical role of audio in building and maintaining the virtual world, pre-recorded audio vs. synthetic speech, the importance of music and sound effects.)
26.
Simulation Integration
(Systems that integrate media and scripting elements.)
PART SEVEN: STORY STRUCTURES FOR COMMERCIAL GAMES
27.
Back Story and Free Play
(The current story-game model as demonstrated by Grand Theft Auto and The Sims.)
28.
Stories in State-of-the-Art Serious Games
(The back story and the ongoing story as used in serious games, their value and effect on learning experiences, other ways of thinking about stories within serious games.)
29.
Stories in State-of-the-Art Commercial Games
(The back story and the ongoing story as used in commercial games, their value and effect on massively multiplayer games, PC games and console games; the consequences of their use in commercial game design, other ways of thinking about stories within commercial games.)
PART EIGHT: THE FUTURE OF STORY-DRIVEN GAMES
30.
The Future: The Role of Story
a. Immersive Distance Learning Experiences
b. Online Collaborative Games and Simulations
c. Story-Driven Massively Multiplayer Online Games
d. Location-Based Full-Sensory Simulations (Virtual Reality)
e. Keeping Track of the Evolution
f. Summary
31.
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
