Student Feature: 'Doctoral Thesis: Story Games and the OPIATE System'

In today's student feature, part of Gamasutra's education coverage, we present a doctoral thesis from Chris Fairclough, as submitted to the University Of Dublin in late 2004. Fairclough's overview for his thesis, "Story Games and the OPIATE System", explains: "Storytelling in computer games has become a major selling point for new titles. With new games integrating compelling storylines with simulated worlds, there is increasingly a standard set of techniques used to tell a story in games, including cut scenes, story-based missions, and the unlocking of new areas of exploration with successful goal completion... This thesis presents a new approach to creating game mechanics, utilizing a number of key concepts that result in an interaction scheme that engages a player with a story, while allowing the player the freedom to interact with and alter that story as it happens. A story director agent was developed that uses case-based planning of skeletal plot scripts, modelled on Propp's morphology, and the dynamic adaptation of these plans." You can now read the full synopsis and download the full 208 page PDF for this student thesis (no registration required.)