gdp's Comments

Justin Gibbs - that virtual worlds story guy : Are MMOs the best model for real time story?

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:34:16 +0000

I look forward to see what you come up with. It's the same with us at Visual Purple, working on a lot but unable to show much publicly yet. With the expansion of platforms and widening audience for games there should be a lot of opportunity for real time story.

Justin Gibbs - that virtual worlds story guy : Wanting more from quests

Wed, 2 Sep 2009 19:56:13 +0000

Eric, You're probably right that the majority of players only want to conquer a game as quickly and effectively as possible. But than again that's "players", what about everyone else? As the Nintendo Wii showed, the potential audience for video games was much larger than what game companies and analysts thought. cmagoun and I believe there's more to questing than has been tried so far. Luckily, building training simulations at Visual Purple I get to try and stretch the questing model. We aren't building games for people to conquer, but simulations to pass on knowledge and understanding. I'm happy we have a different objective; it allows me to experiment where game companies might not be that flexible.

Justin Gibbs - that virtual worlds story guy : Real-Time Story

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 05:04:37 +0000

I agree that much of this isn't anything new, but you might or might not be surprised how many people are unfamiliar with it. I'm constantly having to explain it to friends and acquaintances. And as with screenwriting I've learned that you can never cover the basic three act structure enough. Also by covering the basics I think it better highlights the difference between interactive story and immersive story - something I would argue is a fresh concept.

Justin Gibbs - that virtual worlds story guy : Can we turn the art of story over to the players?

Wed, 3 Jun 2009 17:48:17 +0000

Megan, I couldn't agree more. Joseph Campbell probably more than any other showed how story can be used to transmit data. How we improve on current modes of storytelling through real time story is still to be discovered however. I'm really impressed with what you and Visual Purple have been able to do though. My guess is that serious games like the ones you're building will lead the way in the development of real time story. It's about to get very interesting.

Justin Gibbs - that virtual worlds story guy : Can we turn the art of story over to the players?

Fri, 8 May 2009 20:10:02 +0000

I couldn't agree more, I just wish others would see this as well. Too often those of us in Silicon Valley get caught up in the technology. We live and breath it. However for most people the latest technology is just a curiosity and the only way to pull them in is offer some great utility or story, or both. Interactive story is cool, but it has to offer a better way to tell a story or it'll be a passing fad. You don't see many Choose Your Own Adventure books anymore.

Justin Gibbs - that virtual worlds story guy : Virtual events - Another area of success for virtual worlds

Fri, 8 May 2009 20:00:59 +0000

I really like the stadium and movie theater analogy. But what gets people to a theater? A few people might show up with no idea what they want to watch and just pick one, but most will only make the trek down already sold one what to watch. In one way what that movie is giving the theater is context - I know what I'm going to get into. If I get an email for a virtual event on wood chips, I basically know what I'm getting into. I know what to expect and what I need to get done. Compare that experience with entering Second Life? I don't know what to expect, I don't know where to go and what to do. Not only are crowds important, but so is the context and virtual events force you to figure out your context.

Justin Gibbs - that virtual worlds story guy : Bots don\'t need social networks, they need a personality

Wed, 6 May 2009 19:52:54 +0000

I had been keeping an eye on Fairyverse.com from MASA Group, but the site seems to have gone dead. Too bad cause they seemed to be building the closest thing to virtual characters - "We strive to develop the solutions for creating virtual interactive stories in which you and your friends are the heroes". There are some other companies to watch as well, but they're mission is a bid different - VirtuOz and Novamente.

Justin Gibbs - that virtual worlds story guy : Can we turn the art of story over to the players?

Tue, 5 May 2009 21:19:20 +0000

While at the gym I began to question if I'm still looking at this from too technical of a perspective - at least where interactive story is concerned. As you point out, we commonly know the outcome of a story but continue to watch. We go to super hero movies knowing that they can't lose but get caught up in it, find ourselves on the edge of our seats. Adding the interactivity in the storyline might seem logically to not offer much bang for the buck - I can take path A or B but end up at pretty much the same place. Even if you make it thousand of possibilities I question if the creator can really make the outcomes that different. But then again it might just work. Knowing how a story will turn out doesn't kill the entertainment value, heck we even watch them over and over and still get chills. I just need to keep plugging away on my dating sim, see first hand what is possible. Ren'Py doesn't offer any crazy features so it kind of forces you to concentrate on the basics - which in this case can be great.

Justin Gibbs - that virtual worlds story guy : Can we turn the art of story over to the players?

Tue, 5 May 2009 19:22:17 +0000

Justin Gibbs - that virtual worlds story guy : Can we turn the art of story over to the players?

Tue, 5 May 2009 19:13:27 +0000

I tried to create the diagrams from the perspective of a writer and incorporating a storyline. It's possible to create interactive story using a different model but for me that gets too technical - I simply can't wrap my head around it. As a consumer or player I can but as a writer it seems impossible to create. Chris Crawford built Storytron using a different model and I have no idea how I would weave a story into that. It seems to be more of a storyworld than story but I haven't had that much experience with it. Speaking of Chris Crawford however, he has a great piece on a lot of what you brought up - Flawed Methods

Justin Gibbs - that virtual worlds story guy : Can we turn the art of story over to the players?

Tue, 5 May 2009 15:06:35 +0000

Yeah, most narrative games don't go beyond a traditional narrative with obstacles put in the way. Are developers just being lazy or did they find that story interactivity didn't offer much value over traditional narrative? I know Chris Klug, of Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment said expressly, "Mention interactive fiction and they'll think you're an academic." He went on to say that developers would never let you waste time on content that might never be seen by the player. Interactive story is a tough one. And what's with the hatred of comic sans? I would switch but I use a great program Balsamiq to quickly create the diagrams and all it offers is comic sans.

Justin Gibbs - that virtual worlds story guy : Best books for lean product managers

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 13:50:00 +0000

Thanks for the heads up, I'll certainly check it out when it hits stores in May.

Justin Gibbs - that virtual worlds story guy : Story is conflict, therefore real time story is conflict

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 05:53:16 +0000

I agree that the conflict will ultimately come from the artist but I also think it is odd if it's so central to story to not play a bigger role in the platform. That said, you can't get more simple than paper and pen. However every class on writing focuses on conflict before handing you paper and pen. In all of these interactive story platforms and theories I almost never hear conflict mentioned. Are we forgetting conflict to our detriment or will artists come through in the end?

I will have to check out the latest build of Storytron. I've been following it is development for years but haven't checked it out in months.

Immersive Story : OnLive the perfect platform for immersive story?

Tue, 7 Apr 2009 14:32:30 +0000

My point exactly - if it fails to work for high end video games real time story should be perfect for the platform. Actually though the http://justingibbs.com/2009/04/06/can-i-build-rea...rel=\\\"nofollow\\\">Roku and boxee platforms look like more immediate options for real time story. Wonder how difficult it would be or if anyone is porting Ren\\\'Py to use the boxee API? Or the iPhone?

Justin Gibbs - that virtual worlds story guy : Design flaw - unrealistic avatars

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 23:43:21 +0000

Ultimately this is my informed opinion. Informed by my experience working in the virtual worlds industry and speaking with users. True some like more stylistic or creative avatars but I would caution you - I never found this to be that large of a group. I would use it as a rule of thumb - users prefer realistic avatars. The rule isn't suitable for every situation, one in particular would be context heavy virtual worlds. In general though it works and you should be cautious when you break it. The uncanny valley is certainly an issue, but like the general trend in video games - the more realistic the better. I can't really speak to the variations by country, however I would think the affection for realism would be pretty universal. I'll have to investigate further.

Justin Gibbs - that virtual worlds story guy : I've joined the 10 percent and growing

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 20:28:21 +0000

Thanks Lewis, Maybe I'll have to head back down to LA. At any rate I might be cruising through town in a week or two, will let you know.

Justin Gibbs - that virtual worlds story guy : I've joined the 10 percent and growing

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 20:27:02 +0000

Thanks Rick, You've inspired me to switch my blog title back to Failed Screenwriter. It was the title I started with a few years ago but moved away from for various reasons, however at this time of pause it seems appropriate to reinvigorate my message of story. Look for a flurry of new posts related to story. And hopefully I'll be able to find a virtual worlds job, but I can't wait forever in this economy. At any rate I'll keep pushing forward with my writing and real time story. Thanks again for the words of encouragement and I have no idea why IntenseDebate won't let you leave a longer comment. I'm only using it because it's now part of Automattic, but development isn't progressing as fast as I'd like. Same goes for their BBPress forum product. - justin

Justin Gibbs - that virtual worlds story guy : Where Sony and Japan blew it

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 15:25:01 +0000

You've always been able to select the option to subscribe through email from the Feedburner subscription page - Subscribe to Justin Gibbs by Email

Immersive Story : Interactive story on your iPhone

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 15:41:47 +0000

Francesco, thanks for the link. I'm downloading it now.

Justin Gibbs - that virtual worlds story guy : Where Sony and Japan blew it

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 16:31:26 +0000

Lewis, thanks so much for posting the comment to a completely unrelated post about Japan and software development. But I guess when inspiration to rip on a guys idea hits you, you've got to just get it out. You're correct that immersive story isn't that much different than games and the like, but I think the focus on story rather than the game aspect is important - a distinction worth making. If we don't make such distinctions we would just group comic books with Gone With the Wind the movie. They're not only indifferent mediums but different types of stories. Yes they're both stories, but we see them very differently. Granted both exist today and what I talk about is vapor, all theory. But seen One Coin Comics and Ruben & Lullaby has inspired me to try and move away from just yapping in theory and try and build some immersive/interactive stories. Maybe then the clear distinction I see will become more obvious. You should see this and my ImmersiveStory.org sites evolve over the next week or so to adjust to this new tact. And seeing how poorly this post was written and rushed out, my writing sure could use the re-found vigor.