PAStE: A Platform for Adaptive Storytelling with Events

Abstract

We present ongoing work on PAStE, a system that supports a narrative director by describing a virtual world and managing the behavior of its characters. Rather than operating in the action domain of each individual actor, PAStE works at the scope of events -- pre-authored multi-actor sequences describing interactions between groups of actors and props. A director can select which event to perform, and populate that event with characters in the virtual world. Once an event is chosen, PAStE handles the event's execution with support for high-fidelity character animation on fully-featured 3D virtual humans. Events are an accessible tool for assembling narrative arcs, invoking contextual activities, and conceptualizing user intervention. We explore the possibilities presented by an event-centric behavior environment for conducting stories, and address some of the potential limitations.