Analysis of ReGEN as a Graph-Rewriting System for Quest Generation

Abstract

Using procedural narrative generation in video games provides a flexible way to extend game play and provide more depth to the game world at low cost to the developers. Current examples of narrative generation in commercial games, however, tend to be simplistic, resulting in repetitive and uninteresting stories. In this paper, we develop a system for narrative generation using a context-aware graph-rewriting framework. We use a graph representation of the game world to create narratives which reflect and modify the current world state. Using a novel set of metrics to evaluate narrative quality, we validate our approach by comparing our generated narratives to other procedurally generated stories, as well as to authored narratives from commercially successful and critically praised games. The results show that our narratives compare favorably to the authored narratives. Our metrics provide a new approach to narrative analysis, and our system provides a unique and practical approach to story generation.