Story and Simulations for Serious Games: Tales from the Trenches [Paperback]

Nick Iuppa (Author), Terry Borst (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 024080788X | ISBN-13: 978-0240807881 | Publication Date: November 29, 2006

How to create a simulation where participants have a sense of freedom and personal control while still maintaining the structure necessary for an effective story is a difficult task indeed. This book examines how to create an engaging, effective story (necessary to teach participants), while relating practical considerations of building a simulation. It also looks at stories as classic ways of teaching and gathering knowledge and considers other theories of interactive narrative design such as synthetic story creation and management and participant-generated story experiences. It also discusses enabling technologies in artificial intelligence, synthetic characters design and development, speech recognition technology, 3D modelling, and the future of story-driven games. Story Driven Simulations reviews the existing efforts in this field as well as focusing on the recent efforts of Paramount Pictures and The Institute for Creative Technologies at the University of Southern California, where this expert author team created successful simulations for the U.S. Army, Department of Defense, as well as other educational simulations.

*Learn to create a new kind of gaming experience that will broaden the audience for entertainment games and simulations by engaging game users at an emotional rather than a purely visceral level.

*Learn to engage players in more memorable, effective experiences that can deal with far more complex and demanding skills such as management, leadership and crisis decision-making.

*Features a unique mix of theory and application providing practical advice using real-world examples from recent military research and development projects

Editorial Reviews

Review

"How to create a simulation where participants have a sense of freedom and personal control while still maintaining the structure necessary for an effective story is a difficult task indeed. This book examines how to create an engaging, effective story (necessary to teach participants), while relating practical considerations of building a simulation." - Tech Trends, April 2007

Book Description

Teaches the latest and most relevant techniques to create story-based simulations (the future of game design)!

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Focal Press (November 29, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 024080788X
• ISBN-13: 978-0240807881
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 7.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #775,801 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Quantum Storytelling for Engineers and Dreamers, November 3, 2007

By 

Jason Weiss (Brooklyn, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Story and Simulations for Serious Games: Tales from the Trenches (Paperback)

In this far-ranging investigation into narrative strategies and their applications for new interactive media, Iuppa and Borst offer several books in one. Foremost, they present a methodical guide to the use of story elements in videogame technologies, particularly as a means toward pedagogical goals ("serious games"). Also, they illustrate from various angles the mechanics of storymaking, how it can work from the creative standpoint as well as its benefits for engaging players on a more substantial level than they might experience in non-narrative games. And, not least, this book provokes us to consider the age-old human need for stories, which ultimately connect us to each other even as they educate and entertain us.

The point of departure for the book is a series of case studies analyzing three projects that Hollywood creative teams, including the authors, developed for the United States Military in its training programs for various crisis situations. From there, subsequent sections branch out to cover all the inherent components of such virtual reality type of training, whatever the domain. In so doing, the discussion keeps an eye toward the most effective ways of involving participants, and seeks always how best to control a given simulation in meeting the desired pedagogical results while allowing for maximum freedom of choice in playing the game.

Throughout, Iuppa and Borst master a wealth of technical details and prove well-informed about the latest software and hardware innovations that the prospective serious game developer might wish to draw on. And yet, despite very specific aims, their discussion is not weighed down by practical concerns. They manage to remind us, in spite of all, why writers will always be necessary: who else has so well learned somehow to keep nimble their narrative reflexes, to subvert expectations, to keep us guessing?

1.0 out of 5 stars You can not teach creative., August 1, 2011

By 

Firestar - See all my reviews

This review is from: Story and Simulations for Serious Games: Tales from the Trenches (Kindle Edition)

I learned more in my seventh grade english class. You can teach plot and setting, but you can not teach creative. This narrow minded book inspires people not to come up with an original idea. Why do exactly as everyone does?