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

by Nicholas Iuppa (Author), Terry Borst (Author)
Key Phrases: automated story generation, branching storylines, food distribution operation, Experience Manager, Final Flurry, United States (more...)

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; illustrated edition edition (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: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #778,360 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 2 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

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?