Supporting rereadability through narrative play

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the use of narrative play as a means of encouraging rereading in interactive stories. To explore this, we created a storytelling game in which the reader/player takes on the role of a film director whose objective is to shoot a film in the face of a series of complications. We discuss the iterative design and playtesting of the prototype of our game, and argue that our design encourages a different type of rereading which involves a shift away from the usual concern for "narrative closure" and more towards a desire to do better. We also discuss the use of storytelling games as a way to explore new forms of interactive storytelling by focusing on the mechanics of interactive storytelling, rather than technical implementation details, without losing sight of the need for an eventual computer-based implementation. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.