July 1, 2026
The main narrative flow will be through the Incident engine. The Storytron engine will operate in a susidiary role. The author can attach a link in each Option that can divert narrative flow to the Storytron engine.
Some background: we, the developers, will design the Storytron dictionary to cover basic conversation. We will steadily expand that dictionary in response to requests from authors. We MIGHT allow authors to use SWAT to modify the Storytron dictionary, but the basic responsibility for its contents will be with us, the developers.Â
Again, the Storytron dictionary will be confined to conversational verbs. For example: demean, laud, express gratitude, apologize, threaten, reassure, deny, advise, recommend, urge. If the author chooses to permit some player direct interaction with characters using the Storytron engine, then the author attaches a link to the relevant option, expressed in the form of a sentence in the Storytron dictionary. That sentence is then passed to the Storytron engine, which then carries out the standard calculations and returns a response from the character. This process continues until either the player or the character break off the conversation, in which case narrative flow returns to the Incident.
One problem I am unsure of concerns the use of pValues. These are important in the Storytron engine, but for the Incident engine I want to retain the three global variables. This leaves no room for pValues. Perhaps we could confine the use of and modification of pValues to the Storytron side, initiating them to fixed values at the outset of the story. This does create a problem if an Incident’s Options include actions that should affect pValues. In such cases, the author will want to determine the changes to the pValues; this would add complexity to the Incident editor.