willdye@typhoon.unl.edu (04/08/91)
As with any new medium, story ideas must adapt to the strengths and limitations of the new technology. Here's an idea for interactive fiction on a 'virtual reality' (I hate that term) system. The main limitation I am concerned with here is the fact that existing VR systems (to my knowledge) have no force feedback. You float about in a ghostly way, able to direct actions with certain systems like the DataGlove, able to see what's around you in a cartoon-like world, but unable to have physical contact (force feedback) with anything. In addition, you are alone. There is no second player in the game. I want to select a story-line that turns these weaknesses into strengths, yet still capitalizes on the existing strengths (interactivity, wide field-of-view, directional sound). As the technician helps you strap in to the VR system, there is no picture on the screen. The technician makes some adjustments, and you see a few flashes of a flat, unimpressive screen, with a lot of static. You can hear a scratchy, monaural sound in one ear. The technician makes more adjustments, and you start to see the picture more clearly, but only as a TV-sized square in front of you. The technician seems frustrated. Suddenly the entire field of view flashes with lightning and color. You hear fully directional sounds of a loud shock. You hear a woman scream and an anguished "Oh, my God!", and all goes black and silent for a moment. (To reduce lawsuits, make sure you know the person you do this to.) Slowly coming into focus, you see (you guessed it) your body laying on the floor with smoke coming out of the ears. Someone took a discreet video image of you on your way in, so your face and clothing is texture- mapped (or at least approximated) on your 'body' below. The technician is cartoon-like in appearance, like everything else, but the sound should be good. Incoming medics determine that you are comatose and slipping away fast. The rest of the story should be a combination of 'Heaven Can Wait', 'Ghost', 'Beetlejuice', and murder-mystery movies. Various story devices help guide you in your quest to do whatever-it-is to revive you. 'Beetlejuice' used sandworms to keep the players on the field. All of the above-mentioned ghost stories used angels or fellow ghosts to provide enough inforamation to allow you to function, but not so much that it becomes easy. By drifting around, you can get new information, and perhaps discover bad guys who are behind it all. Note that the environment will be the building you entered to strap on the VR equipment, so clever technicians will give you information BEFORE you get in VR, but you won't know it's valuable until later. The hardest part will be allowing for interactivity. A totally computer-moderated story would be especially challenging. We would have to carefully select the rules of the ghost world to make it work properly. Well, I'm out of time. Sorry this is so crude. I could write more, but I have classes to attend to. So whaddaya think? --willdye (William L. Dye, willdye@typhoon.unl.edu)