Planning Basics
A wide range of IS systems are using planning as a basic approach. Here we show for example the system "EmoEmma".
EmoEmma System Description
- EmoEmma Project Homepage (External link, incl. videos)
- EmoEmma Authoring Overview (External link)
- EmoEmma Authoring Tool Demo Video (External link, WMV)
The EmoEmma Authoring Tool is based on a planning approach. This means that it uses concepts that are well known and employed in areas such as logistics and robotics, to create multiple stories from smaller elements (texts, videos, 3d animations …). The tool can be connected to different visualisation modules, for example a 3d environment linked to a CAVE (see picture below on the left; the video on the right shows a demo) or a simple HTML-based text interface that shows texts and graphics. The latter was used in the workshop.
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The figure below shows the main window of the authoring tool in which actions, so-called operators, and facts about the state of the world, so-called propositions, have to be defined. By setting some facts as preconditions of an action and defining effects so that after the action was performed some facts are deleted from or added to the current world state, the possible stories are structured. The main focus of this planning-based tool is to allow a variation in the order and the choice of actions during the flow of the story.
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The EmoEmma Authoring Tool also offers different kinds of visualisation to show possible paths through the storyworld. The figure below shows a tree-like layout in which different story paths can be explored interactively. The types of actions are colour-coded: different (by default black) action on the same level are alternatives, choosing a specific alternative is marked with green, explicit choice points that are intended for user interaction are marked yellow and final states that indicate a completed story-line are red. In the screenshot three different paths to three different endings can be traced.
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The picture below, shows another visualisation mode in which the tree is represented in a more graphical way.
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