Project Overview
Tiny-in is a two year EPSRC DTI LINK funded project.
The overall aim of the Tiny-in project is to explore ways to create novel narratives from existing broadcast content.
This type of content re-use is becoming increasingly more desirable as program-makers endeavour to recoup high-production
costs through spin-off merchandise, such as within the emergent market of interactive DVD’s.
Rather than simply re-using content, it is necessary to consider how the narrative principles which underpin the original
broadcast content can be retained, so that the experience of interacting with the content is more meaningful and enjoyable.
Thus, narrative is used as a tool to help organise content because it provides coherence and aids memory and comprehension.
Scene-Driver
The Tiny-in project has produced Scene-Driver, a narrative-driven game architecture for content re-use. Scene-Driver has
been implemented using animation content from the
Tiny Planets
children's television series produced by Pepper's Ghost
Productions. The work has involved the development of a methodology for the selection and description of existing Tiny Planets clips
in terms of narrative element type and the creation of a narrative-engine to generate novel plot structures using these descriptions.
A key feature of Scene-Driver is that the user is actively involved during the construction of the narrative. The Scene-Driver game
is aimed at children of 5-7 years old, who are in the target age-range of Tiny Planets. |