North Carolina State University researchers Chris Martens and Rogelio Cardona-Rivera took to the podium at GDC 2017 to explore procedural narrative generation and best outline the tools and techniques game developers can use to create their own procedural stories. 

Martens explains that one major challenge that comes with creating procedural narratives is finding a way to balance spontaneity and structure.  She offers early adventure games as an example of a genre that leaned more towards structure, while the game Dwarf Fortress is given as an example of an experience that forgoes narrative structure in favor of player improvisation.

Throughout the above video, the duo takes a look at how to balance these opposing narrative priorities and offers in-depth advice on two different approaches game developers can take when crafting their own procedural narratives. 

Martens and Cardona-Rivera’s full talk from the Narrative Summit at GDC 2017 can now be found for free over on the official GDC YouTube channel, along with a wide variety of other talks from previous conferences.

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In addition to this presentation, the GDC Vault and its new YouTube channel offers numerous other free videos, audio recordings, and slides from many of the recent Game Developers Conference events, and the service offers even more members-only content for GDC Vault subscribers.

Those who purchased All Access passes to recent events like GDC, GDC Europe, and GDC Next already have full access to GDC Vault, and interested parties can apply for the individual subscription via a GDC Vault subscription page. Group subscriptions are also available: game-related schools and development studios who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company by contacting staff via the GDC Vault group subscription page. Finally, current subscribers with access issues can contact GDC Vault technical support.

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