The SCD Architecture and its Use in the Design of Story-Driven Interactive Spaces

In this paper we examine story-driven interactive spaces and argue that story development requires centralized control of the actions of the characters that inhabit such environments. This argument leads us to propose the story-character-device (SCD) architecture that, unlike previous approaches, separates the locus of story control in a distinct software module. To exemplify the use of the architecture we examine an art installation (called “It”) that we built according to the SCD model. The development process of “It” is then compared to the design of another story-driven interactive space that used similar technology and thematic, the computer theater play “It / I”. By looking into the design process of the two environments, we conclude that the SCD architecture allows much more flexibility in the design process of story lines besides bringing an overall simplification of the control system.