Interactive stories on the net: a model and an architecture for X3D worlds

Abstract

This work discusses a model and an architecture for interactive stories to be displayed on the net, designed for being independent from the specific story represented and suitable to different literary genres. They are the result of a formal approach, based on the research performed in the domain of narratology. The analysis of narrative theories, and in particular of the approach proposed by Cesare Segre, has led to identification of the story model. Such model, extended towards non-linearity, has been used as the basis for implementing an architecture for managing the evolution of the story and representing the final result as an interactive X3D world for the net. The discussion of a case study, related to the autobiographic novel "The Sergeant in the Snow" by the famous Italian writer Mario Rigoni Stern, completes the work.