The Ethos Framework: Generating Contextually Linked Dynamic Quests

Abstract

In today’s video game market there are hundreds of massively multiplayer online games, many of which boast dynamic content—the content that responds to player’s actions and changes accordingly in runtime. Such content is not truly dynamic and is usually attributed to events on a timer. This presents a major flaw as it heavily affects the re-playability of a game. In this paper we examine four major frameworks: the TRUE STORY, Context Aware Petri Net, Hierarchical Generation, and The Grail Frameworks. These frameworks presented some very good ideas but they also suffered from drawbacks. We propose a new framework for creating dynamic content and called it the Ethos Framework. The Ethos Framework is based on four major components: Character, World State, Story, and Library, that will contribute towards the creation of dynamic content. The Ethos Framework takes the best pieces of current methods to create a unique practical design so that on every playthrough of a game the player has a genuinely unique experience.