1st Edition
Storytelling for Spatial Computing and Mixed Reality The Art of Augmenting Imagination
This is a clear, accessible manual of storytelling techniques and learning activities for spatial computing, augmented reality and mixed reality. It covers the key skills that the next generation of digital storytellers will need, providing readers with practical tools for creating digital stories and adventures out in the real world.
Drawing on more than a decade of experience, veteran immersive storyteller Rob Morgan provides strategies and techniques for augmenting players and places with digital narrative. Readers will try out key ideas through a range of practical exercises, building up their own portfolio of augmented/spatial narrative projects.
Storytelling for Spatial Computing and Mixed Reality provides insight on everything from narrative pacing to conditional and emergent storytelling for augmented/spatial technology. Each chapter addresses key questions about the affordances - and ethics - of augmenting players' realities, helping students and practitioners explore this new storytelling frontier.
This book will be invaluable to students of game design, experience design and interactive narrative. It provides theories, best practices and case studies also relevant to creative professionals in games, XR, immersive theatre, theme parks and brand experience.
Preface: Play along
INTRODUCTION
Section 1: LEARNING FROM VR
1.0 - Learning from VR: Getting Started
1.1 - SEEING in VR
SEEING ≠ BELIEVING
SEEING WITH AGENCY
DIEGETIC AND FOVEATED SEEING
REBELLIOUS SEEING
From SEEING in VR to IMAGINING and STAGING in Augmented/Spatial
1.2 - BEING in VR
OUT-OF-BODY EXPERIENCE
PROTAGONIST-AGNOSTIC VR IDENTITIES
CHARACTERISED VR IDENTITIES
IDENTITY-DISCOVERY
From BEING in VR to IDENTITY-BUILDING and BEING-THERE in Augmented/Spatial
1.3 - BEING SEEN in VR
FEELING SEEN
THE SWAYZE EFFECT
BEING (UN)SEEN
From BEING SEEN in VR to BEING SELF-CONSCIOUS and OCCUPYING SPACE in Augmented/Spatial
1.4 - JUXTAPOSITIONS: Moving from Virtual Realities to Augmented/Spatial Realities
PARALLEL REALITIES
UNIFIED SENSORY MODELS
THE DRAGON’S CAVE
HYBRID REALITIES
Section 2: AUGMENTING PLAYERS
2.0 - Augmenting Players: Getting Started
2.1 - Imagining
ACTIVE CREATION OF BELIEF
BEGINNING AUGMENTATION
Plausibility
Desireability
Faits Accompli
2.2 - Identity-Building
NOT QUITE YOURSELF
PROTAGONIST-AGNOSTIC VS. ROLEPLAY IDENTITIES
Protagonist-Agnostic Identities: Possible Selves
Roleplay Identities: Performance of Self
Five C’s of Compelling Roleplay Characterisation
THREE TECHNIQUES FOR BUILDING AUGMENTED IDENTITY
Discovering IDENTITY: Augmented Anagnorisis
IDENTITY-DISCOVERY IN IMMERSIVE THEATRE
Asserting IDENTITY: Mise-en-self
Blending IDENTITIES & Building Complicity
ONGOING IDENTITIES
2.3 - Self-Consciousness
THIS IS WHERE YOU COME IN
DIEGETIC SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS
AUGMENTED SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS
PLAYER-AS-PERFORMER
A WORD OF CAUTION: AUGMENTING/APPROPRIATING OTHERS
UNRELIABLE PROTAGONISTS
DISCOVERING OTHERS
2.4 - From AUGMENTING PLAYERS to AUGMENTING PLACES
SECTION 3: AUGMENTING PLACES
3.0 - Augmenting Places: Getting Started
PLACE VS SPACE
LOCATIVE CATEGORIES
Location-Agnostic Experiences
Location-Specific Experiences
Generic Places
Location-Portable Design
Roomscale/At-home
Table-Scale
3.1 - STAGING
ALL THE WORLD’S A STAGE
3.1.1 - General Augmented STAGING
GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF HYBRID SPATIONARRATIVES
GENERAL AUGMENTED STAGING: LAYOUT
Augmenting Spatial Elements
Paths
Landmarks
Hubs
Edges
Districts
GENERAL AUGMENTED STAGING: SPATIAL PACING
Agency and Pacing
Diegetic and Nondiegetic Durations
Conditional Pacing
Roomscale/At-home Pacing
Digital Pacing for Real Objects
Emergence and Serendipity
GENERAL AUGMENTED STAGING: BOUNDARIES
Videogame Boundaries
Augmenting Boundaries
Foveating Space
Diegeticizing Boundaries
Social Boundaries
3.1.2 - Location-Specific STAGING
LOCATION-SPECIFIC STAGING: SURFACING LAYERS OF HISTORY
It Happened Here
LOCATION-SPECIFIC STAGING: LAYOUT
The Language of Space
Uncritical Paths: Goldeneye
Augmenting Spatial Elements: The Location-Specific Approach
Paths
Landmarks
Hubs
Edges
Districts
LOCATION-SPECIFIC STAGING: SPATIAL PACING
Conditional Pacing: Spatial Gates
Game State
Digital Pacing with Physical Performers
LOCATION-SPECIFIC STAGING: BOUNDARIES
Foveating Space
3.2 - Being There
FOUND YOU
BEING THERE THROUGH NAVIGATION
EGOCENTRIC AND ALLOCENTRIC
SPATIAL AGENCY: FORKS
Distinct
Navigable
Asymmetrical
Expressive
SPATIAL AGENCY: HUBS
3.3 - Occupying Space
FINDING YOURSELF
SPATIAL SUBJECTIVITY: VANTAGE POINTS
SPATIAL SUBJECTIVITY: PLAYER-AS-PERFORMER
MAPS OF OURSELVES
COMMON GROUND
Section 4: DIVERGENT REALITIES
JOURNEY THROUGH SPACE
BETTER THAN LIFE: CUSTOMISED REALITIES AND AI
BUT IS IT ARt?: AR GRAFFITI, AND NON-ZERO-SUM CULTURES
AR BODIES, AR SELVES: RIGHTS IN AN AUGMENTED ERA
HOW DO WE KNOW WHEN IT ENDS?
Appendix A: Inclusion, Accessibility and Safety
Appendix B: Sliders for Defining Augmented/Spatial Experiences
Appendix C: Example Concept Development Framework
Glossary
Biography
Rob Morgan is a writer, experience designer, digital dramaturg and founder and creative director of London-based AR design studio Playlines. Rob writes and narrative-designs award-winning VR, AR and spatial computing experiences, and has helped create story worlds and immersive experiences for some of the world’s largest licences, attractions and cultural institutions. He is a Visiting Fellow at King’s College London and lectures widely on immersive design, storytelling and AR ethics.
"A crucial exploration of how augmented reality can redefine storytelling through the blending the digital with the physical. The book is an essential guide for understanding AR and for navigating and shaping the future of immersive experiences."
Leighton Evans, Associate Professor in Media Theory, Swansea University.
"A vision for storytelling in the coming age of spatial computing. Offering a mix of practical guidance and speculative theory, Morgan equips readers for the narrative possibilities ahead. A primer and a gateway to next-gen storytelling in virtual worlds of all kinds."
Jay Springett, Researcher & Worldrunner.
