Storytelling
Explore our sci-fi themed escape room narrative.
Contents
- Language simplification
- Expanded story pipeline
- Story decisions between tasks
- Performance based outcomes
- Restart scenarios
- Completion metrics
Second semester
Motivation for the change in storytelling
Escapeling is an app for learning English as a foreign language, the main purpose of which is to provide the user with an opportunity for practice English skills with peers in a group format with the help of our app.
We would like to go away from boring scenarios and engage users throughout their language learning journey. Gamification of education is one of our main approaches, as we believe that it makes educational process more interesting and helps to keep users’ attention during task completion, especially in a group learning scenario, where all the users have to interact with each other in order to solve the task. That is why, there was made a decision to create a storyline, introduce characters and create different variants of the plot development.
In the summer semester’20 we chose a narrative scenario as one of the methods to make users learn a language effectively. According to this, escape scenario has been suggested, in which users are supposed to be abducted by Alien and escape by solving a few tasks together. Having solved each task correctly, users obtain a hint of the key that will help them. First of all, receiving a hint is a reward that helps to motivate users. Moreover, they can imagine at what point they are in the whole story and as they collect remaining hints, they will successfully complete the task.
In the winter semester’20/21 we decided to make some changes and additions into the existing concept, preserving the idea of escape room in the collaborative learning scenario, however, we made a decision to improve narrative, introduce new characters, create different versions of a single escapeling session and add more visual material.
At this point of time we designed three tasks that help users to improve their English level. We decided to introduce such a narrative that will create the impression that all the tasks are connected between each other. Furthermore, we added new characters (Harriet and Elias) to make the storytelling more logical and interesting. There was made a decision to create different versions of a single escapeling session in order to give users an opportunity to use an application for learning a few times, even if the tasks have already been successfully completed. What is more, the use of emojis, an introductory video and pictures help to avoid sending large text messages to the user that makes the interface of the app more user-friendly and the learning process more interesting as it immerse users into the atmosphere of the game.
Characters
This semester we made a decision to introduce new characters into our storyline. This allows us to keep users interested throughout the whole learning process, as it brings new turns and makes learning of the English language more engaging. Moreover, it helped us to make the structure of the storytelling more logical and coherent. In this section we would like to introduce our main characters.
Aliens kidnapped four human beings from the Earth (a formed group of students) and put them on the alienship. Their plan is to take over the Earth, but for that then need to remove all the human beings that currently inhabit the Earth. Aliens managed to kidnap a few people and intend to interrogate them in order to find out the way how to remove people from the Earth and populate the Earth themselves.
Harriet is a human hacker from the Earth who manages to hack a signal from space and now she is on the line with users. She has to save humans and prevent the threat of human extinction. Harriet cannot allow aliens to remove people from Earth and populate the planet completely. But at first she has to make sure that those who are in contact with her now are really humans. Harriet agrees to send the escape codes as soon as a group, that Harriet communicating with, successfully fulfils the tasks only humans can solve, in particular language tasks. Successful task completion helps to identify who on the line with the hacker are, and Harriet sends the escape code for humans.
Elias is a sympathetic alien who accompanies humans during their stay on the spaceship and guides users through the tasks. He is trustworthy and always ready to help. Some time ago he lived on the Earth and there learned one human language. He likes human beings and wants to assist to stop the evil plan of other aliens, that is why he helps humans to escape.
Plot and storylines
One of our goals this semester was to improve the storyline in such a way that it could serve as additional motivation for the participants to get engaged in activities proposed by the chatbot. Thus, first of all, existing narrative ideas should be organised into a united plot. Secondly, the storyline should be better integrated with the existing tasks and give the users a sense of progression as they successfully move from one task to another. Thirdly, additional story variants should be created.
The main storyline can be described as follows. The users regain consciousness and find themselves in a strange and unfamiliar place. They find out then that they are on a spaceship, while aliens, who kidnapped them, now want to interrogate them to figure out a way to remove all humans from the Earth. This makes it clear that the final goal of the participants should be an escape from the spaceship, which is possible only with the help of two additional characters: Elias and Harriet.
We motivate the importance of linguistic tasks within described narrative by emphasizing that English language is a perfect tool to provide evidence that participants are proficient in one of the most spoken languages on the planet and, thus, are humans and not the aliens. Only this can persuade hacker from the Earth to help them.
Storyblocks and tasks are combined in such a way that successful completion of each task leads to the users obtaining a piece of the code that will let them continue the quest. The storyline consists of introduction, conclusion and two intermediate story blocks that are presented in-between the tasks. In case the task was failed, a respectful story block gets presented asking if the users would like to do the task one more time. If all three tasks were completed, the story session ends with the users escaping the spaceship on a shuttle they manage to find. If participants fail the last task, they get captured by the aliens and can only start their escape from the very beginning.
In addition to the main storyline of the escape scenario, several session variants were designed. Each of these story variants consists of 4 blocks of text, in which the introduction and the conclusion stay the same as in the first storyline to keep the original setting and story frame. Meanwhile, the story in between differs with respect to the different escape rooms, the items to interact with, like a map, and the incidents, like a slipping team mate.
The story variants are created to keep the story engaging and interesting for users who have already interacted with the application but want to go on with their learning experience, even for those, who have already successfully escaped.
Block Structure
The structure of the story was divided into blocks. This was done in order to integrate the story with the tasks that are to be completed by the participants. The block is the representation of the stage of the escape the participants are in. The story right now is based on 5 blocks which allows the participants to take part in 3 tasks before they finish the learning process. The block flowchart basically shows the flow of the blocks and the blocks which are completed, and which are not. The blocks that are completed:
1) Introduction (Block 1) 2) Before Task 1 (Block 2) 3) Between Task 1-2 (Block 3) 4) Between Task 2-3 (Block 4) 5) Conclusion Escape (Block 5)
The Blocks that are to be implemented in the coming semester:
1) Before task 4 (Block 6) 2) Before task 5 (Block 7)
The signs that are denoting Success Message and Failure Message in other words are messages from the Elias and/or Harriet whether the participants have successful completed their tasks or not and the further steps to be taken in each case. The participants will be participating the different task before block 3, 4 and 5. After every completion of the task further steps would be indicated and the final escape is possible at block 5. Keeping in mind the Adaptive learning module and the possibilities of task list being increased we have devised a flow in such a way that allows the expansion of more blocks before the participants can escape. This would mean that the participants will have to take part in more than 3 tasks in a session. For now, we have shown 2 more block which indicates that the participants will have to do 5 tasks and not 3 to escape. This gives the participants the option to escape after 3 escapes or do 2 more tasks. In this case they do not have to start a new session and start with the introduction block all over again.
Block Description
This section we will talk about what every block will describes and what stage of story we are in during the sessions.
Block 1
Is the introduction block. This block covers the overall plot and the backstory. It gives the basic understanding of the storyline to the participants. The summary of what is included in the introduction block is: The users of our app are a part of the group of humans who was tricked into joining the aliens on one of their spaceships. They thought they would be entering into a collaboration with the aliens, but they realized they’ve been tricked. Now, they must find their way out of the spaceship Also, Block 1 is presented to the participants in their personal chats. And all other blocks are in the groups joined by the participants.
Block 2
Block two is the interactions of the 2 bot characters, which are a part of the storyline, with the participants. The two bot personas are:
1) Sympathetic Alien: Elias – He is the guide and the spokesperson for the adaptive learning module. He basically helps in adjusting the difficulty level of the task based on the participants performance. He is also responsible for taking feedback. 2) Hacker from Earth: Harriet – She is the Tester and task conductor to assess if they are humans or not. The basic concept of the block 2 is to introduce them to the idea of doing tasks in order to escape. The participants start their first task after this block. A sample message from Harriet would look like: “Alright! However, at first, I must check whether you are really humans, not aliens, in order not to put humanity under the threat. In order to prove that you are humans you must complete a few tasks and prove your English knowledge. After successful completion, you’ll get a code to escape”
Block 3 and 4
Block 3 and 4 are block which are between task. These blocks depend on the result of the performance of the participants in the previous task. There are 2 possibilities after finishing the tasks are failure or success. The outcomes of the tasks has the following outputs:
1) Failure: A message from Harriet regarding how she cannot give the password to the participant and better luck next time. 2) Success (if the task is completed successfully): A message from Harriet to move forward to other task and a suggestion from Elias in respect to the adaptive module.
Conclusion block
The Conclusion block is the final block where the participants realizes whether they can escape or not. Basically, whether the participants have successfully finished all the tasks in the session. The two possibilities after finishing the task is:
1) Success: “Congratulations! You have taken the last step on the path to escape. I was glad to meet you, human friends, but it’s time to say goodbye” Message from Harriet 2) Failure: “I’m sure there is still hope! You can start your escape again” Message from Elias
Figure 1: Block Structure
Storyline delivery methods
The storytelling features described above are delivered to the users via a mix of textual, visual and audiovisual inputs.
Given its Telegram infrastructure, the default way to interact with the application is via text messages. The users begin their Escapeling journey by sending a simple /start message to the Telegram bot. Given this prompt, the bot is programmed to respond with an introduction to the Escapeling narrative. This introduction is delivered in the form of a second-person narration, beginning with the words “You regain consciousness and find yourself in a strange and unfamiliar place…”. See figure 1 to get a better sense of this first exchange with the bot.
Figure 2: First exchange with the bot
A focal point of this introduction is the delivery of a short informative video. The purpose of this medium is to immerse the users in the narration by hearing the characters’ voices and getting glimpses of the spaceship they are trapped on. The video is narrated by Harriet, who introduces herself and explains the situation to the users. You can view the video in full below.
As a whole, this short introductory sequence is delivered to each user individually when they first come in contact with the application. Afterwards, the game progresses in iterations of group sessions (see #structure). During these sessions, the bot has three main modes of interaction: a) as a second person narrator; b) as Harriet; c) as Elias. These different bot personas are distinguished through the use of emojis (see figure 2).
Figure 3: Bot personas
Outlook
After two semesters of work on the project, we have achieved a satisfactory sketch of the narration, and the visual media we presented are effective in guiding users through an introduction to the application and the storyline.
In the future, our wish is to create a more immersive game experience by including more visual and audio-visual content throughout the whole application. Moreover, we hope to give users more agency by providing additional possibilities for interaction, both with the characters and with the game environment. Finally, we intend to devote more time and thought to the further development of a captivating and motivating storyline.
Third semester
Language simplification
By the beginning of the third project term the functional version of the Escapeling bot had already been launched, however there was still much room for improvement not only in terms of implementing new features and code updates, but also concerning the story design. The Escapeling had a main working plot, adopted a specific storytelling style, and the communication with the user was built on a certain tone of voice. While the materials provided by the initiating team have set the core direction of the story pipeline, the specifics of the third semester work plan allowed us to develop a more detailed general story framework. It has been a joint decision to process the existing text and develop an updated refined version the plot. One of the first tasks of the design team was to simplify the storytelling language in order to make the story text (and hence, all the communication with the bot) more accessible and inviting for the (pre-) intermediate English speakers. While studying the text we have found that while expressive and exciting, some of the story details were too elaborate, the tone of communication with the user was seldom consistent, and certain passages involved complex upper-intermediate (or advanced) grammar structures or employed compound wording. During Sprint 1 the extensive group work included independent comment entry and joint contribution review over the course of two weeks, which proved to be practical and efficient technique of text processing. The design team managed to adapt and improve the storytelling language using the a number of resources such as Thesaurus, Cambridge and Merriam-Webster dictionaries and Rewordify tool that allowed enriching the text while keeping it understandable. As a result, the text was more readable for a general intermediate audience, inadequate phrasing cases were eliminated or simplified, which did not, however, result in the decline of the text quality. This activity has acquainted the design team with all the text materials that existed in the project and allowed to pave the way towards more drastic but helpful changes to the storytelling pipeline and the game plot.
Expanded story pipeline
The sketch of the narration developed in the previous 2 semesters has laid the groundwork for the storytelling. During the 3. Semester, we were able to take one step further towards our goal in achieving a better immersive user experience. Story parts expressed in text and images are combined in an interactive way and used to create a shared vision among the players. To improve the user experience, a more sophisticated story pipeline was constructed based on structural framework which determines the flow of the game and links all the elements as a whole. The story decisions present the possibilities of how things could unfold. And letting the users get involved in shaping the story will create an interactive setting which can be highly motivating for the players.
We created a visual board to help illustrating the new story pipeline. (See Mural board for better definition)
Figure 4: New story pipeline
Story decisions between tasks
The story parts are organised in a way that includes clear storylines and essential elements of when, where, what and how. The options are developed in line with the sci-fi background setting and guided by the character-driven design thinking.
As shown in the figure, the new story pipeline allows more flexibility and opens up new possibilities for the user. Between tasks, the players now have the chance to choose an action that they want to take in a given situation.
Figure 5: Story choice
Example task 1-2:
After entering the right password, the users will be shown the following messages:
One of the walls starts to crack… A door opens slowly… And you can see a long, empty corridor ahead of you. This is a great chance to escape!
You all walk along the corridor together as slowly and quietly as possible, so that the aliens don’t notice you. There is an elevator in this corridor. It could take you to another floor -maybe a floor with a shuttle with which you could escape. But maybe you’re already on the floor with a shuttle? The corridor continues past the elevator.
The users are then asked to make a decision:
It’s time to make a decision! Do you want to…
-take the elevator up?
-take the elevator down?
-see if the corridor leads somewhere else?
Depending on the outcome of the previous task(very good - 3/4 or 4/4, good - 1/4 or 2/4, bad 0/4) and the choice they make, the players will be given different text snippets.
Overall, there are three plots where the users are encouraged to choose between different story options. Here a brief overview:
| Block | Scenario | Options |
|---|---|---|
| Between Task 1-2 | The players are walking along the corridor, there is an elevator which could take them to another floor. | elevator: go up \ elevator: go down \ corridor: look for another escape |
| Between Task 2-3 | The players have made it halfway down the hallway, suddenly the elevator starts moving again. | hide behind the space shuttle sign \ hide in waiting area \ keep standing in the hall |
| Between Task 3-4 | The players are trapped in a room, the sound of footsteps coming closer indicates that the aliens are moving in their direction. | fight against the aliens \ shoot the door opener \ run away |
Table 1: Overview of story dicisions
Performance based outcomes
As part of a new pipeline, we also created performance based outcomes. This means that if the group performed well in a task with 0 or only 1 mistake, next story block of the game will be very positive for the group. If they made 2 or 3 mistakes, they will be presented with a good outcome but the story will develop with some complications. And if the users failed the task, they are presented with a negative outcome.
For example, in one of the storyblocks participants can be prompted to choose between three different options:
- to shoot the door opener;
- to fight against the aliens;
- to run away.
If they choose the first option, they will manage to block the door so that this stops the aliens, in case of the very good outcome. In case of the good outcome, they still manage to block the door but with some troubles when the weapons do not work at first. If the users failed the task, a negative outcome will be displayed.
The idea of performance based outcomes also applies to the story endings, which depend on the overall performance of the group as well as on whether users choose to participate in a new task. The endings can be divided into super good ending, good ending and neutral ending, depending on the amount of mistakes the group made during the whole escape mission.
In case users choose to participate in the task and accomplish it succesfully, all endings show them that they managed to take Elias together with them. In case they did not choose the task or failed it, the endings do not mention Elias being saved.
Restart scenarios
In the initial story structure players had to pass all the tasks in order to reach the end of the game. In case the users failed a given task, the whole mission would be considered as failed and they would have to start from the very beginning. According to the results, obtained by the testing team in the second semester, we concluded that this scenario does not seem to be efficient and, after a certain amount of failed trials, demotivates players from finishing the game. Thus, we came up with an idea of restart scenarios.
If the participants fail the task, they would now have a choice of either repeating the same task, choosing a different task or restarting the whole mission. However, if the users fail the same task twice, they fail the whole mission and can only restart the game.
Completion metrics
Thereby, the overall completion metrics of the group depend on their performance in each of the given tasks. Participants are now allowed to fail the given tasks, with each task, however, being failed not more than once. Nevertheless, they have to complete all the tasks in order to finish the game. Besides, the overall game results will depend on the amount of mistakes players made in each of the tasks.
Note: the described above changes of the story pipeline are not fully implemented yet. It is however important to have a clear picture of where we are headed and what we want to achieve.
Fourth semester
Idea and Motivation
Our goal in the final semester of the project was to have a functioning version of the game that could be played from start to finish without significant difficulties. With this in mind, we also wanted to implement the story pipeline ideas designed in the third semester. Based on the experience from the previous semester, we expected some practical challenges. Because we were not sure if the implementation of the complete design is possible within the remaining time frame, we wanted to improve the user experience in some well-defined aspects to allow frictionless playing of the game. Therefore, we decided to break down the process into several smaller steps:
- enable repetition of the same task if failed
- keep track of the number of fails per task and limit them to two (i.e., allow one repetition)
- implement task evaluation at a group level
- incorporate story variation and decision polls based on group performance
We eventually succeeded in implementing the first two steps. Below, the implementation approach, as well as some challenges, are explained in more detail.
Implementation
We completed the implementation of the first two steps because we deem these most important for the replayability of the game and a more fair experience within the storyline for the users. In particular, in the previous story pipeline, if players succeeded with all tasks and then, for instance, failed the last one, they lost all their progress and immediately failed their escape mission. Such an abrupt end of the game might demotivate learners, so they wouldn’t try to restart the escape. Yet, allowing an infinite number of retries for the tasks wouldn’t incentivice the users to try their best. Therefore, we decided to only allow one repitition per task type.
Several individual parts implement the repeatability functionality: first, the newly created attribute _reps_counter of the RoomManager class counts the number of times each mandatory task type was played. After one of those tasks (i.e., discussion, sentence correction, or vocabulary guessing task) ends, _reps_counter is increased. If the respective task fails, another counter attribute _current_task_count is decreased by one, essentially resetting the players’ progress through the storyline to the state before attempting the task. Secondly, if the maximum number of allowed repetitions of the respective task is not surpassed yet (i.e., is smaller than two), the task is added to the set of available tasks for the next round (_available_tasks). Each task handler (discussion_handler.py, sen_corr_handler.py, vocab_desc_handler.py) checks itself if the task was finished by retrieving the mentioned attributes of the RoomManager and possibly mutating them.
If a task was failed for a second time and, therefore, the entire mission was failed, and the players choose to restart it, the _reps_counter attribute of the room manager is reset to 0.
Implementing other storyline decision points on top of the repeatability was outside the scope for the final semester because these different storylines would depend on individual user and group-level scores per task. As these require implementing novel task completion metrics, coding these would require a major restructuring of the database, the task classes and handlers. Therefore, we consider the completed implementation of the task repeatability a good compromise and improvement of the current game flow.
Outlook to more storytelling improvements
There is still room for improvement in the story pipeline, which would make the game more engaging. To apply the different story branches, we first calculate group score and divide it into 3 categories. To categorize the score, we calculate how many mistakes the group makes in total and normalize that score out of 4. Given score 1 out of 4, we provide story branch one. With score 2 or 3 out of 4, we go to branch 2 of the story. And finally with score 4 out of 4 we follow the story branch 3.
In addition to this splitting and choosing of the story pipeline in between each task, we also had the idea to give a different ending at the end of the game depending on the player choices and total scores. We accumulate the scores of each task, which are normalized to the highest score of 4 and take the mean of all tasks completed, including the listening task (if the group decided to complete that task as well). As we will also have an option of deciding to Escape with “Elias” the friendly alien or without him, we can first divide the story into 2 parts. And after that – depending on the total mean score – we can divide the story ending to 3 parts, giving us a total of 6 different story endings.