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Archives · 2018 · 20180225873

Application (pre-grant publication)

SYSTEMS AND METHODS TO PROVIDE NARRATIVE EXPERIENCES FOR USERS OF A VIRTUAL SPACE

Number
20180225873
Published
2018-08-09
Filed
2017-02-09
Assignee
Disney Enterprises, Inc.
Inventors
Murdock; Malcolm E.; Poswal; Mohammad; Hellam; Taylor; Di Zanni; Dario
CPC
A63F13/67; G06T19/003; G06F3/011; A63F13/47
Verdict
Medium Notable software
Source
Google Patents · FreePatentsOnline

The keeper's note

Interactive narrative VR experience system.

Abstract

The systems and methods presented herein are related to providing narrative experiences for users of a virtual space. A machine learning based technique may be implemented for generating paths through the virtual space that present the narrative experiences. A path may be based on tagged points of interest, as illustrated in stored narrative information associated with the virtual space. A machine-learning training loop may be applied wherein the system may be trained to recognize and/or understand what sorts of virtual content within the virtual space may be considered to be of narrative interest to audience members.

Background

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

This disclosure relates to providing narrative experiences for users of a virtual space.BACKGROUND

Providing interactive narrative content in a virtual space presents complex challenges.SUMMARY

One aspect of the disclosure relates to a system configured to provide narrative experiences for users of a virtual space. In persistent simulated virtual spaces that are used to generate narrative experiences (e.g., cinematic content and/or other experiences) for end users, it may be necessary to generate paths for AI characters to travel between interesting locations for narrative. Unfortunately, when dealing with automated path generation for procedural (vs. scripted) content, computer-generated paths may often lead to uninteresting locations from a story perspective. For example, just because a character walks behind a building doesn't mean there's anything interesting happening there. Thus, procedural rendering for cloud-based content generation may require a number of unique problems to be solved in order to optimize both the rendering efficiency and the final experience for the user. Character paths must be valid, e.g., obey world physics. Paths should take the character through interesting narrative events without pre-scripting. Paths for cinematic renderings should incorporate visually arresting locations/scenes.

One or more implementations of system 100 presented herein propose solutions for the above problems. The system 100 ma

Claims

1. A system configured to provide narrative experiences for users of a virtual space, the system comprising: electronic storage configured to store narrative information associated with a virtual space, the virtual space including virtual space content, the virtual space content comprising static environments, virtual objects present within the static environments, one or more events that take place within the static environments, and simulated physical phenomena, the narrative information specifying values of narrative attributes of the virtual space content, the narrative attributes including one or more of a character role attribute, a plot point attribute, an interaction attribute, or an aesthetics attribute; one or more physical processors configured by machine-readable instructions to: execute an instance of the virtual space and implement the instance of the virtual space to facilitate participation of one or more users in the instance of the virtual space, user participation including interaction with the virtual space content via individual virtual characters associated with individual users; identify, based on the narrative information, narrative content within the virtual space, the narrative content comprising virtual space content that form bases for narrative experiences to be experienced by one or more users in the virtual space; determine, from the identified narrative content, individual sets of the identified narrative content to form individual ones of the narrative experiences; define the individual narrative experiences based on individual sets of identified narrative content determined for the individual narrative experiences; and effectuate presentation of the individual narrative experiences to users of the virtual space. 10. A method to provide narrative experiences for users of a virtual space, the method being implemented in a computer system including one or more physical processors and storage media storing machine-readable instructions, the method comprising: storing narrative information associated with a virtual space, the virtual space including virtual space content, the virtual space content comprising static environments, virtual objects present within the static environments, one or more events that take place within the static environments, and simulated physical phenomena, the narrative information specifying values of narrative attributes of the virtual space content, the narrative attributes including one or more of a character role attribute, a plot point attribute, an interaction attribute, or an aesthetics attribute; execute an instance of the virtual space and implementing the instance of the virtual space to facilitate participation of one or more users in the instance of the virtual space, user participation including interaction with the virtual space content via individual virtual characters associated with individual users; identifying, based on the narrative information, narrative content within the virtual space, the narrative content comprising virtual space content that form bases for narrative experiences to be experienced by one or more users in the virtual space; determining, from the identified narrative content, individual sets of the identified narrative content to form individual ones of the narrative experiences; defining the individual narrative experiences based on individual sets of identified narrative content determined for the individual narrative experiences; and effectuating presentation of the individual narrative experiences to users of the virtual space.