Alexander Hornung

Master's Thesis: Autonomous Real-Time Camera Agents in Interactive Narratives and Games

Abstract: Visual storytelling, be it in films or interactive forms of narratives like computer games, is a complex and very sensitive field. Images and their composition play an important role in our perception and interpretation of a visually presented story. In contrast to classical cinematography, research in the field of interactive narratives and the application of cinematographic concepts to this field is still rather young. In this thesis, we investigated such concepts, with a strong focus on dramaturgical means of expression of cameras and the active visual emphasis of (interactive) narrative content. Based on a formalization of these dramaturgical principles, we developed an autonomous real-time camera agent implementing this knowledge. The prototype of this virtual camera system was integrated into the computer-game 'Half-Life' and the authoring tool 'alVRed' to give examples for the practicality of the system.
For more details on the prototype, please visit the homepage of my Half-Life Camera Agent.