The Programmer Who Had No Heart in His Body

[MichaelPaulukonis]

Sentiment analysis as a key to (re)generation/modifric[a]tion?

Templates up the Wazoo (the rebranding as "Templates 2.0" just didn't catch on)?

Good Ol' Markov, but weighted with positioning (beginning, middle, end, etc)?

Dehydration/Rehydration - or, auto-generation of POS-templates and refills based on original or supplied targets?

I'm also interested in seeing if I can determine major characters. And then swap them out. Which is not a particular fascinating end-game, but I'm more interested in the process, here.

Dialogue that isn't as crappy as I've done before?

The Swallow of Winter, a zombie fiction in which an IF-world punishes a large cast of NPCs in a large, procedurally-generated consistent space. (think meme-transference, flocking behavior, avoidance behavior, and a dialogue engine that isn't as crappy as I've done before).

[MichaelPaulukonis]

I am, despite some recent rants that might imply the contrary, still interested in templates and templating.

A still-born portion of the proppian generator last year was a conversation -- I had hoped to expand it, but never got around to it. Perhaps that.

• http://forum.makega.me/t/procedural-narrative-dialogue/91
• http://www.blog.radiator.debacle.us/2014/04/second-times-charm-procedural-npc.html
• http://koobazaur.com/gamedev/game-design/writing-branching-game-conversations/

I'm also still interested in Fairy Tales.
In particular, a portion of some tales where the hero befriends several characters/creatures [despite (his) haste or advice] which then end up helping him get through a nested problem. Eg, the giant's heart is kept in a box at the top of a tower on an island in a lake past the thorns, past a guard-dragon, etc etc. I'd like to be able to generate a n-level deep problem with associated helper characters -- each of whom would have to have an attribute matched to solving the problem (bear kills dragon, eagle flies hero over lake, etc.). This would also involve some minimal conversations.

Not exactly fascinating textually when strung out to 50K words, but I'm curious to see how a deeply nested problem would work -- say, 300 levels with unique creates, and problems to overcome.

[MichaelPaulukonis]

Repo, man.

[MichaelPaulukonis]

Good lord, this is a ROAD MOVIE. Well, it's On The Road, at any rate. There's no doubt that it's the Hero's Journey, just not in the strictest Campbellian sense. (is it?).

[MichaelPaulukonis]

So, here's a sample.

Not terribly exciting.

First proof of concept. It's all the boring templating.

I want some better stuff for the locales, use of powers, dealing with the finality -- the flow from one thing to the next is awkward. Plus, it would be nice if the egg shifted around a bit.

[enkiv2]

It's not too bad. (The repetition in there reminds me of the repetition --
used for rhetorical effect -- in sumerian mythology.)

On Thu, Nov 5, 2015 at 11:08 PM Michael Paulukonis notifications@github.com
wrote:

So, here's a sample
https://gist.github.com/MichaelPaulukonis/3af142f787db2908d3f0.

Not terribly exciting.

First proof of concept. It's all the boring templating.

I want some better stuff for the locales, use of powers, dealing with the
finality -- the flow from one thing to the next is awkward. Plus, it would
be nice if the egg shifted around a bit.

—
Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub
#14 (comment)
.

[MichaelPaulukonis]

It's not too bad.

I'll put that on the cover!

Srsly, the templates are a simplified, non-variant version of a synopsis of the story. So - rough draft/proof-of-concept. I do like repetition-as-rhetorical-device quite a bit. But 1000-creatures-worth of like? hrm. [hah-hah-hah - I just ran it with 1000 creatures, and came up with 49916 words. SO CLOSE!]

I've been thinking about this for months. Possibly vaguely since last year.

Not all that excited by the output. </ high-expectations>

[enkiv2]

If you switched the vocab up and did 1000 creatures you might actually be
able to pass as sumerian mythology. We have middle tablets of important
stories that are literally just lists of musical instruments or creatures.
And, whenever a god is mentioned by name, the name is used 3-6 times with
varying adjectives associated, like: "And then, with a single blow, Lord
Enki, with a single blow, Enki of the deep waters, he with a single blow,
Lord Enki whose advice is always advisable and whose domain is the great me
of princeship, with a single blow, whacked nuddimud over the head."

On Fri, Nov 6, 2015 at 12:24 PM Michael Paulukonis notifications@github.com
wrote:

It's not too bad.

I'll put that on the cover!

Srsly, the templates are a simplified, non-variant version of a synopsis
of the story. So - rough draft/proof-of-concept. I do like
repetition-as-rhetorical-device quite a bit. But 1000-creatures-worth of
like? hrm. [hah-hah-hah - I just ran it with 1000 creatures, and came up
with 49916 words. SO CLOSE!]

I've been thinking about this for months. Possibly vaguely since last year.

Not all that excited by the output. </ high-expectations>

—
Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub
#14 (comment)
.

[MichaelPaulukonis]

hrm. One of the lists I was thinking of using was Norse Gods.

The abilities/powers used to defeat are derived from a list of Pokemon abilities, and superhero abilities.

It's only the sixth of the month....

And, I must say -- you are getting me more exited about the output. Thanks!

[MichaelPaulukonis]

Another sample, not much changed - but some better corpii being used:

A king had seven sons, and when the other six went off to find brides, he kept the youngest with him because he could not bear to be parted from them all. They were supposed to bring back a bride for him, as well, but they found a king with six daughters and wooed them, forgetting their brother. But when they returned, they passed too close to a giant's castle, and he turned them all, both princes and princesses, to stone in a fit of rage.

When they did not return, the king, their father, tried to prevent their brother from following, but he went.

On the way, he helped a wolverine-chimpanzee, he helped a Warg-Typhon, he helped a tiger-Manticore, he helped a Hippocampus-ocelot, and gave a starving mule-giraffe his horse to eat. The mule-giraffe let the prince ride on him, instead, and showed him the giant's castle, telling him to go inside. The prince was reluctant fearing the wrath of the giant, but the mule-giraffe consoled him. The mule-giraffe persuaded the prince to enter the castle for there he would encounter not the giant, but the princess the giant kept prisoner.

The princess was very beautiful and the prince wanted to know how he could kill the giant and set her and his family free. The princess said that there was no way, as the giant did not keep his heart in his body and therefore could not be killed. When the giant returned, the princess hid the prince, and asked the giant where he kept his heart. He told her that it was under the door sill. The prince and princess dug there the next day and found no heart. The princess strewed flowers over the door sill, and when the giant returned, told him that it was because his heart lay there. The giant admitted it wasn't there and told her it was in the cupboard. As before, the princess and the prince searched, to no avail; once again, the princess strewed garlands of flowers on the cupboard and told the giant it was because his heart was there. Thereupon the giant revealed to her that, in fact, there was a dank drumlin field with a ocelot-Gnome, beyond that there was a fluorescent tepui with a Kobold-Hippogriff, beyond that there was a overlooked shield volcano with a Typhon-panda, beyond that there was a whimsical bayou with a Nix-Roc, beyond that there was a tiny subglacial mound with a Oni-mynah bird, and in the Oni-mynah bird's nest was an egg; and in the egg was the giant's heart.

The prince rode to the dank drumlin field, where the mule-giraffe jumped to attention. The prince called on the wolverine-chimpanzee to defeat the ocelot-Gnome. The wolverine-chimpanzee defeated the ocelot-Gnome by using its Thaumaturgy. The prince rode on to the fluorescent tepui, where he was menaced by a Kobold-Hippogriff. The prince called on the Warg-Typhon to defeat the Kobold-Hippogriff. The Warg-Typhon defeated the Kobold-Hippogriff by using its Drought. The prince rode on to the overlooked shield volcano, where he was menaced by a Typhon-panda. The prince called on the tiger-Manticore to defeat the Typhon-panda. The tiger-Manticore defeated the Typhon-panda by using its Perspicuity. The prince rode on to the whimsical bayou, where he was menaced by a Nix-Roc. The prince called on the Hippocampus-ocelot to defeat the Nix-Roc. The Hippocampus-ocelot defeated the Nix-Roc by using its Physics Manipulation. The prince rode on to the tiny subglacial mound, where he was menaced by a Oni-mynah bird. The prince called on the mule-giraffe to defeat the Oni-mynah bird. The mule-giraffe defeated the Oni-mynah bird by using its Fish Manipulation. The mule-giraffe plucked the egg from the nest of the Oni-mynah bird, gave it to the prince, and told him to squeeze it. When he did, the giant screamed. The mule-giraffe told him to squeeze it again, and the giant promised anything if he would spare his life. The prince told him to change his brothers and their brides back to life, and the giant did so. Then the prince squeezed the egg into two and went home with the giant's captive princess as his bride; accompanying him were his brothers and their brides, and the king rejoiced.

[mattfister]

That sample is amazing. Nicely done!

[tra38]

I want some better stuff for the locales, use of powers, dealing with the finality -- the flow from one thing to the next is awkward.

How about handwriting an "aftermath" template where the prince falls from grace and turns into a giant (which then gets slain by the next prince in the next story). A story never ends just because someone says "The End".