Hi, Some time ago i presented a program that I was working on called Interactive media center, but it was still in early stages, so weren't able to really show a lot of it. But now that its starting to enter the final stages i thought i would present it in a bit more details.

The overall idea behind it is to make a program that will allow users to create interactive story driven projects using images and videos. So instead of just watching the story unfold the viewer can decide how the story should be. 

So i created a range of images to try to explain how it works and show some of the features.

1. Current user interface

A toolbox which will allow to add images, videos, triggers and so forth to the project. A navigation overview that keeps tracks of the project and how pages are connected to each other.

2. Workflow

All projects are executed in full screen, so the whole layout is part of the work area. Each element, in this case an image, comes with some basic controls that can be used to manipulate it, such as size, angle and opacity. 

3. Text elements

Text elements can be used for a lot of things in a project besides just showing text. These are also used for video subtitles, HUD elements, showing variables and as interaction points. 

4. Triggers

Interaction in projects are added primarily through trigger elements. Which comes in 4 different forms "Timer", "Click", "Attribute" and "Go to page".

But also videos can be used as triggers and will automatically fire its trigger when its done playing. The image below shows a simple setup of a "Click" trigger linked to a "Go to page" trigger. A green line with an arrow indicate that the "Go to page" trigger is linked to the "Click" trigger, a red line from the "Click" trigger to the text element shows that its currently being used as a button for the trigger. Which means that when the viewer click "Start" the "Go to page" will be executed and a new page will be loaded. The top right corner shows an example of how pages are linked together so pages that links to the current page, shown in the middle, and what current page links to shown under output. Clicking the pages in the navigation window is one way of navigating a project, but also hotkeys are available.

5. Variables

Ability to add variables to use in projects comes in two forms, strings and numbers. All variables are global which means they can be added and changed at any point during a project.  

6. Showing variables

Variables can be linked to text elements which will show the current value stored in it. The image below shows how they can be used for making a character sheet for a project.

7. Adding interaction to variables using trigger

The attribute trigger makes it possible to manipulate and test against numbers, strings or other variables. The image below shows how a "Click" trigger is used together with an attribute trigger through an image to add functionality to the character sheet and allow the health attribute to be increased as the user clicks the "+" sign. Also another "Click" trigger is used with a "Go to page" trigger linked to a text element. 

8. Speech bubbles

Speech bubbles can be added to a project and comes in 8 basic forms which can be scaled, flipped and rotated to fit into place. 

9. Randomize

Randomization can be added to a story to create more interesting and unexpected outcomes. In this example it is used together with a "Click" trigger. First a variable called "Random roll" will be given a value between 0 and 100 through an attribute trigger. Two other attribute triggers are linked to this one and uses the value of "Random roll" to test which outcome will happen. The top right window shows that a Test against the variable "Leadership" will be made and it needs to be "Greater than" the variable "Random roll" for it to go to the page which is linked to it. The other attribute trigger will test whether "Leadership" is "Lower or equal" to "Random roll" and if that is the case then it will go to that page instead.

10. Finalizing project

When a project is done it can be finalized which will make it possible to run the project and play out the story, this also allow the story to be shared with others which can view it through the Interactive player which automatically gets copied during the finalization, Triggers, connections and other elements that are not part of the story are of course removed when the story is played through the player, so are only visible when designing a project.

Final word

This is a quick overview of some of the features in the program. Showing how to create a story. Features not covered are working with videos, audio, image counters and HUD elements and varies general settings.

The program is designed to be very easy and fast to use with a graphical approach. 

Anyway hope it give an impression or ideas of what the program is all about.