"I Like Your Story!": A Co-Creative Story-Crafting Game with a Persona-Driven Character Based on Generative AI

TL;DR

This work addresses the barrier that creative writing is often reserved for skilled writers by reframing writing as a playful, constraint-guided co-creative activity. An integrated system, 1001 Nights, pairs a persona-driven AI King with a mixed-initiative storytelling interface, weapon-card generation, and evolving visual scenes to transform narrative input into game mechanics. Key contributions include a moody AI narrator that evaluates and influences the story, automatic generation of weapon cards and their effects from narrative text, and a visualized storyworld that evolves with player choices, culminating in a generative ending and a storybook artifact. The study demonstrates how AI-powered game experiences can broaden access to creative writing while preserving expressive depth, guided by constrained creativity inspired by Oulipo.

Abstract

While generative AI is advancing writing support tools, creative writing is often seen as the exclusive domain of skilled writers. This paper introduces "1001 Nights", a co-creative story-crafting game that transforms writing into a playful and rewarding activity. In this game, the AI agent takes on the role of a "moody" king with distinct storytelling preferences, not merely assisting but actively influencing the narrative. Players engage with the king agent through strategic storytelling, guiding him to mention weapon-related keywords, which materialize as battle equipment. The king agent provides dynamic feedback, expressing satisfaction or displeasure, prompting players to adjust their approach. By combining storytelling, game mechanics, and AI-driven responses, our system motivates creativity through playful constraints. Inspired by Oulipo's literary techniques, this approach demonstrates how AI-powered game experiences can make creative writing more accessible and engaging, encouraging players to explore their creative potential.

Figures (4)

• Figure 1: Playthrough of the game, using the story of a chef as an example.
• Figure 2: Technical workflow
• Figure 3: An example of the dialogues between the player and the King.
• Figure 4: An example of the generative ending.