IVIE: Neuro-symbolic System Generates Coherent Interactive Fiction Worlds
Researchers have developed IVIE, a system combining large language models with symbolic validation to automatically generate complete, playable interactive fiction worlds. The approach delegates creative tasks like character and puzzle design to LLMs while using symbolic methods to ensure logical consistency and world coherence. The work addresses a key challenge in computational creativity: balancing the flexibility of AI-generated narratives with the structural requirements of coherent fictional worlds.
IVIE implements a four-stage incremental generation pipeline that leverages both neural and symbolic approaches to create interactive fiction worlds from scratch. The system assigns creative decisions—such as setting creation, character development, and puzzle design—to large language models while grounding the overall world state through symbolic validation mechanisms. Generated worlds include interconnected locations, functional items, non-player characters, and goal-oriented puzzle structures. Human evaluation indicates the approach successfully produces immersive, thematically coherent worlds with high player engagement. However, the researchers acknowledge remaining limitations: LLMs occasionally generate inconsistencies that bypass puzzle constraints, and some validation gaps allow structurally impossible goals to emerge. The work builds on the PAYADOR neuro-symbolic framework and identifies design considerations for future interactive storytelling systems.
What's missing
The study does not provide details on the scale of human evaluation (number of participants, evaluation methodology), specific metrics used to measure 'player engagement' and 'thematic coherence,' or comparative performance against baseline systems or alternative approaches.
What different sources said
- arXiv cs.AICenter
IVIE: A Neuro-symbolic Approach to Incremental and Validated Generation of Interactive Fiction Worlds
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