  The demand for interactive narratives is growing with increasing popularity
of VR and video gaming. This presents an opportunity to create interactive
storytelling experiences that allow players to engage with a narrative from a
first person perspective, both, immersively in VR and in 3D on a computer.
However, for artists and storytellers without programming experience, authoring
such experiences is a particularly complex task as it involves coding a series
of story events (character animation, movements, time control, dialogues, etc.)
to be connected and triggered by a variety of player behaviors. In this work,
we present ConnectVR, a trigger-action interface to enable non-technical
creators design agent-based narrative experiences. Our no-code authoring method
specifically focuses on the design of narratives driven by a series of
cause-effect relationships triggered by the player's actions. We asked 15
participants to use ConnectVR in a preliminary workshop study as well as two
artists to extensively use our system to create VR narrative projects in a
three-week in-depth study. Our findings shed light on the creative
opportunities facilitated by ConnectVR's trigger-action approach, particularly
its capability to establish chained behavioral effects between virtual
characters and objects. The results of both studies underscore the positive
feedback from participants regarding our system's capacity to not only support
creativity but also to simplify the creation of interactive narrative
experiences. Results indicate compatibility with non-technical narrative
creator's workflows, showcasing its potential to enhance the overall creative
process in the realm of VR narrative design.
