The "emotional analogues" sound actually very interesting. I wonder how well that will hold up in practice - it seems like if it were possible to generate a compelling story from variables we'd be able to do it by now - we would be able to consistently put out compelling stories in book form at the very least. Its frequently not the structure or even the overall plot that's the point, but the little details that matter. I've heard it said of movies that the point is not what happens, but how it happens (probably a paraphrase of Roger Ebert). It feels like we're a very long way off from having any machine generate that.
It's certainly an experimental method, so I'm not quite sure how it'll turn out (but it's getting there). I agree about the details - although of course it's important to have a proper structure to the world and narrative, as it gives context to the details. My aim to build a thematic structure, and then to bring it alive through the details. Things like light placement, color, room shape, prop placement, and the overall mood of each section should all work to build an interesting world.
We even have generators that make tiny little stories out of the props - a campfire might have candles and tomes next to it (signs of a ritual), or maybe utensils and dishes (signs of a traveler's meal). Not to mention, the actual gameplay of movement and combat is intended to be its own world of intricacy (the other guys are working on that).
I'm not aiming to explicitly generate narratives of characters and dialogue and words. Rather, the system generates the feeling of narratives. Rising action, conflicts, an interesting flow of emotions, pacing the intensity, etc. The player can fill in the details themselves, as they (not their character) are the protagonist, exploring the world and going on a journey of discovery and mastery.
My thinking is that what it lacks in human touch, it makes up for in mystery. Knowing that it's a unique world that no human has ever set foot upon before is genuinely exciting, and gives a real desire to explore. It's like that feeling you got the first time you played Minecraft, and found some amazing outdoor environments and knew your eyes were the first to see it - but then as you played over and over you saw the patterns and it lost the magic. My goal is to capture the first feeling, and to hide the second effect with not patterns but processes, generating things based on a thematic goal in mind.
Good video games cover the little details through gameplay.
The secret seems to be a mix of a meaningful possibility of failure with 'fair' gameplay. Basicly, I did something stupid, so something happened, which I responded to by doing X which worked or almost worked but failed.
Think dangerous enemies with vary low HP. Or useful but not nessisary NPC's that can die.
