Multilinear Story System

A Rust library for building interactive stories with constrained parallel aspects.

Overview

Model narrative systems using:

• Aspects: Independent state machines representing story aspects
• Events: Coordinated transitions across multiple aspects
• Safe Composition: Guaranteed valid states through transition constraints

Inspired by petri nets but designed for narrative applications.

Features

• 🚦 Aspects with discrete value transitions
• ⚡ Event-driven story progression
• 🔄 Backward simulation capabilities
• 🛡️ Prevention of creating invalid event transitions
• 📈 Efficient tracking of current state and available events

Quick Start

use event_simulation::Simulation;
use multilinear::{Change, MultilinearInfo, MultilinearSimulation};

let mut story = MultilinearInfo::new();

// Create aspects
let place = story.add_aspect();
let clothes = story.add_aspect();

// Define event: Move from bedroom to living room
let event_move = story
    .add_event()
    .with_change(&[Change::transition(place, 0, 1)])
    .unwrap()
    .event();

// Define event: Change clothes in bedroom
let event_clothes = story
    .add_event()
    .with_change(&[
        Change::condition(place, 0),
        Change::transition(clothes, 1, 0),
    ])
    .unwrap()
    .event();

let mut simulation = MultilinearSimulation::new(story);
simulation.try_call(event_clothes);
simulation.try_call(event_move);
simulation.try_revert(event_move);

Core Concepts

• Aspect: Independent state machine representing a variable of the story state (like the player location or the relationship to somebody)
• Change: A requirement of an aspect, also capable of changing that aspect (like changing the player location from livingroom to kitchen)
• Event: Transition rule combining multiple aspect conditions