Way-finding is central to the user experience of narrative-driven virtual reality (VR), yet few frameworks systematically address how navigation supports story progression, spatial orientation, and presence. This paper proposes a typology of way-finding strategies grounded in a structured review of existing literature and an inductive analysis of four VR narrative experiences—Goliath, The Key, Maya, and Impulse. The study identifies recurring design patterns and classifies way-finding techniques across three key dimensions: adaptability, cognitive load, and spatial scale. The resulting ten-category typology captures the diversity of navigation approaches used in immersive storytelling and clarifies their experiential impacts. Applied to real-world case studies, the typology demonstrates practical relevance and analytical utility, offering a structured lens for evaluating and designing narrative-supportive navigation in VR. This work contributes to ongoing efforts to integrate spatial design and storytelling in immersive environments and lays groundwork for user-centred evaluation and adaptive system design.

错误:搜索内容不能为空,请输入英文关键词
错误:关键词超出字数限制,请精简
高级检索

Navigating Narratives: A Typology of Way-Finding Strategies for VR Storytelling

  • Soumya Agarwal,
  • Jayesh S. Pillai

摘要

Way-finding is central to the user experience of narrative-driven virtual reality (VR), yet few frameworks systematically address how navigation supports story progression, spatial orientation, and presence. This paper proposes a typology of way-finding strategies grounded in a structured review of existing literature and an inductive analysis of four VR narrative experiences—Goliath, The Key, Maya, and Impulse. The study identifies recurring design patterns and classifies way-finding techniques across three key dimensions: adaptability, cognitive load, and spatial scale. The resulting ten-category typology captures the diversity of navigation approaches used in immersive storytelling and clarifies their experiential impacts. Applied to real-world case studies, the typology demonstrates practical relevance and analytical utility, offering a structured lens for evaluating and designing narrative-supportive navigation in VR. This work contributes to ongoing efforts to integrate spatial design and storytelling in immersive environments and lays groundwork for user-centred evaluation and adaptive system design.