Investigating the Design of Augmented Narrative Spaces Through Virtual-Real Connections: A Systematic Literature Review

For Pairing, which refers to how a given virtual narrative space is spatially matched with the real space it targets, three patterns were identified: Exclusive, Universal and Conditional. Exclusive pairings were found for 28 of the 64 articles(43.75%), where the augmented narrative space consisted of a given virtual narrative space that can only be connected to a single, designated real space. A virtual narrative space consisting of an evacuation training game for a specific building would not be operable anywhere else [18]. In 19 Universal pairings (29.69%), a given virtual narrative space could be situated in any real space, so long as its dimensions could physically accommodate the virtual narrative space. Conditional pairings constituted the remaining 17 cases (26.56%). In these cases, a virtual narrative space could be overlaid on an unspecified number of real spaces, which, so long as the minimum standards of augmentation as stated for a universal pairing are met, must satisfy one or more requirements concerning their spatial attributes. For example, any shipping container can be paired with a virtual narrative space that tells stories related to shipping containers [7].

Registration concerns how a given virtual narrative space is attached to the target real space. For this connection, Spatial Mapping, Multiple Anchoring, and Single Anchoring were patterns that emerged. The distinction between registration patterns was made by the spatial form of attachment, which resulted from the application of different tracking technologies. Spatial Mapping indicates that the entire spatial range of the virtual narrative space is layered over the target real space. This was the case for eight articles (12.5%) whose systems or applications employed tracking methods that interpret the geometric structure of real spaces, such as SLAM [127]. In Harmonize, the target real space is scanned in its entirety to facilitate a real-scale first-person shooter game [99]. Multiple Anchoring refers to the 40 cases (62.5%) where augmentations in the virtual narrative space were intermittently attached to numerous specified points in the target real space. This was usually achieved through image or marker detection, object tracking, and GPS-based alignment. For example, various landmarks or monuments along the Singapore River connected the virtual narrative space to the whole area [65]. The remaining 16 connections (25%) categorized as Single Anchoring employed the same methods to establish a single attachment point within the spatial range of the target real space. In one application, multiple scenes of a story were augmented on a fixed position over a map of an ancient city [114].

For Function, which pertains to how the narrative content or experience provided by the virtual narrative space affects the target real space, the patterns ultimately followed Azuma’s classification: Reinforcing, Remembering, and Reskinning [2]. We adopted and applied these terms to the patterns we identified because the codes derived for function were similar to one of these three in their meaning. In 28 cases (43.75%) of Reinforcing, virtual narrative spaces complemented the physical and semantic features presently inherent in their target real spaces. A treasure hunt game augmenting quizzes and tasks on the main attractions of a natural history museum is one example [90]. The codes for these cases included keywords such as enhance, strengthen, bring out, emphasize, and contextualize. There were nine cases (14.06%) of Remembering, in which virtual narrative spaces represented past events and memories related to the target real space¹. Recall, evoke, commemorate, treasure, and historicize were some of the descriptions associated with this function. In one case, scenes from a period TV drama were augmented at real-world locations where the events they portrayed took place in the 16th century [102].

The remaining 27 cases (42.19%) for Reskinning involved virtual narrative spaces that are not associated with features of the target real space in any way. Common descriptors included transform, create, turn into, and alter. For Reskinning, three characteristics could be further found. In most cases, the virtual narrative space reskinned the target real space to immerse users in entirely fabricated stories (fictional). Whereas most of them were games, one where users fight one another at an imaginary battlefield being an example [99], some adapted parts of known novels or movies [26, 36]. Furthermore, the target real space became the grounds where practical scenarios for certain situations could be carried out (situational). These cases included training [39, 77, 138], learning [52, 133], and simulation [95] scenarios that are irrelevant to features of their target real spaces.

In other cases, the virtual space brought narrative elements from another real space such as the south pole [68], a museum exhibit [60], or a now-demolished historic site [105] to unrelated target real spaces, placing users in a completely different location from their immediate reality (translocative). However, such traits could not be established as independent categories of function, as more than one of them could be applied to some of the cases at the same time. For instance, a virtual narrative space offering neurofeedback training via a bird-egg collecting game is both situational and fictional [77] in reskinning the real space. Similarly, a virtual narrative space consisting of an exhibition room at a real museum at an unrelated target space to tell the story of a made-up family during the Holocaust is both translocative and fictional  [60]. For this reason, we finalized Reskinning as an indivisible category of function.

Placement Rule specifies the type of information the virtual narrative space retrieves from the real space to determine where and how its elements are placed. For this connection, two patterns emerged—Physical Feature and Semantic Relationship. In the 17 cases (26.56%) for Physical Feature, elements of the virtual narrative space were placed according to the geometric features of the real space components they were connected to, such as those of planar surfaces, images, markers, or geographic features such as GPS coordinates. In one case, a 2D image of a game character is augmented with its 3D version based on the visual features [77]. In the other 47 cases (73.44%), the Semantic Relationship between elements of the virtual narrative space and the physical features of the real space was the basis on which the former was placed. These relationships are based on the functions, meanings, and affordances of the target real space as a whole and also of individual objects and specific locations within their spatial range. For example, specific locations within a university campus identified through GPS coordinates are connected to virtual content that describes their history and meaning [132].

32 articles (50%) comprising four dominant branches of links between virtual-real connections commonly prioritized the target real space in their construction of augmented narrative spaces. In these cases, the virtual narrative space is born out of the target real space, with connections between them all originating from the real: The narrative setting exists within the target real space. Hence, the primary goal of storytelling is to engage the user more deeply with the real space by narrativizing it with the support of augmentations. Within this category, branches are distinguished mainly by the environment and scale of the target real space.

In the first type of augmented narrative space that virtually narrativizes reality, the virtual narrative space is exclusively paired with the target real space to tell stories from the past that are specifically associated with it. The placement of its narrative elements is related to the real space and its components on semantic levels, and the space as a whole is registered onto the target space through numerous augmentation points (Exclusive-Remembering-Semantic Relationship-Multiple Anchoring). This type comprised eight out of the 64 cases reviewed (12.5%). In these augmented narrative spaces, stories the virtual narrative space overlays are commonly about the history of the target real space, which may not be readily apparent: On the outset, the real space itself does not directly reveal or contain elements of the virtual narrative space. Instead, it provides the setting for them through specific features such as landmarks and locations that were once the actual and physical backgrounds of events that occurred in the past.

These features, or PoIs (Point of Interests) [128], serve as the anchoring points that augmentations of the virtual narrative space are registered onto. They constitute story nodes that are sequentially ordered within an outdoor area of a singular, socially recognized identity, such as cultural and natural heritage sites [22, 29, 34, 102, 132], regional districts (e.g., the Westwood neighborhood in Los Angeles [136] and the Singapore River area [65]), and university campus grounds [58]. Therefore, we termed this link between virtual-real connections as Historicized Outdoor Spaces. In all cases for this type, augmented narrative spaces provided tours of the target real spaces through stories that were essentially linear.

In this type, the virtual narrative space establishes a 1:1 pairing with the target real space to narrativize and emphasize characteristics that presently define it. The placement of narrative elements as augmentations is based on their semantic relevance to the real space and its components, and multiple points within the real space serve as anchors that the virtual narrative space is registered to (Exclusive-Reinforcing-Semantic Relationship-Multiple Anchoring). This was the case for another eight articles (12.5%). The only difference between Historicized Outdoor Spaces and Enhanced Indoor Spaces is their function: the latter reinforces the present state of a real space instead of remembering its past. For the articles we analyzed, however, this difference also led to discrepancies between the categories in the environment of the target real space—outdoors vs. indoors.

Here, the narrative setting is clearly provided by the present configuration of the target real space or by semantic attributes inherent to it. The anchoring points of the real space are objects or specified locations with unique attributes, essentially forming distinct subareas. They are augmented with narrative elements that elaborate their contexts and are pieced together for a continuous narrative experience with varying degrees of narrative linearity. For this reason, six out of the eight cases targeted exhibition rooms in museums to support, complement, and thereby enhance the content of individual artifacts in a story that binds the whole virtual narrative space to the entire spatial range of the target real space [30, 35, 45, 53, 90, 115]. In the other two cases, the virtual narrative space enabled users to experience training scenarios involving the context of specific locations and attributes of the real target space [18, 85].

This type consists of augmented narrative spaces where a virtual narrative space is matched with a single, specific target real space to reinforce its current attributes. Augmentations bear relevance to the target real space on semantic levels and are registered through a single corresponding point (Exclusive-Reinforcing-Semantic Relationship-Single Anchoring). 10 cases (15.63%) were identified for this type. Whereas the only difference between Historicized Outdoor Spaces and Enhanced Indoor Spaces is their function, registration is the sole factor distinguishing Enhanced Indoor Spaces from this type. Here, units of the virtual narrative space are overlaid on a single object, regardless of how they are spatially and temporally arranged.

In five of these cases, the augmented narrative space targeted a 2D image board with unique designs that signified a specific space, such as a fictional urban area [125], a driving route [47], a zoo [145], and predefined reference images [74]. In three other cases, scenes related to the content of certain books were augmented on their pages [38, 42, 51]. The remaining two cases featured larger physical objects, such as a rhinoceros statue at an art exhibit [64] and a functioning hydrogen fuel tank [134] as target areas of the virtual narrative space. In all these cases, the virtual narrative space was downscaled according to the confined spatial range of the target objects. However, it produced the effect of extending the dimensions of the target real object regarding the physical space it occupied, the meaning it conveyed, and the function it performed.

In the last type of augmented narrative space prioritizing reality, the virtual narrative space was paired with an unspecified number of real spaces that satisfied one or more spatial attributes and emphasized those very attributes through the content or experience it provided. The placement of augmentations depended on the semantic relationship between the virtual and real, registered through multiple objects or locations in the real space (Conditional-Reinforcing-Semantic Relationship-Multiple Anchoring). This was the case for six articles (9.37%). By providing more flexibility in determining the target real space, these space type ultimately leverages the virtual narrative space to interact with elements of the real space, incorporating them as significant backdrops in the story.

Unlike other types that virtually narrativize reality, these spaces are not distinguishable in terms of their spatial environment or scale: Within this type, target real spaces greatly vary in these aspects, ranging from 2D image boards [140] to life-sized objects [66], rooms [7, 88], and outdoor locations [24, 75]. What sets them apart is that the narrative setting, which is rooted in reality, is less concrete. The characteristics of the anchoring points are viewed more as abstract ideas that loosely influence the construction and content of the virtual narrative space. Therefore, engagement with the narrative setting in the target real space occurs on a more symbolic or metaphorical level. This results in stories that are more context-driven than context-specific. For example, standardized simulations of clinical breast examination can be augmented on any real mannequin [66], and an AR learning session delivering general information about a eucalyptus tree can be held at any outdoor location with that tree [24].

In 25 articles (39.06%) that accounted for the other four dominant links between virtual-real connections, the virtual narrative space took precedence over the real space. As opposed to those that narrativize reality, all narrative elements are rooted in the virtual narrative space in these types of augmented narrative spaces. The narrative setting wholly exists in the virtual narrative space or merely borrows props from the real space to enhance its power in reskinning the target real space: Reality is a means through which the virtual narrative space can materialize. The stories are often entirely fictional and are granted greater imaginative freedom, with spatial configurations of the real world playing a secondary role compared to the virtual elements. As a result, users are immersed more deeply in the manifestation of the virtual within the real than the real itself. For this category, types are mainly distinguished by the dimensions in which the real space is transfigured by the virtual narrative space.

In these spaces, the virtual narrative space can be paired with any target real space, provided that the minimum physical area needed to augment its spatial range is secured. It serves to transport a narrative experience that bears no relevance to the placeness of the target real space. The placement of its elements is based on the geometry or geography of the real, which correspond to specific points in reality (Universal-Reskinning-Physical Features-Multiple Anchoring). Six cases (9.37%) were identified as establishing this particular link.

In four of the cases, all narrative elements, including the setting, were enclosed within the virtual narrative space. The virtual narrative space was then transported to the real space through multiple augmentation points organized as scenes. The augmented narrative spaces facilitated narrative progression through these scenes in varied spatial environments, ranges, and narrative linearity. A miniature Asian garden was augmented onto different markers on an empty tabletop space for sequential interactions between virtual 3D characters [94]. A fully virtual space was designed for an escape room game that can be implemented in any indoor space at a life-size scale, with various anchors augmenting different scenes [143]. For a larger spatial range outdoors, an in-car game featuring a virtual 3D character set to different GPS locations was implemented [146], and select PoIs of Antarctica were transported to fit a smaller open area [68]. In two other cases, scenes out of the novel Wrinkle in Time [26] and the film Princess Bride [36] were augmented to be reenacted anywhere in reality.

For this type, there are no restrictions on how the virtual narrative space is paired with the target real space beyond the minimum requirement for augmentation. The augmented narrative space provides a story that is irrelevant to the target real space’s features and ultimately reskins it, registered over its whole region by processing the spatial configuration of the designated area (Universal-Reskinning-Physical Feature-Spatial Mapping). Ultimately, the virtual narrative space transforms the target real space into a distinctly different entity to the point of erasing its original attributes. This type accounted for six articles (9.37%), which all targeted room-scale indoor spaces.

Five cases presented game-based narratives utilizing the entire spatial range of the target real space at room scale. For example, Ninja on a Plane leveraged the planar surfaces detected in the corner of an unspecified office room to turn the whole area into a ninja’s escape route [21]. Any room could become a galaxy of planets to be conquered in Startag [97], a battlefield in Harmonize [99], a language-learning space in Arigato [133], or a coin-collecting game site [89]. SceneAR [23], which is the one other case for this type, detects the surfaces of any target indoor space to spatially arrange a sequence of virtual narrative scenes over the entire spatial range of the target real space, ultimately transforming it into a setting for the virtual narrative space.

Transplanted Tabletop Spaces are different from Transported Scene-Based Spaces and Transformed Room-Scale Spaces in their registration only: the augmented narrative spaces for this type register virtual narrative spaces to the real target space through a single marker, image, or location, which is not associated with the story in any meaningful way (Universal-Reskinning-Physical Feature-Single Anchoring). We identified four articles (6.3%) for this type. Compared to Transformed Room-Scaled Spaces, where a real room with specific semantic features is given an entirely different function, the spaces in this category select a confined area within a real space as a purely geometrical entity with no preassigned meaning. Subsequently, a virtual narrative space entirely disconnected from the physical space is directly transplanted onto this semantically vacant area.

Cases that fall under this type all presented augmented narrative spaces that target empty tabletop spaces as their real spatial range. The virtual narrative spaces augmented on them commonly provided content for interactive board games that users engage in through virtual agents at a miniature scale. Eggly [77] is an educational game for children with autism set at a farm, and LegionARius [105] is a strategy game based on ancient Roman military camps and Germanic settlements. These games can be augmented on any space that fits the physical dimensions of the entirely virtual game boards. Woll et al. [138] features a fictional space with an astronaut under alien attack in a completely virtual board game setting. Sekhava et al. [116] augmented a virtual Zigorat (a maze tower) on a board-game-sized surface, which a ladybug character must climb to release her friends.

In the last type of realized virtual narratives, virtual narrative spaces are paired with real spaces with one or more specified attributes and serve to reskin them. The placement of virtual elements is based on semantic features of the real target space, and these elements are augmented on multiple points within the real spatial range (Conditional-Reskinning-Semantic Relationship-Multiple Anchoring). Nine cases (14.06%) were found for this particular link. In all these cases, the real objects and locations to which the virtual narrative space was registered were interchangeable with others that shared the specified attributes. Moreover, these elements functioned as portals through which a virtual narrative space bearing no relevance to the target real space could spatially manifest.

Six cases required certain physical objects to be placed in the real space to open up reskinning narrative spaces: BubbleU [63] augmented narrative elements on nine predefined objects, and certain image cards were needed in an AR game for children that could be played on any tabletop space [52]. Be Our Guest [113] specified that the object leading to virtual spaces narrating various tea-drinking cultures should be a cup, and a story of the Holocaust [60] needed the same type of furniture to be set up in the target real space as its original setting at a museum exhibit. Similarly, a room with a table and chairs were the stated conditions of an AR narrative that changes such real spaces into a setting for Three Angry Men, an interactive play [79]. Another case replaced detected objects in a real-world scene with other virtual characters through augmentations to create fictional stories [62]. In the other three cases, portals into the virtual narrative space for outdoor environments were specified, such as any location that resembles the narrative setting of scenes from the movie Nosferatu [37] or any theme park attraction queue for an AR game offering spatial and temporal escape [142]. Li et al.’s location-aware adaptation method for virtual narrative spaces set predefined parameters such as location compatibility and walking distance in a given real space [70].

The distribution of patterns for Pairing (Exclusive, Universal, Conditional) and Function (Reinforcing, Remembering, Reskinning), along with the links between them, shows that there are clear associations between how the virtual narrative space and the real space initially find one another to establish the main objective of the augmented narrative space they comprise. For pairing, exclusive connections accounted for the most number of cases (28, 43.75%). This indicates that the target real space has largely been designated and fixed to a specific, meaningful location or area for the design of augmented narrative spaces.

In these cases, the virtual narrative spaces functioned either to reinforce or remember the real space, with considerably more cases for the former (19). For all but 2 cases among the 19 Universal pairings, the virtual reskinned the real. In the remaining 17 cases of Conditional pairings, the virtual narrative space’s function was distributed among Reskinning (10) and Reinforcing (7). This means that depending on the extent to which a target space is specified, the narrative content configuring the virtual is determined: the more exclusive the spatial pairing, the more bounded the story’s setting and premise are to the target real space.

Then, the problem is how elements of stories in the virtual narrative space, as determined by Pairing and Function, are realized through patterns found in Placement Rule (Physical Feature and Semantic Relationship) and Registration (Spatial Mapping, Multiple Anchoring, Single Anchoring) to implement the augmented narrative space as a spatialized narrative experience in reality. For all but two cases, Exclusive or Conditional pairings augmented narrative elements of the virtual based on their Semantic Relationship with the target real space, which was the majority of cases (47, 73.44%). None of these augmented narrative spaces were registered to the real space through Spatial Mapping: For the articles reviewed, semantic associations were mostly recognized through specific points of features in the real space instead of a holistic understanding of its spatial structure.

In the other 17 cases relying on Physical Features for placement, 16 of which were Universal pairings, registration patterns showed an even distribution overall among Multiple Anchoring (6), Single Anchoring (4), and Spatial Mapping (7). This indicates that Placement Rule and Registration are connections that are also impacted by the specificity of the target real space and the narrative content it dictates: Whereas most Exclusive and some Conditional pairings establish meaningful points of connections for stories bound to the target space, Universal pairings generally entail elements of more free-ranging narratives to adapt to the physical features of the real space in various ways. Ultimately, these associations between the four virtual-real connections are the basis on which the eight dominant types of augmented narrative space can be discussed.

Space of Virtually Narrativized Reality outnumbered those of Realized Virtual Narratives by seven cases. This owes primarily to the prevalence of Exclusive pairings, which is one of the defining features of augmented narrative spaces prioritizing the real. Furthermore, three out of four types with the most number of cases belonged to Spaces of Virtually Narrativized Reality: Extended Object Spaces (10), Historicized Outdoor Spaces (8), and Enhanced Indoor Spaces (8). Among Spaces of Realized Virtual Narratives, the highest number of cases were Compatible Portal Spaces (9). On the other hand, the remaining four types—Flexible Backdrop Spaces (6), Transported Scene-based Spaces (6), Transformed Room-scaled Spaces (6), and Transplanted Tabletop Spaces (4)—did not differ greatly in number.

These augmented narrative space types illustrate the major ways in which newly developing technologies and ideas for spatial narrative experiences in AR have been implemented in HCI, AR, and MR research. Through Extended Object Spaces, AR storytelling has aimed to narrativize a limited area contained within the user’s immediate surroundings through specific, tangible objects. As the physical dimension of the augmented narrative space is not large enough to situate the user in it, the user takes a fixed position outside its bounds to become a part of an interactive narrative through physical or virtual agents in miniature or to observe a linear story’s progression. An example of the former is ChildAR [47], which presents an augmented narrative space where users drive along different routes by moving an augmented miniature car on a tabletop gameboard space. In one of the latter cases, a book on Korean temple bells is augmented with their history, and the user engages with the narrative outside of it through interactions that do not affect the narrative being told [42].

Conversely, Historicized Outdoor Spaces and Enhanced Indoor Spaces envelope and physically move the user along a spatially arranged narrative in various trajectories [8] and have mostly been developed for the cultural heritage domain. They focused on enlivening narratives inherent in heritage sites and museum exhibits. The Svevo Tour takes the user to various locations in the Italian city of Trieste through a narrative centered on the novelist Italo Svevo [34], and Hammady et al.’s MuseumEye MR application implemented an augmented narrative space for the Tutankhamun exhibit at Cairo’s Egyptian Museum with three storytelling scenes [45]. Compared with the three aforementioned space types, Flexible Backdrop Spaces virtually narrativize reality more indirectly and metaphorically. Consequently, the context provided by the real space, rather than its unique placeness, is embellished when reality is brought to the fore as the narrative setting. For instance, LINA engages the sociocultural context embedded in elementary school classrooms for an educational mystery-solving game that centers on a missing classmate. It can be utilized in classrooms anywhere to reinforce their original function [88].

Turning to Spaces of Realized Virtual Narratives, Compatible Portal Spaces, the type with the second highest number of cases, leverage certain traits that can be found across various real spaces as portals into virtual narrative spaces. This allows users to evade their surroundings while being situated in them. As long as there are some chairs and a table in any real space, a completely fictional story of a jury’s conflict that is disassociated with the target space can be integrated into the reality that the user is inhabiting [79]. Unlike the three other augmented narrative space types in the same category (Transported Scene-Based Spaces, Transformed Room-Scale Spaces, and Tranplanted Tabletop Spaces), Compatible Portal Spaces establish a semantic relationship between narrative elements of the virtual and features of the real: augmented characters sit on the real chairs around the real table in the above example. This indicates that together with Spaces of Virtually Narrativized Reality, this type represents a major format that employs AR narratives for specified real spaces.

For the three other space types of Realized Virtual Narratives, the distinction between them is made by how each type registers the virtual narrative space to the target space, as other connections are the same. This leads to differences in the spatial scale of the narratives being realized to some extent, which is in turn associated with the type of stories being told. Spatial Mapping for Transformed Room-Scale Spaces and Single Anchoring for Transplanted Tabletop Spaces not only give the space types their names but also configure how the different spatial scales are employed within the common narrative genre they represent. Almost all cases in the two space types are games except for SceneAR, which presents a linear story of bees arguing over flowers [23]. The five other cases of Transformed Room-Scale Spaces are first-person role-playing games where users themselves conduct gaming actions at a real scale, experiencing the space through various perspectives and modes of input. In Star Tag, the user is encouraged to move quickly and uses voice and gestures to approach and conquer virtual planets dispersed in space [97].

On the other hand, the spatial dimensions of the four Transplanted Tabletop Spaces dictate that they all take on the form of board games, which limits the user’s spatial interactions to a mobile interface. In terms of their story worlds, both space types tend to represent those that are entirely removed from reality itself and not just their target spaces. For Transported Scene-Based Spaces, which vary in their spatial scale, Multiple Anchoring as the registration method sets the space type apart from Transformed Room-Scale Spaces and Transplanted Tabletop Spaces in that the scenes anchored to various points in the target real space elicit linear narratives as opposed to games. Users experience narrative progression by encountering different scenes remediated within the real space. This means that the augmented narrative space integrates existing multimedia resources within a newly devised narrative sequence [12]. For example, IFiction [26] and ARKaraoke [36] take a select number of scenes from the novel Wrinkle in Time and the film Princess Bride respectively out of their original context and position them in different locations to fictionally reskin the real space. These scenes offer varying levels of immersion according to their spatial scale, which varies within allowing users to occupy the virtual narrative space while moving through the physical environment.

In designing augmented narrative spaces, the foremost step should be to determine whether it is the virtual narrative space or the real space that plays a more central role in its dual composition, i.e., which of the two layers should prevail over the other. Depending on this decision, how the two spatial entities are connected falls into place. If the virtual should be more prominent, stories of creative versatility can be adapted to a diverse range of real spaces via their physical features to showcase the transformative power of the virtual narrative space. If the focus is instead on bringing a certain real space to the fore, the virtual narrative space can recede to the background through a story that illuminates the hidden or apparent features of the real space. This can be achieved by connecting the virtual narrative space to specific and meaningful areas, locations, or objects. In essence, the choice between real and virtual dominance in an augmented narrative space should dictate the main objective of the user experience it provides and build the foundation upon which ensuing design decisions are made.

Once the main objective for the design of an augmented narrative space is set, outlining the specifics of the narrative itself through parameters such as genre, character, sequence, and the degree of linearity to constitute certain narrative tropes for that objective is required before it can be spatialized in the virtual and the real. At this stage, features that characterize dominant types of augmented narrative spaces through links between virtual–real connections can be utilized as conventions of AR storytelling. This is to say that certain augmented narrative space types can be referred to and reflected in creating certain narrative tropes. For example, suppose the goal is to realize the virtual narrative space through an immersive and interactive indoor experience set in a fantasy world. In this case, the setting is consistent with Transformed Room-Scale Spaces and can be further developed by following or playing with conventions for this type. The genre of the narrative would typically be a game that is highly interactive and non-linear, with users participating in the narrative as characters with the agency to trigger the sequence of events.

When details of the narrative are confirmed, the ensuing design choice mainly involves spatializing narrative elements in the virtual narrative space with regard to the target real space. Our analysis revealed that according to an augmented narrative space’s main objective and link between virtual–real connections, the composition of virtual and real elements differed in their amount and presence: dominantly virtual spaces are more noticeably virtual, and real ones more real. However, it is crucial for users to perceive a balanced integration of the virtual and the real to enhance their immersion during an AR narrative experience [122], either to suspend their disbelief in virtuality [86, 121] or engage themselves better in reality [130]. To mitigate the inevitable imbalance between the virtual and the real in certain types of augmented narrative spaces, we recommend facilitating user interaction with the less dominant elements as part of the design strategy. For instance, enabling users to manipulate real objects to trigger virtual narrative sequences, placed to encourage active movement in the real space of a Transformative Room-Scale Space that prioritizes virtuality, would be beneficial for narrative experience by ensuring that users engage with both the virtual and the real.