# IVIE: A Neuro-symbolic Approach to Incremental and Validated Generation of Interactive Fiction Worlds

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.13348 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.13348/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 8 of its 24 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 11 Jun 2026.

## Builds on (most cited first, 8 of 8)

- [Retrieval-Augmented Generation for Knowledge-Intensive NLP Tasks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2005.11401/) (2020)
- [Survey of Hallucination in Natural Language Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2202.03629/) (2022)
- [STORY2GAME: Generating (Almost) Everything in an Interactive Fiction Game](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.03547/) (2025)
- [Learning to Play Like Humans: A Framework for LLM Adaptation in Interactive Fiction Games](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.12439/) (2025)
- [Automated Story Generation as Question-Answering](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.03808/) (2021)
- [Skill Check: Some Considerations on the Evaluation of Gamemastering Models for Role-playing Games](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.13702/) (2023)
- [PAYADOR: A Minimalist Approach to Grounding Language Models on Structured Data for Interactive Storytelling and Role-playing Games](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.07304/) (2025)
- [World-State Transformations for Neuro-symbolic Interactive Storytelling](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.24719/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Computational creativity in Interactive Fiction faces a fundamental tension: Large Language Models (LLM) may produce creative narratives but struggle with world coherence, while symbolic systems ensure consistency but lack creative flexibility. We present IVIE (Incremental & Validated Interactive Experiences), a neuro-symbolic approach to generating complete and playable interactive fiction worlds from scratch. Building upon PAYADOR's neuro-symbolic framework, IVIE implements a four-stage incremental generation pipeline that delegates creative decisions--setting and character creation, puzzle design--to LLMs while grounding the world state through symbolic validation. The system generates worlds with interconnected locations, functional items, non-player characters, and coherent puzzles, all structured around a central goal-oriented architecture. Human evaluation shows the approach generates immersive, thematically coherent worlds with high player engagement. Results seem to indicate that the neuro-symbolic approach successfully balances flexibility with narrative coherence: symbolic validation grounds LLM generation without eliminating generative freedom. However, challenges remain: LLM inconsistencies occasionally bypass puzzle constraints, and objective validation gaps allow some structurally impossible goals. We identify key design considerations for future neurosymbolic interactive storytelling systems, particularly regarding LLM capabilities and their limitations.