VR storyworlds unfold through changes in rules, affordances, and cues over time, yet many design tools describe them in relatively static terms. We present TRC (Temporal, Rules and Cues), a three layer framework for analyzing and planning dynamic change in VR. TRC maps change episodes around a focal transition point called (t0) using a prepare, change and consolidate structure aligned with feedforward, action, and feedback. The framework is informed by work on attention, multisensory cueing, agency, and plausibility, and is intended to help designers examine when change occurs, what changes, and how that change is signaled and stabilized. We apply TRC to five commercial VR onboarding sequences and an extended case analysis of A Fisherman’s Tale. Across cases, we found recurring patterns, including short feedforward before high cost rule changes, triggers placed at taught affordances, and rapid cross modal confirmations that stabilize a new rule state. We also report a 20 participant formative Creativity Support Index study, which provides preliminary evidence that TRC externalizations were perceived as helpful for exploration and for the results worth effort item during early stage analysis and planning. Contributions include the TRC framework, a mapping protocol and codebook, an analysis template with metrics, a compact pattern/risk library, and initial evidence of perceived creativity-support value.

Research on VR often isolates constructs on separate scales, obscuring how users themselves link presence, agency, realism, fictionality, temporal structure, and embodiment during play. We address this gap with a qualitative, participant-level mapping of user-articulated associations across nine constructs defined a priori from theory and standardized for analysis: presence (PI; feeling "there"), visual realism, physical realism, fictionality, agency, temporal structure, narrative comprehension, attentional guidance, and embodiment. Fifty-seven design-trained participants played two commercial VR games (A Fisherman's Tale; Moss on Quest 2/3) and answered openended prompts. Using codebook thematic analysis, we binarized construct mentions per participant and computed normalized co-occurrences (Jaccard) with bootstrap 95% CIs and permutation baselines; metrics are descriptive, valenceagnostic, and non-causal. Findings: Presence co-occurred most with layered attentional guidance and embodiment, exceeding its association with visual fidelity. A"design-side" cluster linked visual and physical realism with temporal pacing and guidance; visual realism clustered more with fictionality and narrative discourse than with presence. These patterns refine theory toward coherence, guidance, and embodiment-centered pathways to sustaining place illusion and engagement, consistent with claims that internal consistency and sensorimotor contingencies outweigh photorealism. Methodologically, the participant-level, normalized map makes qualitative associations inspectable and comparable via effect sizes with uncertainty, complementing solo-construct scales and supporting reuse on other construct sets. Practically, the results recommend prioritizing consistent world rules and physically plausible interactions, scaffolding agency with multimodal diegetic cues, and providing robust, synchronous self-representation.