Original Idea
Our idea was to create an environment that places the player inside a greenhouse, surrounded by plants and the sound of the rainforest, with a planting station in front of them with several tools to choose from. The main items to interact with were the pot, seed, and watering can. The twist would be what would grow from this seed. And what was awaiting their discovery behind them.
Our “everyday action” that we played around with was the action of gardening, but in this world what was planted was a seed of a carnivorous plant. And if looked behind, the player realizes that this plant is one that must be contained in a cage for the safety of the people in this world.
Storyboard;
The player would find themselves in front of a planting platform with a pot, seed and watering can by their reach. The player would them pick the seed place it in the pot and water it. As they water it, the seed would shrink till it disappears and a carnivorous plant would grow in its place and start trying to attack the player.
When the player starts looking around their environment, they would be able to notice a large butterfly flying outside above them, the shadow of the insect on the ground would indicate the player there is something above them.
Different perspectives
Assets
While creating the environment, we found ourselves at the luxury of having a variety of prefabs to choose from;
The main asset we used was a $1 greenhouse (Green House 3D Model) furnished with a table, several pots, and a hanging lamp. At first the greenhouse was well, green and then we changed the color to have it be white to fit the image we had of it being a victorian inspired greenhouse. We separated the items (pots and table) to make it easier on us to choose from them what we required to have placed inside. And when designing the inside of the greenhouse we placed pots around the player, some were empty and some housed plants taken from the enemy plants package which came with animations.
The other asset we used an abundance of was the asset of UniTrees 3; which included detailed, fantasy trees, plants, and bushes.
What was learned?
When creating the outside environment, we found an easier method to place multiple items that are the same. By adding to the terrain the object of the trees and plants; and having the brush place them randomly and be a part of the terrain. What was also learned was when we came across the resizing of the butterfly prefab; whenever it would play its animation the size of the butterfly would shrink back to the original. When going through the tabs of the prefab, you must not only resize the object but its animation as well.
Interaction
Limitations and Reflection
With the time limitation, we found it difficult to implement several pots and seeds for the user to interact with so we ended up on settling on one pair.
Another difficulty we faced was how when items were grabbed, the mesh becomes nonexistent and items such as the watering can goes through the pot. We tried multiple settings and options, but as we kept trying it would get worse and eventually the hands in the game just deleted completely. Max had to create a new project and re-import steamVR for it to go back to normal.
Reflecting on the final scene, it was quite satisfying to come pretty close to our original idea. And when including the butterfly overhead; it gave the player a sense of miniature size compared to what is outside this greenhouse. And also a sense of the dangerous outdoors.
The final thing we added was the audio, extracting audio files from free sound.org we found several sounds of the forest; that included birds, wildlife, and wind. When including that file to our scene, it immerses the player in the game and gives them feedback another one of their senses. We included three other sound files as well, one for the caged plant located behind the player, and that sounds setting was put at a 3D sound and that means that if the sound is coming from the right, the player would hear it from the right earphone and vice versa. The plant that the player grows also will play an audio file of low growling to add a scary factor to these plants. And the watering can also has a water audio file attached to it.
What we hoped to include
Having such an environment allows us to the freedom of expression, and the freedom to add whatever our mind imagines. We initially hoped we could give the player choices of seeds that they can plant, and each growing a different plant. And the main plants interaction, we could’ve had its animation actually feel more like it attacked the player and thus ending the game. But if the game ended there; the player might not be able to have time to fully enjoy the 360 view of the environment entirely. Allowing the player to fight back against the plant would immerse the individual further into the environment giving them a way to react to what is happening. Although the scene we created is pretty detailed, having animated animals outside and a running river would further give life to the location would be nice but it was quite difficult finding a well suited animated animal to include.