Project 1 Development Blog Link: https://alternaterealities.nyuadim.com/2019/02/11/project-1-development-blog-5/
In this project, the goal I set out to accomplish was to create a peaceful environment. Even though the implementation of such differed in many aspects with my initial idea for the project, the overarching goal of creating a peaceful environment was definitely accomplished. As such, I will use this piece to talk about the similarities and differences between my project’s ideation and its actual implementation, as well as the process that I went through to go from the former to the later.
Differences
If you look at my first entry in the development blog (link above), my initial idea had the user in the middle of the tent. Even though I could have accomplished this in my project, I decided that locating the user outside of the tent created a more meaningful impact given that the user can enjoy more of the scenery thanks to the 360 degree look of the natural landscape I created.
I also didn’t add the snack assets into my project. I could not find any of the assets I wanted and instead I placed camping tools and wood logs all over my scene. Cutting wood logs was also something I used to do quite often in my camping trips, so this resulted in a really good alternative.
Similarities
All in all, I can say that the tent part of my idea was accomplished effectively. However, I didn’t expect to get so invested in designing the natural landscape. I spent more than 70% of my time placing trees and playing around with the mountain assets. I really liked this portion of my project, and it made me retrospectively analyze the importance I placed in nature. Whenever I went camping, I thought that the most enjoyable part of the experience was to spend time with my friends and that the landscape/scenery came in as an added bonus. After doing this project, I now know that the refreshing look of nature was more important than how I initially perceived it to be, and I hope that I value more this importance as I go on more camping trips.
Implementation:
As stated in the development blog, the design of the scenery was not the most strenuous part of the process. The most time-consuming part was making the executable file. However, looking my project in a Google cardboard Kit was worth it as it gave me a newfound appreciation of the scene view I created. Also, the terrain object proved to be really difficult to alter in the version of Unity I had installed in my computer. As such, I had to use a cube for my floor and then use a mountain asset to fill the user’s distant view with mountain tops.