The activity we used as the basis for the interaction was the action of turning on and off the light. To put this interaction into use, we needed an environment in which such an action would be normal. Thus, we came up with a simple room/kitchen with two light switches on the side. One light switch was completely normal: flipping it on and off would turn the light on and off. The other light switch however, would prompt fireflies to appear from the plants. This is our primary alternate world activity where turning on and off a light switch would create something unusual. The light switch also controls the fireworks that the user can see outside the window.
When brainstorming, we wanted to create an environment that incorporated our daily interactions in the real world. We started off with actions such as turning off the alarm in the morning, waking up and opening the door, turning on/off the light, and grabbing a cup of coffee. In the beginning, we assumed that we were using the Vive system, however due to outside circumstances, we had to stick with Unity only. We ultimately decided to choose turning on/off the light as the main interaction. We felt that this action could create more possibilities for us to explore an alternate reality. By turning on/off a particular light switch, we could have different events show up. In our alternate world, most things were just like normal. The interaction itself was also ordinary, but what happened from the interaction was not necessarily ordinary. Unfortunately our main mode of interaction with the world was the keyboard, the interaction was just simply pressing ‘e’ on the keyboard when the user was near the light switch.
The steps to implement the interaction were quite simple. We primarily used the onTriggerEnter and onTriggerExit to determine whether or not the user was near the light switch. Once the user was within the box collider of the light switch, simply pressing the letter ‘e’ would result in the light switch being turned on or off. For the fireflies, they also fell under a similar script but we used the particle system to create the effect.
I definitely feel like we did achieve our goal of creating alternate world. Turning on the light to generate fireflies or to start fireworks in the middle of nowhere is not something we see in our world. The design was supposed to create a serene experience in which the user was just there to observe. There’s no real goal for the user; the user has freedom to explore the room and check out the effects of the lights. In an attempt to guide the user, there are GUI’s asking the user to press the ‘e’ on the keyboard when they are near the light switch. Additionally, there’s a light on the light switch to prompt the user to explore. I felt like the end result coincided with what we originally envisioned. We created an everyday interaction and turned it into something unordinary. However, I felt like the medium itself took away from the implementation of the idea. The motion of turning on and off the light switch is quite distinct; it is something we’re familiar with. We couldn’t quite encapsulate the action with our medium as we could only use the mouse click or the keyboard. Perhaps if we were using the Vive, we could make the action much more realistic. Pressing ‘e’ on the keyboard and seeing a change doesn’t create the same sense of bewilderment if the user were to actually flip the switch.R
Our primary action was to turn on/off the light switch. We gave the user freedom to move around within the room and there is nothing else the user can do except from move around or turn on/off the switch. To prompt the user to carry out the action, we had GUI on the top left corner of the screen when the user approached the light switch. Additionally, there’s a light on the light switch that would curate curiosity
