Project Description
The everyday activity we choose to reimagine is pressing the light switch and it happens in a homey environment which consists of the kitchen and the dining area. We limit the room size so that it could be carried out with the Vive, but due to some special circumstances we have to set it up as a regular app instead. We have envisioned what the project will be like if carried out in a VR setting and I will discuss the difference in the reflection section. To recreate the interactions triggered by pressing a light switch, we have to break the convention that the light switch is only used to control the lights. To realize the alternateness of this activity, we design it to reflect the inner world of the audience, or more precisely the character in our first-person story.
In our scene, the audience would find themselves in a room and they could only explore the space within the room. The main interactions that could be triggered are with the two switches on the wall. To make the transition to an alternate aspect of reality go smoothly, the first switch that the audience see could actually control the light, but also with some changes to the environment that comes along with the light. The second switch couldn’t be used to turn on the lights and special responses are activated only when the lights in the room are off.
With the demo below, we could be more clear about the story. After entering the game scene, the audience would find themselves in the room. The door couldn’t be opened if one tries to. Apparently the character is locked in the room for some reason (maybe doing self-quarantine). When the audience turns around and sees the window, they will see fireworks outside. But when turning off the lights in the room with the switch next to the window, they will notice the fireworks are also gone. So here we are, alone in this dark room and the cold moonlight.
However, when the audience turns around, they will see another switch with a small light glowing. Turning this switch on, the audience will find themselves surrounded by the fireflies that fly out from the plants. Now even though we couldn’t get out of the room, we could still have our own light within this tiny space.
Process and Implementation
We went through a lot of brainstorming process to get to the final idea that is presented in our project. From the beginning, our goal has been to recreate the regular event where the audience makes interactions with the household properties, and this main idea remains unchanged all along till the end. Initially, our character was set to be a sleepy person in the early morning. After having a sip of coffee that is made with a coffee machine, the lights in the room are automatically turned on, meaning that the coffee light he/she up. However, due to the limitation of available assets, we couldn’t get a satisfying model for the coffee machine and have to give up this idea.
Later on, since we couldn’t use the VR device and focus on one core interaction, we decide to choose the interaction with the switch and implement some unexpected responses triggered by pressing a switch. Finally, we decide to use two switches, one for controlling the lights, and another for making changes to the plants in the room.
- Environment and Aesthetics
To begin with, Ganjina set up the room with furniture and decorations and I helped with the arrangement of things in the room. In the initial environment, some space is left for the audience to walk around in this room. One switch is on the wall next to the starting position of the audience so that one could easily see. Another switch is on the opposite wall, with plants nearby.
Afterwards, Luize updated the scene by choosing a suitable color tone for walls and floor. She also added the ceiling with the indoor light and more decorations in the dining area. The environment becomes warmer and cozier with yellowish lighting.
- Scripts and Visual Effects
The scripts for this project are mainly about changing the states of objects involved when pressing a switch. The switch itself consists of two parts and one part is rotated when turned on/off. Chris implemented the interaction with switch and the light changes accordingly.
I’m mainly responsible for the scripts and visual effects after the switches are triggered. Initially, we wanted to turn the plants from dead to alive to reflect how the character is feeling. But again, the available plant assets are not satisfying enough. Therefore, we changed our idea and instead have the story and fireflies mentioned in the project description section. In fact, I’m inspired by the extraordinary situation where many people in the world have to lock themselves in their house. I know how depressing and lonely it could be to spend days and nights in the limited space, not to mention with concerns about the unprecedented situation. However, I somehow have the feeling that eventually everything will come to an end. It’s not even going to a miracle, but the fate of us all. So I use the image of fireflies as the metaphor of a subtle but certain faith. The fireworks outside are to enhance the contrast before and after the light is off. The fireworks only go off when the light is on while the firefly-effect could only be triggered when the light is off.
For the visual effects of fireflies and fireworks, I basically play around with the ParticleSystem in Unity. The fireflies have relatively long lifetime so that they could fill the room before disappearing. To simulate the motion of fireflies, noise is added to the particle emission trail. As is shown by the bounding boxes of particles below, the size of fireflies changes varying their speed and lifetime. Their color (or glow) dims over lifetime as well.
For the fireworks, they each consist of emission trails, small sparkles (as sub emitters) along the trail, and the bursts at the end of trails. The trails and sparkles have gradient colors so that the process from birth to death of emissions becomes natural.
In addition, the audience could also open the fridge and the microwave and the mechanism is similar to flipping a switch. The only difference is that the doors rotate around an axis instead of a point for the switch.
Reflection
From my perspective, we have realized the alternateness in our project. Conventionally, people don’t expect a switch in their room to be able to set or stop the fireworks outside. Furthermore, usually we don’t see fireflies indoor so it’s also an unexpected event.
For the medium, initially we envisioned the project to be implemented with VR setup. We think it would quite different with hand gestures when pressing the switch or interacting with the microwave and fridge. I add colliders to the fireflies so that I think it would be a better experience with VR devices when fireflies fly into the character (even better if sound effect is added).
Besides, the long-lasting brainstorming process of this project is especially inspiring to me. Before the actual implementation, we went through several times of idea sharing and feedback collecting with the whole class. At the very beginning, we even didn’t have any alternate elements in our design. The three interactions that we choose are also random and irrelevant. We got the suggestion that for the entire activity to make sense, we need to have a story that links everything together. That’s when I realize the meaning and importance of coherence, and I’ve always kept it in mind throughout the project.
Agency
There are two things we have designed regarding agency. First of all, the first version of fireworks are far from the room and one has to walk close to the window to see them. We think they are not noticeable compared to the first switch from the starting position. Thus, we adjust the position of fireworks so that the player could see them at first glance. Moreover, we move the switch closer to the window so that the player could easily realize the functions of the switch.
The second detail is the small glowing light on the second switch. It only lights up in the dark so that it catches the attention of the player to press it when the light is off.
