13/04 Update:
When we first met up to brainstorm our idea, we discussed themes such as recreating a city from Invisible Cities or creating a version of an Escape Room. Our first idea was to represent each of the cities that we chose for the Spring Break blog entry into different scenes in our world. The player would then be able to travel through these cities and learn about each of them based on their inhabitants and environment. As much as we liked the visuals of such idea, however, we were worried that this theme would not portray much of a story. Therefore, we moved on to brainstorming new ideas and considered the Escape room theme where the protagonist would wake up from amnesia and finds themselves in a prison cell where a clock would be ticking and they would have to find a way out of the prison. However, we were worried that by choosing this approach it would be difficult to convey the story to the player in a relatable way.
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After more brainstorming, we settled on the Apocalypse theme. Our take on Apocalypse in this project is a representation of how both conscious and unconscious actions and habits of human beings lead to ocean pollution. When creating the initial storyboards, we laid out 9 scenes. The first and the last scene is the same – the player finds themselves in a room with a television. After interacting with the television, a video would play and they would become familiar with the theme and learn some information about plastic pollution in the ocean. Then they would enter an underwater world where they would go through different scenes all in different times. The user would follow a path on the ground that guides them through different scenes and to switch to a new scene the user would have to press a button or interact with an object in the ocean. Starting in the year 1920 the ocean would be clean and a lot of sea creatures would be swimming around. Moving on to years 2020 and lastly 2120 the ocean would become more and more polluted with plastic and there would fewer sea creatures around them and they would realize that the underwater world cannot be saved anymore. The user then goes back to scene one where actions can be taken to do something to save the environment. Here are the storyboards of our project.
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27/04 Update:
Since the last Development Journal entry, we have modified our project after the update that we wouldn’t be able to use the Google Cardboard, as we do not have Android Phones. However, we will still create the project as if it would be built for Google Cardboard, therefore using a reticle. After the first playtesting session where we shared our storyboards, the feedback we received very helpful and valuable feedback. Here are some of the storyboards we showed to the class.
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Based on the feedback we decided to significantly reduce the number of scenes. We also decided that there will be lass interactions, as there was no more need to switch between many scenes. However, the transition between the remaining scenes becomes more integrated into the story and seems a lot more seamless instead of just pressing a button. The remaining scenes will be the room with a television and an underwater ocean world. We decided that after watching a video about pollution and how it has affected our oceans on the television screen in the first scene, a nautilus painting would light up next to the television which would indicate that the user needs to press on it. After pressing on the painting, the player would teleport to the next scene which is the underwater ocean world. In the underwater world, the user will walk alongside a path on the ocean bed and after them there will be a trail of plastic waste left behind. The trail of plastics represents that despite being environmentally conscious and practicing eco-friendly measures, it is almost inevitable to produce no waste and that our actions have an effect on the ocean’s purity over time.
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In terms of working on the scenes Nhi and Tiger worked on the room with the television and the initial set up of the game when the user enters the world. We have also decided on adding plastic containers in the first scene that the user would be able to interact with – pick up and drop them. Therefore, when the plastic containers start appearing in the following scene, the user would make the connection that their actions may have impacted the fact that the plastic appeared in the ocean. I worked on designing the underwater ocean scene and editing the video which will be played on the television in the beginning. It gives an overview of general facts about the ocean and then about how oceans have been affected by plastic pollution. For the underwater scene I am using a set of great assets that I managed to find when creating the budget for asset purchase. One of the assets contains an underwater background with bubbles and jellyfish that are animated and give a realistic feel to the environment. Besides that, the rest of the ocean is a combination of different rocks, corals, seaweed and sea creatures.
a still from the video about plastic pollution in oceans
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05/05 Update:
After doing the first playtesting session with our classmates, a recurring response that we received was about the interaction with the plastics in the first scene. The user is able to pick them up and “drop” it, however, it goes back to the same location, as it was picked up from. Also, the movement after picking up a plastic container is only possible vertically, thus feeling less natural. We will work on being able to move around the object both horizontally and vertically and drop it properly using physics on the object. Instead of the user teleporting to the next scene through the painting, we also changed it to a coral that is located closer to the television, thus being more obvious that this is the object that needs to be clicked. Also, the light in the room goes dark after the video finishes playing, thus there is more emphasis on the coral that is now lit up. From playtesting we realized that sometimes players were confused, as to where to click after the video stops playing. I will also shorten the video, as it seemed too long. In the underwater world, the scene was also updated and a path using seaweed was added that would guide the user, in order for the user to not wander off too far in the ocean. Now we still need to work on improving the interactions, improving the ocean scene even more, and adding plastic in the ocean over time.
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09/05 Update:
The interactions with the objects in the first scene have significantly changed, as it is now possible to pick up objects and drop them around the room. This provides a lot more interactivity and the user is more stimulated to pick the plastic containers up and drop them. I am currently working on making the fish and other sea creatures more in the underwater scene. All though I have managed to make the fish move in a straight line, I am still struggling with adding rotation by 180 degrees over time, in order for the fish movement to seem more natural.
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12/05 Update:
I finished the script for moving the fish and rotating them after some elapsed time. Tiger has been working on the transformation of the ocean – after the user walking through it for a while, the ocean becomes darker, sea creatures start to disappear, and instead plastic containers from the first scene start floating around. Lastly, I also finished shortening the video for the first scene.
