Author: gvk219

FINAL Individual Development Journal

Project Idea and Planning

As in our presentation, we’re planning to make an FPS game, like Superhot. We’re planning to use the time-moves-as-you-move function and use hotspots to travel. Our idea is: you’re a virus in a computer that has to steal an important file. You must first work your way through other files (or levels). I’m the first level, Vee is the second and Muhammad is the third. As mentioned in our project idea presentation, I’m planning to have a sphere shaped terrain. We’ve decided to have platforms to change height levels and I think this is a good idea for variety. I imagine this will create some difficulties for my level but I’m excited to start.

ENTRY 1

Since my environment is a sphere, I need to figure out how gravity will work- objects need to be attrracted to the centre of the sphere, not just downwards.

I found some code to make the gravity work properly, but so far the objects just fall through the environment, but the direction of gravity is correct. I’ve also found some assets that I can use for my environment, such as buildings. These seem easily customisable to my colour scheme etc, so I’m pretty happy with them so far, though I might have to model some on my own as well.

ENTRY 2

I managed to get the gravity working on my project.

Now I’m working on designing the environment in the colour scheme (blue, purple, grey) and the hotspots for travelling. I’m still looking for proper assets and might have to make some on my own, but I’ve found a couple that I might like.

I think I’ll add hotspots at the top of buildings to get a good vantage point and also have a bridge for variety. I’m also thinking of having rain (using a particle system) but I’m not sure if it’ll help with creating the atmosphere I want.

I plan to figure out my environment and then make it a prefab so I can add it to our Unity Collab project.

ENTRY 3

I started making the environment, with a blue-purple color scheme. I used a metallic material for the planet so it looks a bit like hardware. Inspired by the statues in Lord of the Rings, I added statues to the starting point of my level.

They help indicate the starting point as well as direct the user about which way to go- between them. I thought this would intuitive since you start right behind them, and the most obvious path is forward, the way they are facing.

The Lord of the rings. Fellowship of the rings. Two giant | Etsy | Stone statues, Lord of the rings, Fellowship of the ring

I also figured out how to make the player walk on the planet, since I couldn’t use the Walk on World script we had for our previous projects. I’m glad I got this sorted out because it’s one of the most important parts of navigating my world, apart from hotspots, and it really gives the effect of being on a curved surface. I also added rain, but I’m not sure how I feel about it yet.

I added rain and all the other assets as well. My project has shifted away from data visualisation as a theme, and is now more like a jumble of different structures. I like it. Since Nav Mesh doesn’t work on a sphere, I need more hotspots.

I didn’t add the bridge since it seemed too “complete”. I’ve picked assets that look broken, so it looks like a folder on a computer that contains a lot of random things- a Recycle Bin.

I have a bunch of random buildings, modern and ancient. I feel like this kind of ties in with the other levels as well, since Vee’s is medieval Chinese and Muhammad’s looks super futuristic.

ENTRY 4

link to user test video:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rOk5pjJiaoTYBDxFcxys4s2djYN0Rbwd/view?usp=sharing

User Test Feedback:

Kind of stressful getting shot at in the first few seconds.

  • Reduced enemy sphere collider so don’t get shot at just as you arrive. I don’t have as many enemies as the others since I’m the first level, and more hotspots so users can explore more.

Add sound, seems kind of jarring with only bullet sounds’

  • Added sound for suspense

Background is plain, doesn’t look good.

  • Added Skybox for lights and sky effect.

Teleporting was fun- I added more hotspots.

I think hotspots are the most important for me so I need to make the experience as interesting as possible. So I’m adding various assets which look interesting and are sort of interactable- like buildings I can go into.

Related to this, the terrain itself as an element is super important so I need to make that as varied as possible- I’m going to have as many platforms as possible.

Shooting enemies is fun and watching them get destroyed is cool, though it’s not the most fun thing for me- but I have to keep in mind not to overlook it too much since it’s an important factor.

I need to use the above factors to make people feel tension and also maybe some wonder because I want people to enjoy the environment as well as finish the level. The sound is suspenseful so that helps.

ENTRY 5 (after submission)

I’m pretty happy with the way my level turned out. I like how jumbled it looks, and how you can go beneath the metal structures and explore a bit. I’ve added a lot of platforms, to vary height so you can get agood view of the entire terrain.

I’ve toggled the sphere colliders on the enemies so they have varying ranges and they are concentrated at different points to increase and decrease tension.

There are multiple ways to get to the final hotspot and you can use one or more of them. I have a total of 40 hotspots and maybe 15 enemies.

I had a lot of issues because of my level being a sphere but I’m glad I stuck with it- it’s almost like a roller coaster, and I like how you can’t always see very far away because the terrain curves away from you. The nav mesh didn’t work but we fixed the user experience by explaining it in cutscenes, so it worked out. I wish I could have had rain all over the place but it looked a bit too confusing, and made the whole thing heavy. So now it’s only over the statues- still looks cool. I made my level a little easier than the others since it’s the first, and it’s better for the user to get used to the medium. We had problems with building to Unity, but with professor’s help we managed. I had a lot of fun with this project.

Reading Response 4

In any given city, what role does time play? In what ways does the storyteller use time to convey an impression of the city?

Reading about Eutropia (64-65), there’s a weird sense of simultaneity, of several things occurring at one moment- as seen in the quote “not one but all these cities together”. At the same time there’s also a sense of temporariness, since the entire population decides to move to another city in the same territory as Eutropia, and completely change their lives- they also find different ways to spend their time, and different people to spend it with. Everyone does someone else’s job so the total number of jobs remain the same.

Eutropia then is the new city, identical to the old Eutropia but for the location. The role of time is therefore arbitrary, it’s based on feeling, almost whimsical. It feels almost surreal, with no concrete concept of the passage of time. It also seems like the way people spend their time is based on their desire as opposed to necessity, they do whichever jobs they like, talk to whoever they want.

The author uses the word “renewed” which implies a sort of life span to the city. Ironically, the author also creates a sense of monotony, since “inhabitants repeat the same scenes, with the actors changed;”, and a cyclical pattern, as people move in “rotation”. So while a single person might live manhy different lives, the population as a whole performs the same functions. There’s a big difference between the macro and the micro, with time passing continuously if you look closely but seeming to stand still if you look at the larger picture. I loved the mythological reference to Mercury, the Roman god of travel (among other things) who is associated with the “fickle”. The author’s use of metaphor (acting and scenes) as well as the implication of temporariness in the mythological reference create two opposing senses of time- one of constant change and one of the mundane and routine. I’m not sure I would like to stay in Eutropia, but maybe that’s the point.

Project 2 Progress

I need to figure out my interactions better, because they seem a bit ambitious. To make my interactions intuitive, I’m making the room itself pretty dark, with the fireplace as the main light source. It will make the viewer move closer to it. Then you see a book on a shelf and once you press it the lights come on.

That’s the first main interaction. Once the lights are on you can spin the globe or move around the room- closer to the window or the fireplace. I’ve given the sound a range and roll off so as you move around some sounds get louder and others get softer, like the fireplace and the wind.

Hamlet on the Holodeck chapter 5

I related a lot to some parts of Chapter 5, such as the agency associated with navigation in games. I play The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild on the nintendo switch and one of my favourite parts is the sheer amount of walking around and exploring you can do in the game. There’s always something to climb, or collect or look at, even if you’re not doing one of the main quests. In fact, the distribution of the shrines in the game ensures that you have to move around as much as possible and explore the landscape. It’s sort of like “orienteering” as mentioned in the chapter.

I also really liked the paragraph Giving Shape to Anxiety- Zelda does this partly through sound. There’s different sound tracks for peaceful walking, sneaking around and being near or under attack from monsters. As you play, you tend to recognise the sounds and you know from the tones what is happening around you.

In general, I really liked the ideas of agency brought up by the text- the sense of control felt by the participator is key. What I think is important to note, is the fact that agency might be real or imagined, but as long as it is felt by the person playing the game, it matters. What I particularly liked about this chapter was the fact that it says that agency is more than simply participation and action. It is the experience of feeling autonomous, and taking pleasure in just experiencing the circumstances of the game. It also mentions the challenges of moving narrative to computers; we have to find a balance between narrative and game structure, when they both complement each other rather than one being overshadowed by the other.

Lauren McCarthy talk

I really enjoyed Lauren McCarthy’s talk about her artwork as well as the art making process. I especially liked the Follower app and the questions it raises about surveillance. She mentioned the irony of the fact that while we hate surveillance, we also have this need to be watched/viewed as evidenced by our activity on social media, etc.

It also made me think about surveillance with regards to who is being watched. Who decides who is watched and who has the privilege of hiding from surveillance? Looking at the website, there was one sentence that stood out to me: “The Follower stays just out of sight, but within your consciousness.” This makes me think about our awareness of being watched, something McCarthy talked about as well. It’s interesting how we have such varied reactions at being watched; we’re sometimes uncomfortable and sometimes we like the attention.

The Follower also takes a photo of the followed person and that’s all they’re left with at the end of the experience. I began wondering about the traces we leave behind as we move around the world (as explored in Professor Heather’s work as well) and whether we actually own those parts of ourselves that we leave behind as ‘waste’.

Project 2 Idea

I think I’m changing my topic slightly- I can’t incorporate an entire murder mystery narrative into my project, so I’m making the narrative more geared towards finding a diamond (or something else) hidden somewhere in the house.

I want the viewer to be able to walk around the room (free navigation), and for sounds to change as they move closer or further away from objects- like the fire gets louder if you move towards it, and the wind gets louder if you move towards the door.

I’m considering making my project more sound dependent, so maybe you discover more clues as you move towards different sounds.

Also- just in terms of details- I’m planning to add windows and wind blowing outside. Considering making the windows interactable so you can open or close them. Also will add books on the table maybe, just fill up the room a bit more and make it bigger, right now it seems a bit bare.

To make the environment creepy, I’m going to dim the lights further, so the only source of light is the fire and the windows.

Interaction 1– you swipe at the globe and it spins around (with the sound effect “whoosh” or “spin”), maybe opening a secret passageway which you can climb down (like the climb up thing we learned in class) leading to another room (not planning to have this room super detailed though) behind a locked door.

Option 2- Alternatively, the globe has a keyhole.

Interaction 2– There’s something peeking out from underneath the carpet so you kick it aside with your foot (no idea how to do this, will go to office hours) to reveal a key but you have no idea where it goes- maybe opens the locked door downstairs. when you discover the passageway it gets “highlighted” sort of like spidey senses.

Option 2- The key goes into the globe which turns on other lights in the room.

Interaction 3– You look at a window and it rattles, swinging open and shut, with the sound effect “creak” and the wind gets louder.

The screen recording doesn’t have interactions yet, it’s just a converted AR format- I need more help with interactions. I also need to make my own globe asset so I can separate the globe from its stand to spin it. Also may need to do the same with the rug.

the video auto rotated and I’m not sure how to change it back

Response 2: Hamlet on the Holodeck chapter 4 + VR experience

I really liked the part about the fourth wall, as mentioned by Murray. It’s the “enchanted object that carries you into the immersive world- and then out again”. There’s a threshold between illusion and reality and VR helps us pass through that threshold, bringing the illusion to us, or us into the illusion. This wall is simutaneously a symbol of the boundary between reality and illusion as well as a part of the illusory world.

When I first tried Cardboard, I tried watching the Lego Batman experience. I found it hilarious, since I’ve seen the Lego Batman movie already, but even without that, I think the VR experience was great. I found it interesting that I was told I was in a VR experience to begin with, during the experience. It wasn’t pretending to be a real experience at all. I also liked the way motion was simulated, and you could see the city around you as you moved. Also, characters directly interact with you which puts you in the middle of the action and makes the experience more immersive.

Hamlet on the Holodeck Chapter 3

Taking one of Murray’s four principle properties of digital environments, how do you see VR representing that property?

Looking at the property of digital environments being spatial, I think VR represents it perfectly. The very point of Virtual Reality is to present a digital space in the real world, and make us feel as though we are in that space. Murray uses the term “navigable space”, which I think is accurate for VR. The quality of being spatial is determined by our interactions with the space, of navigating it. VR puts you in a space rather than simply telling you about it. There’s a level of objectivity to it, as put by Murray, since everyone would experience the same space, as opposed to if it were being described and would then be open to interpretation.

Murray also mentions “experiential drama” which I think encapsulates the VR experience very well. The point is to be there rather than imagine being there or hearing about it. It’s a direct, active interaction with the environment.