For our final project, we want to create a cartoonish world that consist of two parts connected by a portal in-between. The world will be a fantasy landscape with simple smooth geometry objects (landscape, plants) and fictional characters.
Below are some examples of visual inspiration for our intended style.
Reference and inspiration
Our thematic and stylistic inspiration for this world is LocoRoco, a video game developed by Japan Studios for PlayStation Portable in 2006. In this game, the player assumes a role of a cute circular creature that travels around different worlds in which they grow vegetation and defeat evil characters that want to eat them.
Map, layout
Although we did not decide on specific objects in the scenes, we have this guiding plan for the creation of our world that is divided into two parts. The first space would be a bright cute and cheerful landscape populated with fantasy plants and fictional characters that live there. The portal which would either be a bridge, waterfall or a transitional mirror which connects space 1 to space 2. The second space would represent a sort of an opposite of the first landscape. There, the general color palette and style would become much colder and darker in order to visualize a more dreadful world in which its inhabitants pose a danger to the player.
Narratives
In this project, we want to reflect the narratives of duality, opposites and alternate universes.
Interaction
Possible ideas for interaction are mainly centered around the ability to communicate with animated creatures that would inhabit the two worlds. The central interaction/navigation point would be the portal that would visually illustrate a transitional passage.
Format
As of now, we are more drawn to using AR because it would complement our main concept in the project. With AR, a smartphone acts as a portal to this fiction space similarly to the portal that connects the two worlds in our story.
02/05 – User test and final screenshots from the app.
User test video:
Based on the user test, there were some issues with the consistency of the elements as some of the spiders and beetles weren’t functioning properly. The user liked the use of the hotspots and stated that it made their navigation easier and more interesting. There was also one interaction that the user couldn’t get to because they kept losing, which is turning wrath into a flower.
Turning wrath into a flower
29/04 – My main focus after completing the interactions (adding all the layers, tags, box colliders and rigid bodies) was to code the final interaction that will move the user to the next level. The final interaction was the wrath monster that is placed at the end of the level surrounded by smaller insect monsters that are protecting him by attacking the user. I didn’t want the interaction to just be killing the monster or making him disappear. So I thought why not turn the monster in to a flower? If the user made it this far into the level, that means that they succeeded at not becoming too wrathful, thus getting a flower instead of a monster seemed like a nice symbol for rewarding victory.
The code that turns the monster into a flower
Also, there were two last minute additions I made to the world. One of them was the little flames made with a particle system, that are placed everywhere around the islands, in order to make the user’s experience a bit harder. The flames are also draggable, so from a safe distance the user can click on them and drag them away from the path.
The second addition was a little sign at the beginning of the scene:
26/04 – I began populating the world with the monsters, and I also decided on my hotspots. The hotspots are meant to make the navigation of the world a bit easier and faster, since walking through it takes a lot of time. We added code that would make the user able to click on a hotspot and be transported to the nearest one. I wanted the hotspot to be within my theme for the sake of consistency, so I decided on using a glowing fire crystal.
Fire Crystal Hotspot
Spider +1 damage
Dragon +2 damage
The final world with all the assets:
19/04 – This week I focused on finalizing the layout of my level, by constructing the final island and settling on the assets and interactions. My scene consists of three main islands that the user is able to walk on. I wanted to have three levels within my level in some way, so I plan on using different assets on each island. For example, the first one is smaller so I want to populate it with spiders that attack the user and make it harder to pass through the bridge. For the second island, I plan to throw in some dragons that are either flying up and down to attack the user, or on the ground walking around. For the final island, that’s where I will have the wrath monster that I found on SketchFab, and this is the final interaction that the user has to do before moving on to the next level.
There was also the opening scene that will appear on all of our screens when the user moves to each of our levels, and we used a scene list to include the hierarchy of all the scenes. The first level is Wrath, then it will move to Gluttony then to Greed. We also coded the transition between scenes and added it to the AR camera.
Level 1 Screen
We also all started adapting Alyazia’s health system into our levels to ensure that there is consistency for the entire game and used or statements so that the system applies to all of our scenes. We also decided to give the user 8 hearts in total, since there are a lot of interactions, and we kept losing when we only had 4 heart in the beginning :p
12/04 – I started building my level after choosing the theme of “Wrath”. I initially just started testing out the assets, as well as collecting more assets depending on what monsters and and elements I wanted to have the user interact with. i went on SketchFab and searched for models of monsters like dragons and spiders, and the reason behind that is the fact that I began to think what would suit the theme of Wrath. I reached the conclusion that I should include things that personally make me angry
06/04 – We started a Unity project and decided to use Unity Collab in order to collaborate more easily. We then began looking for assets that would help us create out world according to our vision for the aesthetics. We found great low poly style assets and added them to the project file, and found cool monsters on SketchFab that we could use to portray the sins. The monsters were monochrome, which we though was great as we could customize the material for each one according to what looks better with out theme.
Fig.(1): Gluttony monster
Fig.(2): Wrath monster
30/03 – Sketched out our visualization of the world in order to make it easier for planning the project in Unity. Made a mood-board combining different elements and/or aesthetics we would like our project to contain. Discussed character POV, and scripting elements for the project. Made presentation to pitch idea to the class.
29/03 – Our group discussed all the ideas we had for project 3, and while it was very difficult to narrow it down to one concept to make it more focused, we managed to settle on the overall narrative and aesthetic of the world. We initially wanted to create a world depicting different versions of the afterlife, and to an extent that is still the case. Hence, we decided to go in the direction of creating am environment where the user is in limbo, or purgatory, and are unaware of their own death. We also decided to go for a low poly style, and started looking into making assets in that aesthetic, as well as finding them in the asset store.
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.
The spring break reading was a nice change this semester since I got to read a fictional piece. It was also very interesting to look into artworks that were inspired by Invisible Cities and see how illustrators visualized these mysterious locations described by Italo Calvino. The city that stood out to me was Octavia, a spiderweb city (Chapter 5 ). It is described as a city that is “hanging” over the void between two mountains. It is composed of chains and ropes that connect buildings with catwalks. The city is “suspended over the abyss” as deep as more than hundreds of feet. Hanging ropes and passages that compose a spider web instantly reminded be me of those rope parks where you climb around a hanging maze or circuit balancing on ropes above the ground. The description of the city itself also brought up a somewhat familiar image in my head but I am still unable to remember what kind of book/movie it reminds me of. The chapter provides a very brief description of Octavia, but I was still fascinated by the idea of a hanging spiderweb city between mountains. The artworks visualizing this place were also so captivating and visually interesting. However, what stands out to me the most is the themes of temporality and mortality this city brings to the story. Marco Polo says, “the life of Octavia’s inhabitants is less uncertain than in other cities” (p. 75), which at first seems almost paradoxical. How can your life be certain if it is quite literally hanging on a thin thread (or web, in this case)? Yet the author explains, “They know the net will last only so long”, and, suddenly, it all makes sense. It is a very existential philosophical thought. We are all aware of our own mortality, which is probably the only certain thing about our uncertain lives. The acceptance of their own temporality mystifies the inhabitants of Octavia. It also translates the storyteller’s impression of the city and in relation to time. Since Marco Polo does not give a lot of attention to describing this city, there is little that we know about the daily life there, and it makes it seems like Octavia exists in a time-capsule without a clear “now” or “then”. If this city was a virtual environment, it probably would not have a linear storyline but it would rather exist in one isolated moment where the user would get to explore the environment and make observations about its transience without actually witnessing the city’s inevitable doom.
Everyone creates one blog post as the development journal. Think of it as a diary for your project. It serves as a personal documentation and also a way for me to see what’s your contribution to the project.
You can have an analog journal, and add photos of the content in the post (highly recommended!).
The journal can include (but not limited to): – Sketches, doodles, and handwriting texts – Reflection on what worked and the difficulties – Share discoveries – Decision making process – User feedback – Any other thoughts and media
You should append the journal on top based on dates, for example:
4/2
I discovered an very interesting thing while I was doing ____
etcetera etcetera etcetera
3/24
Our group discussed about the ideas and found it was challenging to ____ so we decided to ____
etcetera etcetera etcetera
The city which stood out the most to me was the city of Fedora. Besides the name that reminded me of the hat, Fedora had such an interesting and abstract approach to the construction of cities and desire. It was stated that the city takes on many forms based on historical “what-ifs” and this reminded me of the alternate timeline concept in the Black Mirror episode “Bandersnatch”. In a way, the alternate timeline concept is something that I relate to every city I’ve lived in, and in the case of Abu Dhabi I was thinking of how the smallest histroical detail could have changed how the city is constructed otday (i.e. if they never discovered oil). The city wasn’t particularly described in vivid detail, but was explained in a more abstract way, as inhabitants of the city can visit the metal building with the crystal globes and “choose the city that corresponds to his desires”. This can easily translate into a virtual environment through narrative, RPG games, virtual reality experiences, etc. I would be very invested in creating a virtual environment based on the choices that users make, and have different scenarios ready depending on these choices.
Time plays an important role in the construction of Fedora as a city, and in many ways the city depends on the passage and abstraction of time. I’ve always been fascinated by how timelines and reality could be altered by the slightest changes. The storyteller conveys that the city is a gray metropolis, but mentions that due to different choices people made over time, and how due to these choices the Medusa pond dried up, and elephants are banished from the city.
“Looking into each globe, you see a blue city, the model of a different Fedora. These are the forms the city could have taken if, for one reason or another, it had not become what we today”.
The city that stood out to me the most was Eusapia. It is a city that has an identical city underground where all the corpses are carried down to continue their time after death. I found the idea of the existence of both a dead and alive city very intriguing, they say the underground is more advanced and that the living Eusapia had taken to copy the underground. There are also thoughts of the underground Eusapia being the original who built up the upper Eusapia so there is no longer a way of knowing who is dead and who is alive. The concept is such an interesting concept, I love the dualities of both and I think one can imagine being there and exploring the two different areas. I can’t help but think of this as an idea for a story in a virtual reality game where the player could play a human that passes away and finds themselves in the underground city, exploring the place and working on becoming one of the hooded brothers being able to transport between the two worlds meanwhile figuring out the mysteries and answering questions of the truth of this city.
The passage of time isn’t that obvious in the cities description but time does indeed play a role since the city revolves around the living and dead and humans take time to live their lives, pass away and move to the underground. The writer also speaks about the underground city innovating their city at a faster pace to the point that one can’t tell which is the living city and which is the one following along. The people’s work and innovation show the passage of time.
Other examples of living cities have more in terms of description to show the passage of time like Leonia. The city of Leonia is one that changes day by day, they expel goods every day and it expels them more and more every time they do so. As time passes by their surrounding boundaries are all just rubbish and landfills.
Out of all the cities that my mind wandered around, Despina is the most memorable and connected to me. I feel so connected to this city maybe because I understand this city the most. And I understand this city the most maybe because I feel so connected to this city.
In Invisible Cities, Calvino illustrates Despina as “a border city between two deserts,” the reason being that this city locates between two barrens: a desert and a sea (15). This description, however, gives rise to several questions: what differentiates this city from those deserts? What prevents this city from falling into or becoming a part of one of those barrens? And the most of important of all, what is so special about Despina to be able to withstand these two inhabitable lands? As unraveled in the text, Despina’s power to resist these two hostile geographies comes from its ability to fulfill, or at least to create an illusion that it has the ability to fulfill, travelers’ desires. For instance, a traveler in the desert sees the city as “a ship; he knows it is a city, but he thinks of it as a vessel that will take him away from the desert…” (14). On the other hand, a sailor on the sea thinks of this city as “a camel’s withers…; he knows it is a city, but he thinks of it as a camel from whose pack hang wineskins and bags of candied fruit…”(14). This shows that although these travelers see the city or think of the city differently, depending on which front they are from, they all see this city as a place that will be able to fulfill their desires, a place of salvation. At the end, it does not matter where they journey from because this city will be able to satisfy all their needs (or at least that what the city makes them believe). Thus, as long as travelers see the city this way, the city will be able to stand strong between these two deserts.
Despina’s ability to fulfill, or at least to deceive that it is able to fulfill, travelers’ desires is the reason why I associated myself closely with this city; it reminds me home. For me, home is, or at least seems to be, the most habitable place in the world. And home is, or at least seems to be, the place where all my needs and desires can be fulfilled. In addition, it does not matter which direction you see or enter your home from; your home will always make you feel home just like how Despina is able to make travelers hospitable. For these reasons, I am able to create a connection this Despina much easier than I am able to connect to other described cities in this book.
Invisible cities was a incredible read . There were a lot of cities that caught my interest with there weird and fantasy like structures but if would would pick one I would say Cities and Desire 1: city of Dorothea. The city highlights the importance of different perspectives. The city also tells of how a person’s own interests can wary their experiences as Marco being a merchant describes the “bergamot, sturgeon roe, and amethysts” that the city contains while a person interested in ruling will only see how it fits in the grand scheme of things. Dorothea tells about the different number of worlds out there to experience. Cities and the sky 1. The city of Tanara functions as a hub of symbolism where everything is depicted through signs and prints. The vendors’ wares show how symbols themselves aren’t valuable and don’t mean anything on their own. Instead, they connote the value or the meaning of something else.
These concepts of illusions and perspectives are very interesting and if these things are to be represented in a virtual environment there are a lot of possibilities to be played around with them. one of them could be of symbols or items that the player at first glance sees as useless or having on interaction. but as the player gets more information through a story the player can revisit the item or symbol and try to use it with new found knowledge in order to open or progress the story. another aspect can be the player revisiting the same location again and again but with different objectives in mind that could lead them to different places as they would see the location with a different perspective. or something related with reversing time where the player on his first playthrough would encounter and do the story as they please. but they have the options to go back a certain period in the game to change something in the current state of the game because they now have a different perspective or objective to accomplish in the game.
