Category: Part 2

Interactions

Project 2 Progress: Exploring My World of Despair

Navigation:

Walking will be the mean for users to navigate in my world. I gave up the ideas of flying or teleportations because, although they seem really cool, these abilities will take away the identity as a human explorer setting foot on this destructed place. In another world, flying and teleporting by hotspots could distract the users and prevent them from exploring every inch of the space in my world.

On the other hand, walking fits my world quite well. First, there are so many buildings with stairs, rooms, and floors that users can explore. As they walk, they can feel the up and down motion as they walk on the stairs or feel the smoothness of the floor of a room. Second, this world is full of mysteries and opened to users to explore by themselves. They are not directed by hotspots to teleport or fly to a different because this will defeat the purpose of exploration. Instead, the users will have the freedoms to go to different rooms and figure out what had happened there.

Still, I might incorporate one or two pairs of teleportation hotspots to surprise users when they enter a very dark room. Users might not be able to find those hotspots by the end of the exploration.

Interactions:

As users enter mysterious rooms, they will find various objects, ranging from books to chairs to toys. There are a few possible interactions that could happen between the users and those items:

  • when users touch an item, the item animates and tells a story of how it comes to be this way
  • some items can be picked up so users can use them later to unlock a door or provide light in the darkness for example

I think this usage of various household items might be good narrative of the forgotten. No living soul is there to tell the story so let the animated do the telling. In addition to storytelling, exploring and putting pieces of those items together are like solving puzzles. This would hopefully further engage users.

P2 :Sky Base (Progress)

Overview of the level
The entire Scene with all the particle effects and scripted events running. Most of the level has animations in it.
The Hotspot Model is a animated drone

A lot of progress has been made on the project. I have to make a few more additions in terms interactivity that we covered in the lab to complete the project.

Navigation:

There are two ways to navigate the space. one way is to physically move around in order to explore the environment. the second way is to use hotspots to move around the environment. There is a also a third way to move for one segment and that it by climbing the ladder.

I choose these for a couple of reasons. first, since it is a AR game it would be appropriate to have a mechanic of movement the ties the virtual world with the real world by physically moving. Second the movement mechanic is still a quirk and you would need a big space to comfortably explore the area so in order to facilitate exploration without the movement mechanic getting in the way of that so Hotspots were made and put at idea locations as a form of teleportation. the Hotspots also allow the player to look at the environment through idea positions that make the environment more special. the third is that the level should not feel flat it should have a form of 3d transversal in it. so for that the ladder mechanic was implemented. moreover the hotspots have also been put at different heights and the level is also made at 3 different heights to facilitates verticality of the level.

Interactions:

For interaction I wanted to do something that tied in with the concept of exploration. for that I have made these interactions.

  1. The player can pick up and throw canisters around the level. there will be a location where the player can place the canisters that they have collected from the environment.
  2. The player can fire the big three turrets from the control tower by touching the respective panel
  3. The player can rotate a small antenna on a device put on the landing platform. (WIP)
  4. The player can push one of three buttons on the landing pad to change the color of the signal flare(WIP).
  5. The player can click on random object to get a dialogue response out of the player.(WIP)

These Interactions will be made obvious through placement and maybe lighting hints. other than that it is the players job to explore and find these random interactions.

Project 2 Progress (Navigation)

  • Navigation

In the screen recording, you can see I have updated the layout by adding walls around the pinball “table” to create a feeling of being entrapped. In this iteration, the user can navigate the environment by walking and flying to the hotspots that provide different perspectives on the scene. However, I think my layout is too large for walking, you can’t really go far, unfortunately.

I actually wanted to give the user the ability to climb the wall at certain spots, however, it is not working as of now. I will make sure to figure it out as I continue working on the project/.

  • Interaction

Based on the feedback from our last class, I would like to give the user an ability to interact with the ball in the scene by playing with the flappers at the end of the board, like in the classic pinball game. For that I will have to figure out how to make the ball move around the board on its own and bounce from the obstacles. The interaction will be executed by tapping with your finger on the flappers.

P2 Idea

How my space will evolve:

For Project 2, I’m thinking of tweaking the concept and orientation of the world a little bit. The aesthetics will largely remain the same, I’m just thinking of focusing on one layer on the world, rather than trying to incorporate all three levels that were in my original concept for the project. This will help in making the project more focused, and will facilitate an easier interaction for the audience.

I am also considering making the environment a little darker, shed more focus on the castle in the middle and give the world more of a quest vibe. I mainly want to achieve this atmosphere through adding relevant sounds/music, as well as changing the lighting and ambience of the environment.

Navigations:

The user can move and interact with the environment through walking around, in addition to looking up to see the sky and clouds. If there is time, I would love to figure out movement through flying on a dragon, although I’m not entirely sure how to achieve that.

Interactions:

  • Interaction 1 – Lowering the lever of the castle gate, in order to open it. This interaction will be accompanied by creaking and groaning sounds as the lever is pulled and the castle gate opens; which will add the to the atmosphere of the environment. After lowering the gate, the player can enter the castle and explore the treasure, as well as collect the rarest teas/jewels there.
  • Interaction 2 – Collecting and brewing the different types of tea, and this simply acts as increasing the inventory and health points of the player.
  • Interaction 3 – Fighting the ogres stationed outisde the castle gates. Not sure how I can do this (maybe set a timer), but it would be interesting if the ogres and player can engage in a small swordfight before the palyer advances into the castle. This would be accompanied by the sounds of swords clanking and ogres groaning.

P2 Progress

Navigation

In the video, you can observe the three ways of navigation; walking, hotspot movement (implemented similar to the first project), as well as climbable pine trees.

I included tree climbing as a way for the player to elevate themselves and take a wider look and a new perspective on their surroundings. The hotspots serve as a way for people to move around if they aren’t in a large space.

Interaction

Based on the feedback of my idea presentation I chose to implement the creature interaction where the player would be petting and feeding these creatures around. I have two ideas for this:

  • 1. Petting foxes and feeding them while going around and attacking enemies. The enemy mechanic would be similar to the project one mechanic where you just need to tap and they die but I was thinking of adding sound effects or something like that.
  • 2. The player would essentially be purifying foxes by feeding their angry slime blob form; when the player feeds the red blob it would turn into a fox and you can pet it and go on purifying the rest.

I’m attempting to go for the second idea of purifying the creatures because it seems like a more thought out mechanic all linked to each other that makes sense to me.

I will first attempt to implement the petting mechanic then the creature to fox when feeding, I’m unsure how I’ll go about animating the transition though.

This interaction goes hand in hand with the story behind the forest, the human is the protector and they have to help the creatures of the forest that transformed into blob monsters trying to attack and consume all the mushroom magic.

I’m thinking about the berry button being a sort of cue that they can use on something. I thought of also adding a voice or text, in the beginning, telling the player to feed the monsters and purify them back to their original forms.

P 2 idea/ Sree

Transformation Idea:

The transformation for me is from taking the pictures/assets I have to making them a navigable experience in a rectangular room ( like a corridor/room in our dorm) I want it to be work more on the auditory experience and introduce Fog and discernability. The push would be for the images to become clearer as I approach closer, And for the sounds to lead the experience. In a way I want it to feel like these objects exist in the room and they are being unveiled.

Navigation of Space

While I might try out the navigation experience, I still want the navigation to be relative to the room. For this version, I’m thinking of using a very specific dimension room and making the app-specific to it which is a typical 4 bedroom dorm room. As of now this still looks like augmented in terms of being in the space.

Key Interaction

  1. Finding Source of Audio
  2. Uncovering Artwork
  3. Touching something to have it make a noice/spew objects

Sky Base

How my space will evolve:

I will be cutting out the castle from my first project and transform the rest of the space into a floating defense base recycling the turrets and platforms already made in P1. I plan to replace the castle with a landing pad. This would be done to increase the performance by having something less complex and would also for a more open ended space for exploration. The main feature of the sky base will be a command node where the player can click buttons to activate turrets or make them fire.

Navigations:

The command node will be accessed by a ladder. The player can move around by walking . There would be some drones hovering around that you can click as hotspots to get a better view. If there is time I might add a camera filter to the drones to make it look like you are looking through them.

Interactions Ideas

Click on objects to trigger dialogue or comments from the player about them. The command node buttons to make turrets do something special will also be interactions. The drones will also be a fun form of interaction.

Video/Images: I just came up with the idea so lots of modifications need to be done at the moment.

P2 Idea: Magic Forest in AR

  • How my space will evolve:

I’d like to add more storytelling aspects to it, I want the forest to feel more lived in with more things like the camping chairs I included in my project one. I was thinking about changing the story to the user wanting to make the forest feel more alive (Including more in the interaction ideas).

  • Navigation:

Walking normally with the phone in addition to being able to climb up all pine trees to see a wider view and a few teleportation hotspots for the sake of people with smaller spaces.

  • Interaction ideas:
  1. Enemies: Similar to project 1’s enemies but more thought out including the user’s hands in order to attack and having a more responsive experience rather than just clicking them with one tap.
  2. Planting: The user would be planting more mushrooms and plants in order to make the user help the forest grow and prosper.
  3. Populate the area with creatures/Take care of creatures: Adding various animals to make the forest feel alive. Or there would be creatures and the player would be able to feed them and pet them.
  • Images:
  • Screen recording:

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

Project 2 Idea: My World of Despair AR

My World of Despair AR vs My World of Despair VR

This AR world will allow users to navigate freely in the space provided. They will get a sense that they are walking, climbing, or falling as if they are in a real world. In the VR world however, users feel like they are entitled to go to those specific locations because they need to click on a hotspot to relocate.

Interaction Ideas

1. Free Navigation

Similar to my VR world, users will be placed in the middle of the ruined city to heighten their curiosity and sense of exploration. However, instead of jumping from one point to another, users now have the ability to walk to where their hearts desire. They could use their hands to open doors and pick up objects. To climb buildings, they could use their legs to push them up and hands to grab on to the buildings’ bricks.

Inside a building
2. Free Fall

My AR world will also include several teleportation hotspots. When users step on these hotspots, I imagine the following could happen:

  1. Users will be teleport toward the sky and then they will fall down toward the ground. As they are falling down, they can see all the buildings below them getting bigger and nearer. They can move their arms as if they are swimming to slow down their fall.
  2. Besides falling through space, users are also falling through time into the past. Thus, in addition to seeing buildings becoming bigger and nearer, they see those buildings reverting to their pre-destruction conditions. As they land on the ground, they will notice that their surrounding has changed dramatically.
Falling from the sky