My blog in VR – Unit1&2 – Page 6 – Just another myblog.arts site

Media Library For CVRPP – Progress Galleries

CVRPP Initial Hierarchy of core actions/interactions – unit 1

CVRPP – arrow to show interaction is needed

Re-Evaluation of AR game: Balloon Popper

Today I built the AR game and was playing with it on my phone.

Playing and re-playing my game made me reevaluate some aspects of the game. The most important part that I would change is the setup of the pause button – this is something that hadn’t occurred to me while creating the project – when I press ‘pause’ the timer stops, however, the player is still able to pop the balloons with the pin. This means that the pause button in the current version of the game is only a pause of the timer but not a pause of the game play in that sense.

Another quite important characteristic of the game that I believe needs further consideration – assuming that this is a real-life project that will be distributed in the AppStore – is the location of the pin in the game. Right now the balloons appear when the player first presses the Start button and the pin appears via the target image. This setup makes the game non UX friendly for the player since the user must hold the phone in one hand and hold the target image with the other to navigate the pin. In retrospect, I realize that this requires the player to have good left and right-hand coordination. If I were to re-do the game I would make it so that the pin follows the camera of the phone and the balloons appear via the target image. This way the player would need only one hand to play the game (the hand that holds the phone) and it would be easier to code a solution for the pause button since I would just code it so that when the pause button is pressed the active balloons that are yet to be popped get temporarily de-activated.

Emoji feedback in the enchanted forest

The fact that the player does not have a 2D map to have an idea of where they are headed might be confusing. The player might spend hours trying to figure out where the chest is to open it and they might be doing circles for hours. That is why I decided to give some sort of feedback to the player every time they are somewhat headed in the right direction – inspired by the game of hot and cold we used to play as kids.
I designed a 2D simple happy face emoji on illustrator and added it as an appearing/disappearing particle effect in the experience depending on the direction the player is teleporting to.

CVRPP – emojis that indicate player is on a good path to finding the treasure chest

3 types of audio in the enchanted forest

For the CVRPP I am adding 3 types of different audio in the experience.
The first one is a soundtrack that will play as soon as the experience begins. The soundtrack will be on loop throughout the experience and on lower volume so that it does not disturb the rest of the sounds playing on top of it when needed. The soundtrack is called “Tribe of the Lost Rainforest” by Brandon Fiechter.

The second type of audio is an explanatory voiceover of the symbols that exist in the experience. More specifically, my experience is a journey of engaging with the Queer community and understanding the historical connections of mythology and the queer community. This enchanted forest is full of objects that represent something in the Queer community or in queer mythology and that is why I decided to add explanatory narration on these symbols every time the player encounters a significant object/symbol.

The third type of audio is voiceover explanations of interactions. The experience has a variety of different spots where the player has to interact in some sort of way with the environment. Although the interactions are all pretty simple and based on the standard collision/trigger interaction (apart from teleportation) the experience does not allow for a learning curve because of its small duration nor does it include introductory tutorials on how to act when a certain type of object shows up. That is why I added short voiceovers every time the player needs to interact with the environment. The voiceovers are recorded in such a way where I do not provide answers on what to press and what to do exactly with the controllers, instead they are more “command like” audios. For example, I do not say “grab the heart with the controller, teleport close to the lion, touch the heart to the lion”, instead I say “feed the heart to the lion”. I believe that this type of voiceover gives feedback to the player that there is an interaction in place but it also challenges the player to figure it out by him/herself. -(be in the right place in the flow chart)

Character Fidelity

The story “Morty and the Magic Bananas” is based on the series Rick and Morty. Both the characters and the genre of the narrative are inspired by the Cartoon Network series.

More specifically, Rick and Morty is an American adult animated science fiction sitcom created by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon for Cartoon Network’s nighttime Adult Swim programming block. The series follows the misadventures of cynical mad scientist Rick Sanchez and his good-hearted but fretful grandson Morty Smith, who split their time between domestic life and interdimensional adventures. The show revolves around the adventures of the members of the Smith household, which consists of parents Jerry and Beth, their children Summer and Morty, and Beth’s father, Rick Sanchez, who lives with them as a guest. The adventures of Rick and Morty, however, take place across an infinite number of realities, with the characters traveling to other planets and dimensions through portals and Rick’s flying car.

The fact that my narrative is based on something already existing puts extra pressure on the writing of the screenplay since it must feel like another episode of the series and not something ‘foreign’. [From the dialogues to character catch phrases, to character development, to environmental design.]

That is why prior to actually writing the script I focused on familiarizing myself as much as possible with the series. I downloaded scripts of already aired episodes on the series, read them thoroughly, and marked existing patterns in the scripts.

Additionally, I conducted research on the characters and the series.

Rick is an eccentric and alcoholic mad scientist, who eschews many ordinary conventions such as school, marriage, love, and family. He frequently goes on adventures with his 14-year-old grandson, Morty, a kind-hearted but easily distressed boy, whose naïve but grounded moral compass plays counterpoint to Rick’s Machiavellian ego.

The general formula of Rick and Morty consists of the juxtaposition of two conflicting scenarios: an extremely selfish, alcoholic grandfather dragging his grandson along for interdimensional adventures, intercut with domestic family drama

Occasionally, characters will acknowledge an episode’s narrative or hint at the presence of a fourth wall, suggesting that they are aware of the fact that they are characters of a TV show.

Harmon (Rick and Morty co-creator) describes Rick as a self-interested anarchist, who doesn’t like being told what to do. He believes that the character’s life on a larger scale has caused him mental illness, and opines that “the knowledge that nothing matters—while accurate—gets you nowhere”.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_and_Morty

Rick and Morty. (2020, December 26). Retrieved December 06, 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_and_Morty

SCi-Fi experience Tropes

My story belongs to the Sci-Fi genre. This genre has many tropes, some of which I used in this story. Tropes are important because they categorize a story into a certain genre. In VR tropes are important not only because they help classify a story to a genre but also because they aid the VR designer to use these tropes in ways that are unique only to VR and therefore distinguish VR from other mediums e.g. film.

In Morty and the Magic Bananas, a clear Sci-Fi trope is the existence of benevolent aliens. Occasionally in Sci-fi stories aliens are friendly and even helpful. These beings usually give Earth beings a helping hand and/or a warning e.g. in Lilith’s Brood, aliens save humanity. In Morty and the Magic Bananas our alien is not only friendly but also helps Morty see things more clearly, matures Morty in a way, and metaphorically gives humanity the solution for immunity.

Wormholes are another sci-fi trope that is widely used in my story. Usually, wormholes work as a means of Sci-fi transportation. Similarly in my story wormholes (green portals) are not only used to travel literally from one location to the other fast but also signify a change of scene and a change of act. The player that passes through a portal not only changes location but also accomplishes/realizes a scene change and at some points an act change. This is an example in which a genre trope not only classifies my story in the sci-fi genre but also makes the story unique in VR since portal use in such a way is only possible in VR.

Faster-Than-Light-Travel is another Sci-fi trope that in my case goes hand in hand with the trope of using Wormholes. The green portals in my story not only signify a change of location and scene but also a fast forward in the case where Morty has been eating bananas for two weeks after he met with the friendly alien. This trope is one more example where VR can be differentiated from other mediums for the narration of this story since the player gets to actually travel faster than light.

Body Modifications: In the dream scene Rick is depicted as huge and frightening while Morty is tiny before having his eureka moment. When Morty has the change of status quo Morty is also depicted large. These body modifications in ACT2 (dream location) are possible in a sci-fi story and can be depicted easily in VR. These disproportionalities symbolize the status quo of Rick and Morty in Morty’s subconscious as well as how Morty views Rick (scared of him). The player of this VR experience gets to live these body disproportionalities in the dream scene so Morty’s subconscious is even clearer.

The concept of everything being a simulation or a dream. Similar to the matrix in my story the main act is basically a dream. However, our protagonist feels the dream like it is real. Our player in VR also has the chance to live the dream as real as our protagonist feels it.

Johnson, R. (2019, January 17). The 25 Greatest Science Fiction Tropes, Ranked. Retrieved December 03, 2020, from https://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/sci-fi-fantasy/the-25-greatest-science-fiction-tropes-ranked/

Chand, N. (2019, December 07). 5 Best Timeless Tropes In Sci-Fi Movies (& 5 That Need To Die). Retrieved December 10, 2020, from https://screenrant.com/tropes-sci-fi-movies-good-bad/

Why is my experience best depicted in VR? -REVISITED (post final crit feedback)

‘Morty and the Magic Bananas’ is a 360 immersive narrative based on the series Rick and Morty. It is very important to argue why this experience is best depicted in VR. A good way of doing that is by comparing it with other mediums in which it could be reproduced. Since it is just an immersive narrative with no gameplay it can only be compared with a tv/film episode/movie.

A first distinction of the experience as a 360 narrative is that the viewer can teleport themselves around each current scene and therefore get to explore the scene and become more familiar with it. This limited interaction is a fine line between having the viewer not paying attention to the actual narrative and paying too much attention in interacting with objects within the experience and not having interaction at all where the user is only a passive viewer.

This concept of limited interaction is important for this experience because a big part of it is a dream, the protagonist’s dream. I wanted the user to feel it as real as the protagonist feels it in the story (without needing to embody the protagonist to the user). This is something that cannot happen in a normal tv episode.

Another reason why this narrative works better in VR is that as a designer I am able to change the proportion and sizes of the scene not only to match the tone of the story but also to add symbolic meaning to the proportions and to add contrast between dream and reality. For example in the non-dream scenes, the sizes of Rick and Morty are realistic sizes. On the other hand in the first dream scene, Rick is depicted as super large and Morty tiny to emphasize how Morty perceives Rick subconsciously. Rick’s big size also symbolizes that he is a big antagonist in the story. In the final dream scene where Morty has become immune to the virus, Morty is depicted as quite large as well. That is to symbolize that he grew/matured and is now more psychologically stable and strong than he was before.

Apart from the size modifications and the concept of living in a dream, the narrative has additional Sci-fi tropes that help in differentiating this narrative in VR from an average tv video. Wormholes, for example, are widely used in the VR experience (the green portals) and are not only used to travel literally from one location to the other fast but also signify a change of scene and a change of act. Wormhole/portal use in such a way (functional use + part of the sci-fi story) is only possible in VR. Faster-Than-Light-Travel is another Sci-fi trope, closely linked with the concept of using wormholes, that has practical use in the experience. More specifically, the green portals in my story not only signify a change of location and scene but also a fast forward in the case where Morty has been eating bananas for two weeks after he met with the friendly alien.

If I were to change something to make it more VR suitable I would maybe do my character a Morty clone (like Rick and Morty in Virtual Rickality) and have the player feel “embodiment”.

Why is my experience best depicted through VR?

This is a very important question to answer not only for this experience but for every VR experience that I will hopefully design.

My story is comprised of three acts. The first one is located in Morty’s house, it is night time and the general mood is depression and frustration. The second act is located in Morty’s brain and it is a dream. The mood is adventurous with a touch of surrealism in the concept of time and the characters and the visuals. The final act is located in Morty’s house, it is day time and the mood is jolly – huge contrast with act1.

Act 2 – the Dream takes up most of the storytime even though dreams usually last a few seconds. The dream is very realistic, Morty thinks it is real, and therefore the depiction must be vivid. VR is a very good medium to depict dreams because the player is able to live the dream as vividly as the character dreaming of it. My story is written in 3rd person POV however the player only experiences the story from Morty’s point of view – just not through Morty’s eyes-. Therefore virtual reality allows the player to live the dream as vividly as Morty experiences it without needing the player to embody Morty.

VR also allows the change of scenes through portals and therefore allows the designer to make a big contrast between dreams and reality. The dreams are still able to feel “real” to the player without needing to be realistic.

VR also works very well with the concept of time in my story. The concept of portals in the experience allows the player to understand that there is not only a change of location but also a change in the speed of time. In other words, it makes the experience flexible in the flow of time. Portals allow for entering flashback scenes, they also allow for entering future scenes, they also allow for entering slow speed scenes in respect of time etc.

Portals also help in the concept of space. As mentioned previously space is a complicated concept in my story. We got space as in Morty’s house, space as in Morty’s subconscious/imagination, Space as in the actual locations in the dream, Space as in how the player understands the space around them, and more. Similar to the concept of time, portals make the concept of space flexible. The change of locations through portals is a transition that “makes sense” to use when the change of space/location is a big one. E.g. from Morty’s real room to Morty’s dream. Portals make the transition subtle.

Voiceover in CVRPP VR experience

One constructive feedback I had after the final critique was to add a voiceover in the experience for a couple of reasons.

As mentioned in a previous post the whole game is a journey of engagement and understanding of the Queer community. The whole environment design has objects and assets that are symbolic and it would be nice to have an explanation of the choice of adding them in the environment. For example the blue flowers that are next to the rainbow bridge are meant to depict blue Gladiolus that are symbolic in the Queer community. Another example is the use of the labrys for one of the interactions. Labrys is also an important symbol of the community.

This is one reason why adding an explanatory voiceover at specific locations would be a good addition.

Another reason of adding a voiceover would be to aid the player into understanding how they are supposed to interact with certain objects.

My experience has plenty of interactions that must be completed in a small amount of time. Usually, in games, there is an intro stage where the player learns how to play the game (mini intro tutorials). Since I cannot afford to do that for my experience, I could add a voiceover in each interaction that explains what the player should do.

PS: The voiceover idea of explaining symbols was inspired by the 360 immersive film “The Pantheon of Queer Mythology”, a virtual reality short film that narrates the stories of four deities representing some existing issues for Queer folk in Western cities today, issues that might go unnoticed or are overlooked by mainstream culture. More info at: https://www.thepantheonofqueermythology.com/

VR experience – Story of Gameplay

Loveland used to be an enchanted forest full of love and magic and rainbows. A bad witch called Society put a curse in the enchanted forest that left the forest almost drained from all magic.

A bit of magic is still left but in order to unlock all the magic the forest used to have, the secret chest must be opened.

The goal of the player is to find the closed chest and open it. As soon as the player opens the chest, the ancient rainbow magic is released and the forest will blossom again.

The above background story of the game has played a role in the design of the environment of the game. The forest which the player experiences until they reach the chest has a few clues that it is enchanted and Queer-themed however, it is somewhat lacking life. There are a few trees left in the forest. There is a pond that is almost drained, there are a couple of lions that need to be fed love in order to be appeased, and generally, there are a few queer-themed game objects but not plenty. The interactions of the player are also limited and the pathways as well. An aspect of the level design that goes hand in hand with the theme of a semi-dead enchanted queer forest called Loveland.

In other words, the whole experience of the player is a journey of understanding and engaging with the LGBTQIA+ community and in the end, become “illuminated” and eliminate Society’s (the witch) curse.