October 2021 – Cal Thorndyke VR

Mind the Gap – Script First Draft and Unity Assets/Environment

UNITY DEVELOPMENTS

This module is more focused on the script and storyboard but we also need to create a unity build environment of our experience. I have already found some train carriage options for my experience but I then started by looking on the Unity Asset Store and turbo squid to see what assets I could find which will be useful for my experience. I began by trying out some of the different train models that I had found on turbo squid and seeing how they look and felt in the Unity environment as shown in the screenshots below.

First Puzzle Assets

I knew that for my first puzzle I wanted the user to be tested on their personality by having different objects around them to choose from each representing a different type of person. For this idea i had chosen these options:

Option 01: Wallet – This object represents the player choosing wealth or greed

3d leather wallet https://static.turbosquid.com/Preview/2015/04/16__12_14_36/LeatherWallet3dmodel00.jpg17719be8-3a21-4535-a16d-8385c4c4335cOriginal.jpg

Option 2: Watch – This object represents the player choosing time

watch citizen 3d model https://static.turbosquid.com/Preview/000241/400/BD/watch-citizen-3d-model_D.jpg

Option 03: Book – This object represents the player choosing knowledge

https://static.turbosquid.com/Preview/000321/013/ZS/_0.jpg

Setting and Lighting

The entirety of this experience takes place on the London underground or a train subway and so the whole environment will always be in a dark train tube. To simulate the train moving through the underground I thought it would work very well if the whole sky box and environment was pitch black with only the lights inside the carriage on display and also a light that will pass by the train. The light can be on a repeated animation of continuously passing the trains windows on both sides to simulate the look of the train moving and passing the different lights in the tunnel.

SCRIPT DEVELOPMENTS – FIRST DRAFT

Over the passed week i have made further developments with my script where I feel I have a first draft ready for review. I discussed my current story progress with my tutors who gave me very useful feedback that perhaps I have made the story too subtle and perhaps the player could use some more guidance and more answers to this situation to elevate what they need to do and why they are playing this experience in Virtual reality rather than through a traditional gaming experience. It was also suggested to me that my puzzles perhaps needs more meaning, purpose and driving force for the whole experience. This feedback was extremely useful and really helped me to further develop my idea over the passed week.

Rethinking the narrative

One of the first elements i decided to change in my script was the narrative giver which is of course the train announcer. I initially planned for the train announcer to be kept in the traditional voice you would find on the London underground but I felt that there could be a much more fun way to convey the story. I decided to change the voice so that the actually spirit/entity is talking directly to the player and mysteriously takes over the voice to add mystery and tension for the player.

I wanted the spirit to be fun and in a way taunt the player to try and get them to be faster and rush through the experience. I wanted to make this character somewhat sarcastic and showing a sense of boredom urging the player to finish the tasks as quick as possible to prove themselves while also entertaining the spirit. In the script i have also decided to add a narrative for the player as well so they will embody a character which will talk back to the train announcer showing tension, un-ease and frustration with the person that is testing them trying to figure out what is happening. I hope that this will indicate and add a sense of urgency for the player during the duration of the experience.

Rethinking the puzzles

After receiving feedback on my idea I knew that i needed to add more meaning or narrative behind each of the puzzles and so for this reason i have based all of them around a structure while adding one more additional puzzle to the mix.

The whole experience is based around a spirit/entity testing the player for his own enjoyment and to see how much the player wants to live and so i thought it would be fun to add a ‘meaning’ or ‘purpose’ behind each one.

A Test of Hearts – This first test will remain the same in which the player will need to choose an object that represents their ‘heart’ except I have added an additional object so their will be a ‘Book’, ‘Watch’, ‘Wallet’ and ‘Book’ to have a wide range.

A Test of Wits – This will be the button sequence puzzle in which the players wits or intelligence will be tested and they will need to choose the correct order of strongest to weakest of four different chess pieces shown on buttons around the carriage.

A Test of Strength – This is a new puzzle in which the player will need to move multiple objects out the way of the entrance to the next section and this will act as a simple test of strength and willingness to progress to the next area.

A Test of Speed – This will be the pulling lever sequence in which the player will have a short amount of time to pull down all of the hand rails that are in the last section of the carriage to represent the players test of speed to get off the train.

I thought these all come together very well to show that the spirit is taunting and literally testing the player while they are completing each of the tasks which hopefully over time conveys the story of what is happening to player over the duration of the short experience.

Stutter – Interactivity and developing the environment

Over the passed week I began to look more into writing the scripts in unity for this project and what exactly i would need to achieve this type of experience. So to start working on this i decided to strip back the environment to the basics of justt having the words around the player and the objects in which they will snap to.

Levels of Difficulty

To create much more of a game element to this experience and to add more of a ‘fun’ factor rather than having the whole experience be just about how overwhelming a stutter can be on a persons mind I decided to think of the concept of different difficulty levels within the experience:

Level 01: Novice Difficulty – Create a 3 word setence
Level 02: Easy Difficulty – Create a 4 word setence
Level 03: Medium Difficulty – Create a 6 word setence
Level 04: Hard Difficulty – Create a 8 word setence
Level 05: Very Hard Difficulty – Create a 10 word setence

I felt that this would not only get the user use to the experience while not throwing them straight away into the deep end but this could also be a way to show different levels of stuttering in different types of conversations. This will create a much more ranged and interesting environment while also given the player something to aim for and do over the course of the experience.

Movement Animations

One of the first steps was to have the words actually float around the player in the environment which we were taught the basics of animation in Unity during this weeks classes. To test this out I decided to have multiple words to mess around with in the environment by using the starting word I made in Illustrator ‘Thankyou’.

Each word was parented with an empty in the centre of the environment that i named ‘Pivot’. This empty object contained an animation which would loop the word around the player in 360 degrees to have a continuous motion of moving around the player and the environment. This animation was then added to the other words and I decided to change around the movement and the starting position for all of these words and its interesting to see how this can be quite overwhelming or confusing in a virtual reality environment. After testing all of the different speeds i decided on how fast and the frequency of words that I wanted for the start of the experience to not overwhelm the player straight away and get them used to this environment.

Starting to Script in Unity

The next step after creating the initial animations was to try and find a way for the words to snap in place when the correct word is chosen and placed. I initially wanted the words that the player grabbed to snap in place on the ‘correct answer box’ when the object entered the collider but i struggled to find a way of doing this simply. I was then shown a different way of acheiving this by having a the correct answer hidden infront of the box and when the correct word is grabbed and placed, that word will dissapear and the hidden word would appear which would ‘simulate’ a snap in place function.

This was much harder to do than i originally thought however because I had some problems with the XR interaction tool hands. For a long time I was able to achieve the effect of moving the word into the trigger collider and having the hidden word appear but the word that was in hand would not dissapear! This was an error due to the object being held in the players hand so even when the console would say that the object was destroyed it would make a copy in the players hand for some reason. However over time we were able to resolve this issue so that the object would destroy and dissapear when then correct word was placed into that area.

I was very happy to eventually get this function working and each correct answer and correct word will need theyre own scripts to achieve this. However the next step is going to be finding a way to have the words that are floating around which arent correct to either snap back in place if the user lets go or have the animation reset or have a ‘fail’ option in some way.

Environment Setting and Assets

After achieving one of the base requirements for my experience I wanted to start thinking about how the environment of a ‘stutterers’ mind could look. Like i had previously said I wanted the environment to be very typographic in nature while it is also taking place in the mind and so my first thoughts is a world made of words and book pages.

Trees i think would also work well in this environment especially if they were made from words or book pages because this can represent a branching mind showing different paths and ways you can manipulate and control words in the mind. This is my own interpretation anyway of the mind of a stutterer which i feel will make a visually interesting experience for the user.

I started to look into multiple assets in the unity store and turbosquid for trees and forrest environments to try and simulate this effect which i need to continue researching to find different assets and options to create the environment i have envisioned in my head (literally).

Environment Atmosphere and Lighting

There were two options I had for the atmosphere of this environment to either keep it very ‘sepia tone’ and have the book pages fully on show with black text and white environments. However the other option would be to keep the environment very black and dark to have the words highlights and strongly on show. This would also help i think with the effect of being inside a dark mind and not being able to see the end of the void.

After trying different lighting options including having the players under a spot light and having the words shown over a dark background I think this is definately the best way to go for this experience.

Mind the Gap – Initial Script Development and VR Storyboarding

INITIAL SCRIPT WRITING

Now that I had my idea ready I was ready to start writing the story and script for the full experience. I started by looking at different options that I could look into for the puzzles/tasks in the experience. Of course i need to remember to keep this short experience simple and short and so I cant have the puzzles too complex or difficulty to understand so i started with these puzzle options:

Puzzle 01 – Grab and Place object

For the first puzzle the user will need to pick between three different objects that represent their personality depending on their choice. When they have grabbed one of these objects they will need to place the object onto a panel next to the door to the next carriage which will confirm their choice while also opening the door to the next section.

Puzzle 02 – Button Sequence

The button sequence puzzle will involve the player having to press different buttons around the carriage in a certain sequence in order to open the next section of the carriage to progress. My idea for this is again based on the users personality of having to choose in order which seasons of the year they prefer from their favorite to their least favorite. (Choice between Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter)

Puzzle 03 – Pull Levers

The final puzzle will be for the player to pull down different hand rails or levers around the last section of the carriage in a certain sequence. The answer to this sequence could be shown as a poster or a visual queue somewhere around the carriage so the player will need to be observant of their surroundings.

Train announcer

I want the train announcer to be the main driving force for the full narrative and so I felt it would be interesting if the spirit entity that has put the player into this situation users the voice of the London Underground to guide the player through the experience. So the player will hear instructions of what to do in the same tone and voice of the London underground announcer with of course some subtle story and mysterious undertones so that over time the story will develop and make more sense to the player leading to them hopefully being curious and having their own interpretation of what happened to them and why.

STORY-BOARDING

After coming up with my initial idea for the Designer Immersive Experience project I started to look into different Unity assets that i could use to design and create this experience. Looking through the unity asset store i found a train carriage model which i felt would work very well which was quite detailed in its design and was also a good length to be separated for the different puzzles for the experience.

Below is my initial level design layout for the experience where the user will start in the first train carriage with with multiple interactive objects around them which they can use to trigger the pressure pad next to the first exit. The next train carriage will be divided into two sections so the first will be a button sequence puzzle while the next will be a lever pull sequence puzzle. After completing these tasks the player will be able to get to the drivers cabin and meet the antagonist of the whole story.

During this weeks sessions we also had our first lectures on storyboarding for virtual reality and we were encouraged to try creating storyboards in a VR software such as tiltbrush, Quill, Microsoft Maquette etc.

These are some of my initial sketches and drawings that i created using Google Tiltbrush which i did initially find to be quite difficult to use due to my lack of experience using VR drawing software. I feel that this is something that I am going to need a lot more practice on to try and create a storyboard that isnt just visually appealing but also shows the story that i want to convey.

After trying to draw the full train model i started to isolate some of the storyboard drawings into individual scenes and the images above show the lever pull sequence of my experience. I did feel again that these drawings were not the best and i would need to rethink and practice how i would show these scenes in this storyboarding format. So i feel that the next steps for the DIE project will be to look at VR drawing tutorials and look at different storyboards for both video games, Films and VR experiences to better convey my story.

Stutter – Starting Development

After creating my initial idea for this VR environment and discussing the idea with my Tutors i was really excited to begin developing the concept in Unity. I also felt that for now calling the project ‘Stutter’ will be a good starting point based on the concept for this VR environment piece.

The Gameplay

Over the passed week i started to think about how i could create this experience and i decided to keep the interaction fairly straightforward so that the words will float around the user and when they grab the word they can place the word onto a given area to then snap in place and create a full sentence over time.

Importance of Audio

Stuttering is of course a very audible and sound based impediment and so I think that this is going to need to be a major part of this experience. Personally i find that when i want to say a certain sentence and i find myself unable to while stuttering, I can hear myself in my head trying so hard to say the sentence because you know what you want to say but your mouth simply cant get it out. I think that this was also shown brilliantly in the 2015 short film ‘Stutterer’ by Benjamin Cleary in which the main character is shown struggling with speaking but you can hear his internal monologue explaining what he wants to say and how strongly he wants to.

I think that this was done very well and this is something that I would like to do with the audio for my Virtual reality experience. This means that when the user is playing perhaps over time they will hear an internal monologue of the sentence that they need to create but the longer they take (similar to talking in real life) the more the sentences in the user head will overlap and the pressure will be built up to make the sentence in a ‘socially acceptable’ amount of time.

Creating the Environment

I know that for this environment I wanted to keep the entire experience to be very typographic and of course based on reading, hearing and language and so i started to think about how the user will put words together infront of them. After looking through the Unity asset store I found a model for a table which reminded me personally of a typographers table that i felt would suit this experience very well.

Adding Interactivity

I started by downloading and importing the Unity XR interaction tool which is extremely useful due to the preinstalled assets and features it has included for Virtual Reality projects. I then imported the typographers table and placed a few blocks to represent the area that the player will try to place and create words.

To start testing the concept using Illustrator I created the word ‘Thankyou’ as a PNG that could added into the build as a Sprite. Each word has a box collider which the user can then grab and move around to try and create sentences. The idea for this environment will be for the user to grab one of the floating words and place it accordingly on the correct sentence block so if the sentence is only three words, then they will need to create that sentence on the table infront of them over that given them etc.

What to do next?

I feel that I have this project concept and idea in a good place to continue the development but i will need to look to start writing Unity scripts to fully achieve this idea and concept which I will research into and of course continue the weekly Unity classes in the meantime.

VR Experience – Initial Ideas and Development

For the creative portfolio module i saw an oppurtunity to create something that was more personal to me and the chance to create something abstract demonstrating my interpretation. I have had a speech impediment called a ‘Stutter’ or ‘Stammer’ since i was able to speak which not many people in the world are fully aware of, fully understand what is happening in our heads and why we sound like this which can lead to a misunderstanding and misinterpretation on how to talk to someone with a noticeable stutter.

My VR Experience Concept/Idea

I want to create my interpretaion of the mind of a stutter where a player can physically step inside the mind of someone with this speech impediment. This will allow the user to see how difficult it can be for us to process words in a ‘socially acceptable’ way and the amount of time in can take in different given situations or intense moments of communication.

The experience will take place inside the mind of a ‘stutterer’ in which they will see words floating around them and the objective of the experience is to attempt to grab these words to make a sentence that the mind is trying to say. A key part of this experience is going to be audio driven because i personally find that my mind will continually be repeating and fighting itself in an attempt to say a sentence which just isnt coming out and so i felt this would be an interesting way for others to experience this. So the idea would be that over time the user would hear the sentence they are trying to make on repeat which will start to get faster, overlap and start being more and more overwhelming as time has gone by without the sentence being completed.

Why Do I want to make this in Virtual Reality?

Virtual reality literally gives you the ability to embody a character or be apart of an environment and i think that this concept will be a great way for someone to step inside my interpretation of a ‘stutterer’s’ mind. The experience would allow the user to take on a physical challenge on themselves to create simple sentences while hearing the minds thoughts in the process. I hope that an experience of this calibur will give the user an insight or understanding of the speech impediment while of course not definitevely demonstrating a stutter due to this being my personal interpretation and experience.

Moodboard

Tutorial Feedback

In “INPUT DATE” session i discussed with my tutors the concept for the experience and how i could go about creating this in virtual reality. My initial thoughts simply involved the user attempting to create words physically to demonstrate how it can be difficult in the mind of a stutterer. I initially had the idea so that the player would either grab the different words in the environment or perhaps the player could look and gaze at the different words that are around them as a means of selection which would give the ability to a much more varied and spread out selection of words and phrases in the given environment. However my tutor very greatfully showed me a way in which this experience concept could be toned down to be achieveable in the given time available to create the project.

Next Steps

The next step after discussing with my tutors this initial idea is to start creating the experience in unity and further refining what i will need to create for the gameplay

Immersive Storytelling – Initial Ideas and Concepts

The Design immersive experience unit focuses on designing/creating a narrative driven experience primarily focusing on the story, script and storyboard for an experience of up to five minutes long.

Starting Point

For my initial starting point of creating a narrative driven experience that could be told in a short time frame, I began by concepting ideas through an environemnt. I have personally always found trains and subways to be very interesting and isolated places where sometimes you can feel seperated from the world during your journey or commute so I thought that this would be an interesting starting point for a virtual environement. A train can be used to create a linear experience by progressing up or down a train and finding different areas, objects or characters throughout different carriages and locations.

I began to note down different ideas for a virtual reality experience taking place on a train an i started to develop an idea of almost a supernatural experience on the London Underground (which i of course know very well living in London). I also always love video games which try to marry the story and the mechanics together as one which I then began thinking about the idea of an escape room taking place on the London underground where the player will need to complete different tasks on each train carriage to escape from the experience.

To then add a more supernatural or fun element to this experience i thought it would be interesting if the player started on the train as normal seeing other NPC’s around them but suddenly the lights would cut to black and when they turn back on everyone has dissapeared. The voice announcer of the train could then tell them to complete certain tasks within the train in order to escape which adds a level of mystery and urgency to the situation that the player has been placed in.

This idea could also be developed further to have different environmental changes in each carriage so you could start in a london underground train carriage but the next could be based on an old steam train, modern bullet train and so many more possibilities. The environment outside of the window could also change over time to transfer from an underground subway to an outdoor environment showing different weather and biomes.

Initial Idea feedback

After coming up with these initial ideas i discussed with my tutor how i could develop this concept further. We discussed that the experience idea might be too long for a short VR experience and could be further simplified by having multiple puzzles or tasks on fewer train carriages rather than one task per carriage. He also suggested to keep the train carriages more grounded and only have minor environmently changes rather than having major visual overhauls in each section of the puzzle.

This feedback was extremely useful and I look forward to developing this project further although my initial idea focused primarily on the gameplay, world and mechanics and I still need to further develop a narrative or story that perfectly ties all of these elements together.