VR
Title
Name, Date
Traverse
Description
Dreams are subjective reflections of our experiences in our reality. We often dream of things that we experience in fact; sometimes they reveal something about our memories and feelings. But have you had dreams about utterly absurd and strange dreams that are made of meaningless objects and inexplicable experiences? We often refer to these dreams as dreamscapes, where we escape the totality of reality and traverse to a bizarre world that makes no sense, has no meaning and serves no purpose.
Storyline
To this end, there is no explicit storyline or plot in this experience. The object, image, or shifting colors does not make sense in reality. I only implemented the basic physical properties and a third-person camera. It is up to the audience entirely to recognize the feelings aroused from this experience. The moral of the project is about questioning the meaning of everything we do. Below are some questions that the audience could ask themselves after they travel back to the world that makes sense.
What if we are in a world where nothing makes sense to us?
Should the world adapt to our way of life or should we adjust to its “meaninglessness” or should everything stay the same?
Is it the meaning of something we do or the feelings that follow afterward define an experience?
Resources
This project is demanding to the rendering device because I applied several heavy shader graphs that model a dynamic and incessant world in it. Right now, I also used existing abstract objects downloaded from SketchFab to better fabricate an abstract and elusive world.
Development Plan
For the next step, I plan to add more interactivity and content in the scene, or maybe a contrasting scene that brings the audience back to reality for a complete dreamscape experience. Also, I want to play around with the third-person perspective and add more details to the protagonist and the third-person camera that follows it. I would also like to receive some feedback and improve the project based on them.
Mode of Presentation
A stationary square of size 3 meters by 3 meters. Ideally in a space that is quiet.
Traverse_midterm_demo.mov
Traverse
Motivation
This project is partially inspired by Sarah Brophy's project, where she built a 3D terrain just by looking at the wallpaper on Windows desktops. In the project, she replicated the breathtaking oceanfront view and mapped out the "imaginative" terrain behind the picture. She also set up a blue ball, a portal that immediately teleports the audience to a perilous and tempestuous sea on a dark and stormy night, which is meant to symbolize the other side of the scenic view.
Such an idea of the interaction of technology and nature is fascinating. I realized that people's lives nowadays are dominated by technology -- the screens we are facing every day become a window, from which we see everything that is happening in the world. Therefore, this project will wrangle with the concepts of digital information, nature, and the objects in between.
Description
The storyboard shows roughly how the scenes would be made up. Essentially, the screens are the portals connecting different scenes, where players could traverse the scene and possibly interact with elements with it. I plan to import already-made objects that fit each scene which the audience could interact with and carry them around into the next scene. Since most of the scenes will be taking place in nature, I will most likely add animals with animations into the scene. I am also considering adding prompts and dialogues into the scene, either through a monologue or texts displayed in the scene, to guide the audience to think about our "digital relationship" with nature. As the audience traverse through the scenes, they will be asked to choose one of the scenes to stay and portals will close.
I named the project Traverse because we are traversing through different scenes every day, although mostly an identical, sedentary, and monotonic scene. The chance, especially for urban dwellers, to experience nature is rare and fleeting. Most of the time, we see nature in images and videos on digital screens, when we would focus our attention for a few seconds and then move on to the next. Such a digital relationship with nature is very much like a traversal, hence the name Traverse. I hope that through this simulation, the audience, including me, could contemplate the "digital relationship" we have with nature, recall the few memories we had with it, and rethink our presence within it and interaction with the life and objects in nature.
Comments
Cole: I like the nature theme. I think there are a lot of assets you could utilize for this and would help you with what you are going for. The portal idea would be cool in VR!
Pauline: I like the project, and I can definitely see the points you took from Sarah Brophy! Super excited to see what you come up with. Are you planning to model all the scenes on your own, or to mainly use packages and prefabs? Also, what are you planning for the music?
Name: Shaikha Comment: i love how you dont just take inspiration from Sarah's talk, but also build on it using interesting thematically related elements like hidden portals and a number of different scenes. It reminds me of those puzzle games with a first-person controller, where you search and collect clues that then guide you to the end discovery. This would be such a great experience!
Meera: I love portals, i am sold on this idea.
Jannah: I love this idea and the concept behind it! I see the integration of Sarah brophy's work in your project, but it still has a personal touch to it! Good Luck!
Theyab : It really reminds me of portal 2 game from steam ! Really interested in seeing how the outcome will be
Rosanna: Wow, you have 4 scenes! I really look forward to the different landscapes and vibes in each scene!
Jiapei: I love the concept! The interaction and travel between scenes are also very intuitive. I wonder how these scenes will be built and what kinds of aesthetic you would like to approach. If you would like a realistic aesthetic, I think it will be very appealing if you could find some 360 photos or videos.