VR

In this VR project, I tried to recreate my memories associated with East Asia. The scene is mainly inspired by those two elements: one is the Sumidagawa Fireworks Festival in Japan, the other is the ancient towns in China. A scene generated through memory doesn’t necessarily have to be genuine, thus I searched for reference, but didn’t completely stick on them. I tried to the scene like one generated from memory or dream, through the dark lighting, semi-underwater buildings and mysterious background sounds.

Also, being a VR user this semester, I noticed that for me and some others, it takes time and efforts to find places large enough to set boundaries and move freely. So I decided to create an experience with “low barrier”, which means that audience can sit still and enjoy the scene. Therefore, I used timelines and animations to generate movements to the boat, where the first person camera -- the audiences’ view -- sits. Basically, the boat, where the audiences sit, floats along the water path, and at the end of the path, where they are close to the firework, they can enjoy the firework show.

A list of reference:

Dreaming back to 2017

A few months before, I got the news saying that the annual Firework Festival in Japan, also known as Hanabi taikai, resumes. Due to the pandemic, the festival was forced to stop for three years. So as to my regular trips to Japan and lots of other places in the world.

2017 is a memorable year for me. In that year, my family and I traveled to Japan multiple times and we also attended the Firework Festival. In my VR project, I want to recreate my memory of that time, in specific scenes in the Firework Festival. Memory is personal, subjective and secret, so the scenes, their focuses and details will mostly rely on what I could remember and what was the most impressive to me. Memories are also positive. If you appreciate a memorable event so much, you tend to ignore those annoying tiny details over time and think of it as perfect and dream-like. So the world and the scenes that I create will likely to be more fantastic than reality, by adding elements to hint that it’s a memory or a dream.

I have had two scenes in mind. One is the scene on the sea, where firework takes place. It will be night, there are a few stars in the sky, water underneath, some mysterious lighting in the air. Players start in the midst of the firework show. They can see a boat in front of them, if possible, I would make them in the boat initially. On their right, they can see the firework happening, altering and creating impressive variations. On their left, it’s the shore, where audiences of the festival sit. There are markets and small stores serving refreshments for the audiences.

The other is the street scene, which shows in detail what those markets and stores in the first scene are like. This scene can appear when the players enter the trigger zone near the stores in the first scene. The markets feature foods and traditional activities like hanging goldfish and water balloons. There will, hopefully, be people walking, chatting and enjoying the festival.

Pauline: This looks like a super cool concept!! I looked through the videos and the festival looks awesome. I feel like it will be a really fresh and relaxing experience. Are you planning to make any of the places more interactive? What are you thinking for the music?

Cole: I think the idea of fireworks in VR could be very cool. Using the particle systems they can look pretty realistic and there are already a lot of assets for that which is nice for this project. The spacial audio of the explosions would be cool to experience.

meera: who doesn't like fireworks? this concepts is so fun and built on the concept of simple pleasures . this great!

Rosanna: Hi Coco! I really like your idea! I wonder how you will make the fireworks. Maybe try VFX?

Jannah: This seems like such a cool concept and I would imagine it as being really fun to make and design. I also like the backstory to it and i'm excited to see it come to life!

Theyab : Fireworks.. Now that's something really nice to see in VR !

Jiapei: I believe this will be a fantastic scene to experience in VR! I'm looking forward to getting to know how you will hint that this is a memory/dream and to see your final work!

Project Draft

https://xiaochen-yu.itch.io/midterm-draft