VRDD
VRDD Basic Info
Goal of project
The goal of the project is to strengthen the participant’s appreciation and love for our planet and the lush diversity of Earth’s nature. Additionally, we hope that this will also compel participants to take action against climate change. What differentiates this project from others is that we are taking concepts grounded in reality (climate change, extinction, destruction of the environment, the need for a home) and placing them in a sci-fi setting. By doing so, we hope that it makes these typically somber topics more approachable, and allow us to give the experience a hopeful undertone beneath all the doom and gloom. Additionally, VR’s ability to communicate a sense of space will greatly help us create a sense of scale and loneliness as participants explore through the alien ruins.
Theme(s) of project
The themes of the project are the preservation of the planet and appreciation for one’s home. The experience is set in a sci-fi future universe where wormhole technology has been developed, allowing the participant to travel to goldilocks planets. Through the journey, they will uncover the ruins of alien civilizations and learn from the mistakes that led to their extinction. By learning how these civilizations ended, the participant will learn that there is no running from our current climate crisis. Instead, the issue must be addressed directly, as it is not likely to be an issue that can be outrun, and there is likely not another home to escape to.
Visual style of project
Visual Style: Low-poly
We decided to use a low-poly style for our experience as we believe it will help in adding to the amount of imaginative immersion. Since we are creating a fantasy world with its own logic and lore, we believe that using stylized visuals will help transport participants from the real world into the virtual fantasy world. From our experience, using low-poly assets will also make it easier to maintain aesthetic consistency when sourcing assets from multiple developers. Additionally, it makes it easier to 3D model in the case we need to create our own assets, as realistic 3D models are typically more complex and time consuming to produce.
Introduction
Premise: Set in the far future, where Earth as a planet has become eroded and has become inhabitable- the Space research agency called Khora led a project to create an Astro Train that could locate “Goldilock Planets'. They enlisted the help of cadets referred to as Astroconductors to board the AstroTrain “Hestia” and tasked them with finding a new home that humans could relocate to.
Objective: Explore the Goldilock planet worlds, find out what happened to it and use it on the quest back to home
Core Interaction: Environmental Storytelling , interaction with the environment directly to find out the story behind each goldilocks planet’s reasoning for its demise
Narrative/Story
The beginning of the experience is set in a distant future, at this point in time the people of the future believe that earth can no longer be saved and therefore have decided to commence a mission to find other Goldilock planets to inhabit.
The train’s name is Hestia, referring to the Greek goddess of home. It symbolizes finding where “home” is.
The astroconductor is equipped with a navigation system that is also linked to the train called “Gaia” and “Gaia” is an AI that will narrate some of the findings when areas are scanned. Each planet has its own unique narrative that the user will be able to view. The first planet known as Helos (Swamp), is a planet that once had a civilization of frog like creatures who were advanced intelligent beings that wanted to create luxurious life for themselves, but with it came a price of overconsumption and by using the resources to the brim, they caused environmental degradation until they could no longer fix it. This would be seen in the environment, covered with garbage and remains- however in a last effort to preserve what they once had, a greenhouse could be seen standing by itself with some greens growing inside.Outside there will be a pool of water that has small tadpoles swimming around. This world is to show that despite everything renewal is possible, life will go on and return through preservation.
The next planet is known as Okeanos ( Ocean), it is a planet that is mostly covered by the ocean but due to the acidification of the ocean, parts of it have become a sand desert and within them, bones of whale-like creatures could be seen. Now covered by sulfur waters, there is a cave underground that still has clean water and there resides the last of the alien species that once roamed this land. The whale will tell its tales of how its kin traveled in search of other places to call home as well and some have in fact became the earth whales. It told of how they ran out of time.
The end of the journey will bring the astroconductor back to earth but it is not earth of the future, but of the past or rather the present that we live in now.
Why Your Project is Innovative
(a) Innovation
It’s a different take on showing a narrative that will lead to preservation and appreciation for the earth we have now rather than trying to find a different home. We wish to incorporate the fact that even if other civilizations(Aliens) out there were different from us in terms of looks and advancement, we all have something in common.
(b) Relevance & meaningfulness
It’s relevant due to the current climate crisis, a lot of news create a very gloom and doom aspect on the planet’s future, but we want to create an experience that instead provides a hopeful outlook despite the direness of the situation through connecting with other civilizations tales and tales of renewal that can happen as long as the drive to preserve is there.
(c) Selling points
Our selling point is that it’s a whimsical take on the current climate crisis by taking them to space, it allows for the potential users to travel and “find” other alien civilizations that tells cautionary tales that relates back to the ongoing issues we have back on earth. It is meant to make the users feel more like this earth can still be saved.