What is Re:live?
Re:live is a Virtual Reality experience designed by Taylor Sue, Steven Wong, Sujay Gaurav-Chand and I. Re:live is a project that aims to represent four main emotions happiness, fear, anger and sadness and explore these emotions through our own expression. To achieve this we approached our project with an emphasis on visual and aural stimulus directed towards users who are visually exposed to the low-poly art style environment providing and enthralling experience that engages them through the fully immersive Oculus Rift.
What is there to distinguish Re:live from other experiences?
Re:live differs from typical Virtual experiences as it does not focus on entertaining the users, but to apply emotional value and contextualize this through the embodiment of the project. A lot of relevant research is dedicated towards the basis of building virtual experiences as we look into visual design elements and auditory techniques that are used in composition to develop a peculiar atmosphere. The notion behind this is that we are taking a step back from the realm of game entertainment and a step towards psychological immersion.
How does Re:live approach this experience?
Our group for Re:live consists of four members each of which were allocated their own particular role they preferred or had expertise in. We collectively shared the responsibility for research of which we would analyse and integrate the knowledge that we found into the project itself. This was typically with relevance to areas of visual and aural design such as the colour scheme where we would cross-reference sources of information on the meanings behind colours and once verified as suitable, applied this to our work.
It was crucial to regulate the level of the storytelling side and mechanics driven based off what emotion we were working on. As of yet we have developed the map for sadness that was storytelling based and are progressing through an anger map of which we intend to be have a stronger sense of mechanics integration.
It was crucial to regulate the level of the storytelling side and mechanics driven based off what emotion we were working on. As of yet we have developed the map for sadness that was storytelling based and are progressing through an anger map of which we intend to be have a stronger sense of mechanics integration.
Process
It was clear that we needed to find an overall map theme for each level design to commence map development. Once we had decided this it was then viable to direct our focus towards the assets , followed by visual design and layout and then lastly mechanics if any alongside the auditory elements. Working as a team we were able to create an outcome that synthesized unity between each member role of Re:live for the particular map - Steven with the sound, Taylor with the level design and Sujay with mechanics and myself on asset creation.
As the weeks went by it was a group decision to cut down on our map focus to two core emotions as four was realistically out of reach taking into consideration the outcome quality within the time constraints. Although the Anger and Sadness map were removed from our focus there was still a reasonably large amount of time dedicated to them particularly in the fields of level design and asset design.
For each given map there was a differing methodological approach- sadness storytelling based phase of the experience where we were hoping to develop a sense of helplessness, lost, etc. Therefore we gave it a chilling and cold like approach with light colours but toned down and mountainous icy landscape with trees looming above to create a lonely, isolated, small and lonely perspective for viewers. The anger map was based around a volcanic setting with an attempted hostile edge to the scene. For this area we tried to integrate moderated anguish through mechanics that would make the viewer lose their composure and feel annoyed and angry themselves. Fear was aimed to engulf the user in a flurry of subtle hysteria at times but mostly with a focus on vulnerability of the unknown and natural ambiguity of the design of the map itself. For this we focused a lot on the visual elements that would work in composition with the gloominess of the lighting effects.
Via peer review we were able to track how effective our work was in practice and this resulted in the selection of primary maps- fear map and happiness map. These were two of the preferable selection of maps because they allowed us to show a very distinguishable contrast in atmosphere and design. This would also allow us to develop more progression and advancement of two than four- the workload too much given the time frame.
Please visit https://trello.com/b/yGMK4hnB/emotion-vr for more information on the process.
As the weeks went by it was a group decision to cut down on our map focus to two core emotions as four was realistically out of reach taking into consideration the outcome quality within the time constraints. Although the Anger and Sadness map were removed from our focus there was still a reasonably large amount of time dedicated to them particularly in the fields of level design and asset design.
For each given map there was a differing methodological approach- sadness storytelling based phase of the experience where we were hoping to develop a sense of helplessness, lost, etc. Therefore we gave it a chilling and cold like approach with light colours but toned down and mountainous icy landscape with trees looming above to create a lonely, isolated, small and lonely perspective for viewers. The anger map was based around a volcanic setting with an attempted hostile edge to the scene. For this area we tried to integrate moderated anguish through mechanics that would make the viewer lose their composure and feel annoyed and angry themselves. Fear was aimed to engulf the user in a flurry of subtle hysteria at times but mostly with a focus on vulnerability of the unknown and natural ambiguity of the design of the map itself. For this we focused a lot on the visual elements that would work in composition with the gloominess of the lighting effects.
Via peer review we were able to track how effective our work was in practice and this resulted in the selection of primary maps- fear map and happiness map. These were two of the preferable selection of maps because they allowed us to show a very distinguishable contrast in atmosphere and design. This would also allow us to develop more progression and advancement of two than four- the workload too much given the time frame.
Please visit https://trello.com/b/yGMK4hnB/emotion-vr for more information on the process.
Sadness Map
Anger Map
Happiness Map
Fear Map
After thoughts
Re:live has given me the opportunity to work alongside other members in a realistic team working environment. I personally felt I was compatible with everyone as I am typically looking to always with people rather than against. This project has also taught me to work under immense pressure, especially when things don't go all to plan and where I can step in to help other members. The primary example was when a group member was allocated to the happy map but the design had quite a large issue and I had to take on the responsibility for making all the assets in addition to basic plans of the map itself. I was pleased because I managed to achieve a relatively positive outcome at the cost of 36 hours work over 2 days, and although this was very tough, it was a challenge that taught me a lot and that motivation and the desire to succeed can push us through if we put our minds to it.
I think if we knew we would do this project from the very start, we would have had a perhaps enough time to make another map, however I feel the value of what I learnt from the discussions and articulating ideas was worth the wait. It is definitely not best to rush into things, and if possible stick to the plan and maintain consistency.
Overall project itself was a great experience as it was a huge step up for me personally since last year. It has allowed me to specify what areas of creative technologies I am interested in and will hopefully pursue my passion from here on wards- graphic design and 3D modelling. I am hoping to expand my skill set towards animation as well in the future as I feel this would be a useful skill in conjunction with 3D modelling. My plans for the future would be aiming towards where i'd like to reach, where I can work eventually at professional level from making my conceptualizing through drawn/digital art, to 3D modelling, followed by animation.
I think if we knew we would do this project from the very start, we would have had a perhaps enough time to make another map, however I feel the value of what I learnt from the discussions and articulating ideas was worth the wait. It is definitely not best to rush into things, and if possible stick to the plan and maintain consistency.
Overall project itself was a great experience as it was a huge step up for me personally since last year. It has allowed me to specify what areas of creative technologies I am interested in and will hopefully pursue my passion from here on wards- graphic design and 3D modelling. I am hoping to expand my skill set towards animation as well in the future as I feel this would be a useful skill in conjunction with 3D modelling. My plans for the future would be aiming towards where i'd like to reach, where I can work eventually at professional level from making my conceptualizing through drawn/digital art, to 3D modelling, followed by animation.