Spring 2023:
4/25:
Today Juan and I finalized the poster by adding the updated text after the edits and adding the QR codes that link to my portfolio page about this project and a YouTube gameplay video. We also dedicated space to showing and explaining the process behind the physical control panel since we did not have much of that in the earlier versions, and I also added logos of all the software used on the bottom of the poster. I also composited a short gameplay video in After Effects using the Open House videos that were not as blurry as others, but are still blurry so I hope we can get another chance to do some good documentation so we have material to put together a better video for when we submit this to the conference next year (https://2023.hci.international/studentdesign.html), but as Kyoung suggested we can always combine these videos with images and sound narrating the making process and decisions.
YouTube video: https://youtu.be/7vru5zf6xVs
4/19:
Made some more updates to the poster and tomorrow I will polish the main illustration – mainly make the interior colors darker and also might make the people more geometric rather than smooth shapes just so everything is cohesive. Tomorrow we will also start replacing this placeholder text with the text that Juan started writing last time and add the Open House photos in the white placeholder spots.
4/18:
Today we shared our idea for the poster design/plan to submit to a conference (student design competition) https://2023.hci.international/studentdesign.html
We got good feedback in terms of what to include in addition to things we already put in the initial sketch and suggestions on the visual style of what would help to communicate the feel of a submarine and not end up with visuals that are not communicating what we want. I already made some edits since then and here is the current in-progress version which is probably going to be iterated on too:
We checked the conference page and still couldn’t find the specific requirements for the poster design even under the ‘Posters’ page, but the requirements for a 5 – minute video are to talk about the project objectives, methods, and outcomes and our poster plan covers those so we will stick to the current plan for now but I will also do some research on the standard guidelines for a conference poster in general since this is my first time making one.
4/13:
Today I went through the videos taken during the Open House and while the framing in all is good, the camera apparently wasn’t focused well which was disappointing, so almost all the videos are blurry…I managed to extract a few pictures and Photoshop them the best I can, so I think we can use those pictures in the poster we want to make for some conferences we identified might be a good match to submit to. We made an initial sketch for the poster layout and size, so I think the pictures that I extracted will work because they will be relatively small on the poster so the resolution is probably not going to be that noticeable. I need to make a vector graphic based on the gameplay setup for the poster next week and start working on the overall poster based on the conference requirements.
4/7:
The Open House went really well and I’m happy with all the reactions to the Submarine game, everyone who played seemed to have had fun and the game was also pretty popular so we were kept busy! It was also interesting to see the differences in how people were interacting both with the game and with each other while they were playing, and I was happy to see that most seemed to have taken advantage of orienting themselves using both the map and in-level landmarks. It was also really fun to see little kids play it!
4/4:
Juan and I went to print the graphics in color and then pinned them to the board, which will primarily be for people who are not currently playing to look at if they are interested in how the game is played, while someone else is playing. There were also some challenges with getting the projection to work correctly but Juan fixed that by the end of class.
3/30:
Today I started making graphics for the gameplay instructions we plan to print out and pin to the board in the sim lab for the Open House – I made the instructions for both the periscope operator and the navigator, and the lighthouse/goal graphic:
3/28:
This week we focused on prioritizing the joystick issue we had during the demo and luckily it seemed to have been an easy fix since now the joystick is working for navigation while in VR! We also playtested both levels a few times to identify any additional improvements that can be done before the Open House and we realized that the movement is a little too fast so we will reduce that by two times, and we also had some other issues that were quick fixes for Thomas such as navigation axis needing to be flipped in Unreal to correspond to the joystick. We also made some plans for theming the part of the sim lab we will be showing in, such as adding an underwater projection over the play area and putting the level maps on a PowerPoint slide with a sonar gif next to it that Juan made:
3/23:
For the third project, I decided to keep working on the Cooperative Submarine Game primarily with Juan since Thomas will also be busy with Bird and Fish, but he will be helping us fix the issues we had during the project demo – mainly the joystick not working when paired with a VR headset, which needs to be fixed for the Open House in order for the full experience to be properly playable. I hope to get good documentation during the Open House of people playing it and then we can use that to include in the documentation materials we can hopefully submit to some interesting conferences. I also already made a page on my portfolio for this project with the basic description of both gameplay and making processes so I think we can use some of that as a starting point for the paper/abstract we may need to write about it: https://milagajic.com/submarinevr
3/20:
Today I realized that the lighting looks off because I don’t have light probes (makes sense lol), so I will definitely make sure to have that set up at the beginning of my thesis project. I didn’t want to risk things breaking before the presentation so I didn’t add them for now – I just added reflection probes which made things a bit better, but if we show it for the Open House I’ll add the light probes and bake everything to get the lighting in order. The build process also had some issues due to some JDKs missing from my computer but Jeremy helped me build it and I was able to play the whole experience without controllers or teleportation in the sim lab at ACCAD, so right now it can be played without needing to be connected with a cable, so the player can move more freely as well.
3/19:
All the major things are finished right now, tomorrow I will build the game directly to Quest so it can be experienced in a more open space in the sim lab without needing to be attached to the computer with the cable, although even with the cable I’ve been able to playtest it while walking in the area behind my computer at ACCAD. The issue I still didn’t figure out is just weird lighting – some light on objects like the trash bags is not at the right angle and I don’t know why this is, I think I probably didn’t set something right in the render settings at the beginning of the project, but then I also messed with all the quality settings and it would still look the same. The floor also looks quite flat when it comes to lighting, the objects that are on the floor kind of look like they are floating rather than on the floor cause there are no strong shadows. I tried to add post-processing to try and fix that with ambient occlusion but after I did it the lighting itself got very messed up so I removed post-processing to get everything how it used to be. Tomorrow I’ll see if Jeremy has any idea why the lighting looks off, although we already did try to troubleshoot this. I’m thinking it might be because I had to reduce the quality settings for Android to medium which is what Jeremy suggested, so I will ask what’s the benefit of that, especially thinking about my thesis project – if possible I would want it to be on the highest visual quality settings. Overall I’m really happy the mechanics work as intended, I learned a lot of things I will be able to apply to my thesis, and am aware of things I need to figure out before I start working on the project – like making sure the rendering and lighting settings are exactly what I want before I do more work.
3/9:
Today Jeremy helped me figure out the rest of the mechanics we were missing – like having to step on correct blocks in a specific order to open the door (right now the blue cube appears on the wall (1:10 in the screen recording) but I will replace that with the door opening). If a wrong step is taken the block turns red and after 2 seconds all the steps reset to the default state, and the player has to memorize which step was right and try and complete the path again in order to open the door.
The next step is to model and texture the toys/clues and place them so that they can act as landmarks that players can use to memorize which step was right/wrong. In the video below the blocks are close by just because in that way it was easier to test the mechanics in progress, but since then I spread them more across the room.
3/3:
We have the activation trigger mechanic working and now I’m trying to make a condition where an object appears (placeholder for door opening) after taking the right steps in the right order. I also need to make the walkable grid reset after the wrong step is taken – right now the blocks light up yellow vs red but they do not react to a particular order that we need. I think so far with my limited programming knowledge I managed to identify why what I’m doing is not working but I don’t know how to fix it, but I explained this to Jeremy and looks like he has done this type of mechanic before so he will help me with it this upcoming week, so hopefully it will be figured out in the next week. I also played around with lighting and fog in the scene, and modeled and textured a dumpster to put in the environment to put the grid clues in:
3/1:
This week I spent a lot of time troubleshooting some initial issues with getting the player to move in VR (collider kept staying static), also getting the game output to show up on Quest Pro in the first place, and then figuring out why the simple activation trigger script I have didn’t work at first. But with Jeremy’s help, we were able to fix those issues and we now have a 3D prototype where the blocks on the 4×4 grid change color when stepped on (only the correct ones change the color currently – and we need to change the color since red is meant for the ‘wrong path’, but that’s an easy fix). This is a big part of our whole mechanic so I’m glad that’s figured out, but now I will have to deal with setting conditions so that the door opens only when you step on the grid in the specific order. Tomorrow I will set up the activation triggers on all the blocks and differentiate the color changes between the ‘correct’ and ‘incorrect’ steps. I will also import the environment shell Juan’s been working on, and then I will look into setting the conditions for the door opening using the GameMachine script I used in ACCAD 6002 for a similar mechanic, so I will approach this similarly how I did in one of those 3D games I worked on and then see what might need to be modified for VR.
This is a screen recording from Unity game view taken while I am wearing a Quest Pro headset and stepping on the floor grid in VR:
2/21:
Today I think we got good clarification and agreement on the goals, mechanics, and the theme/narrative we want to do. We were listing possible interior spaces that would contain a grid and one of them was a factory room. We decided to embrace the ‘dumpster fire’ moment and make it a toy factory but situate our experience in the toy factory’s trash room. The architecture will be industrial with worn-out materials to represent the factory setting and there will be large dumpsters that we will stuff with different discarded or damaged toys that we will use as clues to our game of finding the right path on the grid. We will close off the sides of the grid in order to make the grid the only way to get from point A to point B. We were brainstorming the clues and we want to use a consistent clue that has a top-down layout of the grid map (showing the X on the next right step), but this clue will appear on different toys in the environment and in order to notice the clue the player needs to scan the environment and pay attention to what has changed about it if they made the right step. We can give additional hints by putting posters on the wall that show the toys they should be looking out for in the environment. I have a plan for how we will achieve this with the mechanics since I have done similar ‘if’ conditions in one of my games in 6002. We will still use the same activation trigger mechanic but we need to make the steps function in the specific order, which I think we can do by treating the step colliders as ‘collectibles’. Now that we have a theme/goal we will set up a Unity file and first work on setting up all the mechanics to work and whitebox the scene, and then make and texture assets in the second portion of the project. In order to scope the project properly, our grid will be 3×3 and we will focus on programming 5 steps the players need to take in a specific order to get to the other side/exit. This will be helpful for my thesis because of the use of the activation trigger mechanic to build a narrative, as well as getting some practice with the Quest Pro. I have a starting package that Jeremy shared with me last semester so that will be helpful to start a Unity file!
Current asset list:
environment: large dumpsters, large trash bins, plastic trash bags, grid geometry, floors, walls, pipes, ceiling, lighting, factory room machinery, doors, pillars
toys: large stuffed animals, bike, play kitchen + parts, dollhouse + parts, puzzle boxes or board games, inflatable toys, small slide/swing, robot toys, building blocks, toy cars, train toy, balls, beach toys like buckets and small shovels
…inspiration for dumpster fire: https://www.google.com/search?q=roblox+dumpster+child&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwijzfuS5af9AhUlkYkEHQz9C2IQ_AUoA3oECAEQBQ&biw=1536&bih=722&dpr=1.25
2/19:
Juan and I are thinking of making a short VR puzzle/escape game based on a grid layout. We want to set up the grid to only have one right path towards the exit but the clues are revealed in the surrounding environment by stepping onto the grid and the right path is lit up only when stepped on. Maybe there are very short flashes of the right path at certain times like in memory games? The first clue would probably be already present somewhere in the room but the next clue would appear in the environment when the player steps on the first right step/square. This will allow us to experiment with activation trigger mechanics and hiding/revealing things which I will need in my thesis, and we can also use the Meta Quest Pro. We can also incorporate gestures as a way to trigger a clue in the environment. Currently some ideas for the theme are a circus tent, an upside-down room, a grid game show, a chess set, a train car, or a plane cabin, but we still haven’t picked the theme yet.
2/12:
The nightmare has turned into a fever dream now that after 3 hours I finally managed to solve our lighting issues – it is not 100% where it used to be with the previous rendering but I’d say it’s definitely good enough to call it done, especially because I don’t want to run into another rendering/lighting problem this late and just yesterday it was a disaster. I had to take some screenshots from the preview mode because the game is currently set up only for VR. The paper maps are both done (although I think it’s best to show them digitally in front of the player at the controls). Juan’s control panel looks great and I’m excited to see everything put together!
2/11:
Modeling and texturing for the environment are done and everything is in the levels. But….Thomas changed the rendering settings for the project so now there are lighting issues that I don’t even know how to explain. The bathtub level appears all yellow both in lit mode and with lighting preview only – it doesn’t appear yellow in the unlit mode so it’s definitely a lighting issue and it seems to be using the same processes as in Unreal 4.27 except I don’t see an option to bake lighting like in the previous version. At this point, I tried changing all the light settings and it doesn’t get rid of the weird yellow/green tone so I’m sure a big chunk of the problem is that the lighting needs to be rebuilt which used to be extremely easy in the previous version but now they migrated that option somewhere in the program and I can’t find an answer online about where it is. So I’m going to keep looking tonight and go back to ACCAD tomorrow to try and figure it out again. It’s a shame because the environment looked really good and then this happened on Friday. The sub main level is not as bad – it doesn’t have the weird yellow/green tone, but the lighting is still quite different. Today I did manage to tweak it as much as I could with post-processing and adjusting the directional light and temperature, so my main concern now is the bathtub level. I also hope to manage to get the ocean color where it used to be before that sad Friday- right now it’s too blue.
I also modeled and inserted the underwater obstacles in the main level and updated the 2D map – which I will design tomorrow:
2/8:
Today I arranged the houses and rocks according to the paper map and Thomas will add the underwater obstacles. I also modeled some new houses to put in tomorrow on the sides where the level is blocked off so it’s not all just rocks. Tomorrow I will be texturing a lot of things – mainly in the bathroom. I also need to decide what weird objects to put in the 4 houses as navigation landmarks and import them tomorrow.
2/4:
Changed the skybox, duplicated some buildings and added new assets in both levels (still need to model quite a few things but I think everything is on track):
2/3:
The environment is about 70% done and the goal is to have it done by Thursday, and then from Thursday iterate on it and help out with other tasks related to playtesting and setting up. This weekend I will work on finishing the bathroom and adding some items that suggest that the bathroom is a part of the lighthouse (want it to be a blend between modern + old according to the narrative). In the submarine level, I need to create objects to populate the houses, but I also plan to duplicate some common ones, and then we need a harbor, a ship obstacle, and mountains to close off the ocean level. All the houses and obstacles in both levels also need to be arranged according to our paper map that we will finalize by next week too.
1/30:
Narrative development brainstorming:
Intro level in the bathtub: you are dreaming that you are driving a submarine and it’s your first time doing it so you are just learning, and you are confused about why you seem to be in the bathtub, but at least it feels like a controlled environment.
Submarine level: You wake up from this dream, but you realize you are driving an actual submarine in the ocean, and even though you seem to know what you are doing, you are not sure why are you in this submarine but you know you have to get to the lighthouse which can provide guidance. On the way, you are exploring a weird neighborhood in the middle of the ocean, full of weird modern houses – all looking pretty new. You can see the lighthouse from everywhere because of its height and light, and as you get closer you realize that it is much older looking than the houses and the rest of the infrastructure. You remember the lighthouse being a central part of your life but you don’t remember much more. Maybe you think that you live in one of these houses but you can’t remember which one and think you’ll find answers at the lighthouse. By arriving at the lighthouse and completing the game (fade to black after ‘parking’), you realize that you are a lightkeeper who couldn’t recognize what this environment used to be before everything was built and before your world changed.
1/28:
Today I textured some of the important assets like the lighthouse and started modeling some other details for the bathroom and the houses. This upcoming week I will start reuploading and arranging models in Unreal since we are switching to a new file now that Thomas got the VR to work on his end. Before next class I will continue working on the environment and my goal is to have the things that are completed so far in our Unreal file by the end of Thursday, I will use the project I initially started as a reference for layout:
1/23:
I’ve been making models for both levels and putting them into the new Unreal file. I am working on the bathroom scene more right now since that one is pretty straightforward when it comes to layout and obstacles as players will not be able to go outside the bathtub and everything outside of the bathtub is not interactive. The bathroom has a very modern design but I want to make a mess on the counter will all kinds of products and I want to include some weird items such as a toaster in the bathtub as one of the obstacles. I also put in some assets in the submarine level just to test out what I had in mind when it comes to the environment design. I like how the weird houses look/feel in the play mode so I’m going to keep working on those assets and the lighthouse, and will keep putting them in the level according to the rough sketch, and then we can tweak the layout based on playtesting. Tomorrow the goal is to set up the Unreal file to be shared between all 3 of us like before so that Thomas can put the mechanic in the new file I’m working on.
1/20:
I have been working on the assets for both the submarine and the bathroom levels. We discovered that for whatever reason our level is showing up as one of the earlier versions even though we had 3 backups, but most of the mechanics Thomas did is preserved externally so we decided to start a new project file since the old one got messed up more by deleting some auto-save data. Thomas has the movement mechanic and the compass orientation which can be imported again to our new level and I will start importing old files like water and new assets as they are completed in the new Unreal file.
1/18:
Last class we discussed more of the narrative we want to build for the game and we like that we can introduce some comical/fantastical elements even though the visuals are going to be realistic. For the submarine-level environment, my vision is to make it a small remote residential community of modern brutalist houses with large windows that the player at the periscope can look through and be encouraged to take different routes and explore in addition to getting to the goal. Making the environment a neighborhood of unique houses in the middle of the ocean adds to the level of weirdness we will have by putting the intro level in a bathtub. This introduces more variety of objects we can have compared to the snowy rocks we mostly had in the first version – we can use the houses as landmarks, as well as make a harbor, boats, piers, and bridges…I already have a working Maya file but keep forgetting to take a screenshot (will tomorrow!) Tomorrow we’d like to have a more detailed controller schematic and main level plan based on the sketch I’ve been doing so far:
1/14:
We met yesterday to discuss what we want to achieve with the Submarine VR project this time. I shared my idea of improving the Submarine level as the first level and then having the second level be based on the same mechanic and collaborative play but play as a Roomba vacuum going through a house and cleaning, where one person sees where they are going in the environment while the other player has a map of the whole house and has to work with the other player to figure out where exactly they are and then navigate together In this case, the focus wouldn’t be on the submarine theme but on the actual mechanic and collaborative VR, with two different themed levels. We all liked this idea but ultimately for right now we decided to focus on the Submarine theme, but we decided to reimagine the current level as a tutorial/intro level since it is pretty short and straightforward – the plan right now is to have the tutorial be set in a bathtub and then once the players have an idea of how to navigate and play, they move onto the actual level which will be the submarine, and we plan to make the level more complex in terms of flow and also make it bigger. I also will work on introducing more objects to the environment such as buildings and a harbor. The goal is still to get to the lighthouse, but the new lighthouse will be more intentionally placed and designed so that once the players make it to the end they can enter a submarine hangar located at the bottom of the lighthouse since in our last version last year nothing really happened once the players made it to the end and the lighthouse was not easily approachable. For right now our priority is to plan the new paper map and flowchart for the game level, and I started planning and listing some assets that we will need, both for the bathtub tutorial and the submarine level.
Next week our plan is to have a map of the layout for the levels and a schematic of how the new controllers will work. I will duplicate the past level and use it to do a whitebox of the bathroom environment and do a bathtub whitebox for the intro level. Then we will do the same for the actual submarine level once we agree on the rough layout plan.
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I finalized this project by adding some outdoor birds singing audio in the environment which I think really fit in (see video), and I embraced the 4 main style inspirations which I will talk about in my presentation, and those were nature, galleries, theatre, and the in-store experience. This process helped me learn more about the interesting relationship between fashion and immersive technologies, here is an interesting article I found about it the other day: https://amt-lab.org/blog/2022/4/how-do-immersive-experiences-play-a-role-in-fashion-labels-today
I started making these tree decals in Unreal today to use as an illusion for shadows and I have been placing them on some walls in the scene instead of adding more lights to get more real shadows. I’m quite happy with the results as I think the decals do look like shadows that I wanted more of in the environment.
Here are some updates I’ve done this week and today. After trying to add terrain meshes instead of the floor and not liking the results, I tried adding one of the shirts I scanned flat and using that as ground and I liked that. I experimented with textures and the gravel/grass textured materials didn’t look right as they seemed too flat so I added this transparent material while trying out different things and I thought it was interesting. I’m not sure I’ll keep it but it reminded me of plastic wraps and I started thinking of the concept of the Anthropocene and realized it is very relevant for this project as I’m trying to blend indoor and outdoor environments for the purpose of displaying human-made items whose artificial materials, as well as waste, are often found in and blended with our natural environment. I thought this was an interesting and relevant intersection of creating an environment with natural elements with human impact permanently left in it. I will research more into the Anthropocene which I think can be really useful for influencing the next step in the visual direction of this project. Since I liked using the scanned cloth mesh as a part of the floor I am going to expand on that and also try replacing the walls with similar mesh so everything is more organic. I also really like the shadows of the trees and branches and I want to adjust the lighting so that there are more of them on the walls.
This weekend I started scanning some items but half of them had shiny textures and the scanner didn’t work with them which is what I was afraid of, but I will find something else I want to put in that can be scanned. I am also still experimenting with the indoor/outdoor environment blend and I have tried some variations of putting the terrain as floor and did not really like it, but I still want to do this I just need to find a way that works/looks good to me. So far I think I am going to keep the “clouds” from the first screenshot, and I also like the tree branches, so I will see what it looks like when there’s more of them too. I think since I like the branches the next step is to try and place the clothing meshes hanging from the branches since I think that would be interesting, and see if it works well or not. Tomorrow in class I will do more research on cloth simulation in Unreal, and also start working on the labels.
4/2/22
For project 3, I decided to use Unreal to make an interactive display environment for the clothing I have been creating and 3D scanning for my GRA work. I plan to scan and create some more clothes and materials in Marvelous Designer for this purpose and I went today to ACCAD to start doing that but the laptop I use for scanning was not in its usual locker so I will ask Vita about it on Monday. Today I did some experimentation and brainstorming in Unreal about what kind of environment I could make for the digital display for virtual clothing I have been working on. I started working on an interior environment but I want to mix it up with outdoor elements since I think that would be interesting. I also want to take advantage of the new knowledge of VR in Unreal I learned while working on the Submarine game, and make this into a VR experience in the end as well. This week, I will work on creating more clothes, and think of interesting display objects, as well as the overall environment.
3/29/22
This week I have been working on the survey questions for my and Juan’s AR game for the playtest day on Friday and also thinking of project 3. For the past few weeks, I’ve been thinking of joining the virtual production project and I got more interested after hearing Vita’s presentation last week. Since I love working with 3D environments I’d like to experiment with modeling different spaces for this purpose and along with learning new things about mocap and Unreal workflows, maybe I can also contribute with what I already know about VR spaces, Unreal lighting, and virtual characters. My goal for the time we have would be to make an environment or work collaboratively on one and have a short clip of a mocap character performing or just existing in it. It would be great to translate this onto the virtual production screens but I get that still might take some time, I think even if it’s computer screen-based only for now it can still be a great learning opportunity for new things in Unreal and 3D spaces.
3/28/22
Some latest pictures that we included in our presentation last week. Currently, I am thinking of questions to ask the players during the playtest day if we decide to show this project, and also thinking of the best way to show it since originally it is obviously based on the outdoor locations but since the playtest day is going to be at ACCAD we could probably print some pictures of the markers from these locations and the AR app would still work, and in that case we would specify that it is meant to be experienced outside and focus on the questions about interactions, UI, player motivation, and understanding the experience. I am also thinking of possible ideas of project 3, and I am interested in working with virtual production after hearing Vita’s presentation last week, so I’ve been thinking of things I that could be useful for my interests in this space.
3/21/22
We continued incorporating the narrative into the assets by texturing the book pages with the message form the librarian and the subsequent clues for what to do next in the quest ( the users/players get the clues after picking up an artefact for each location). In the library case, the artefact that they need to pickup is the photo attached to the book page, and the hint to do that is given in the first page. The photo artefact reveals what the next AR marker they need to find is, and it also gives the clues on the page that is revealed underneath it when the photo has been picked up.
Right now we are polishing the UI system by implementing updated UI icons and making the remainder of the mechanics work, like activating items to show in the backpack inventory after they are picked up, improving the game start screen, testing to make sure the clues make sense and are understandable but also interesting at the same time.
3/14/22
Updated testing with more detail and textures
Next, I need to make pages for the lectern in Photoshop and test it when updated, also need to make the working map button on other markers as well (should be the easy part), and refine the 2D map of the whole experience I did today. Most edits need to be made at the Mirror Lake picnic marker with the virtual plaque we are using on top of the real one, the position and scale are almost there, and it needs to be textured too.
3/13/22
We tested our updated version a few times and right now we have to fix the shadows and lighting, as well as make a more functional UI that our narrative relies on. Right now the map placeholder UI is working where the users will be able to pull up the map during any part of the experience. All the markers are working well, only the one in the library is a little shaky probably due to reflections and the lectern being so scaled up to be life-size.
The lectern has been updated with more assets and textures since these screenshots were taken but the library was closed today to test it so I will post more pictures this week. The marker that works the best is the wall sign outside the library which we are using as an introduction to our experience, I might also add some wall lamps to see how it looks. I think most of the shadow problems on the sign are because the text elements are still casting shadows so I will try turning them off tomorrow. I will also work on the inventory system tomorrow.
2/25/2022 project 2 progress
Today Juan and I refined more of the planned interactions. We want to incorporate more gamification elements into the project based on the critique feedback and we have improved some of our ideas. With the front sign in the library where the experience starts, we will have the users be able to collect an interactive map placed on the virtual shelf next to the sign, and the map is going to enable them to orientate themselves wherever they are and know how many markers there are in total and where they can find them. We are planning to mimic a game inventory system where users can pick up an object in each augmented location as a part of their learning quest. Today I modeled some assets like the front sign for the library, the shelf, worked more on the lectern for the library, textured some assets, so this weekend I am planning to go back to some of our locations and test these initial assets and their placement. Juan modeled a map holder and found a pdf document online that explains the meanings of the floor text plates in the library that we will work with so that will be very helpful.
2/18/2022
For project 2 Juan and I are thinking of the concept of converging cultures through historical lenses. Since we both have acquired a stronger interest in AR over the past few months, we brainstormed a few different Columbus-specific AR ideas but right now we are thinking of making an outdoor-based AR experience at the Mirror Lake due to its significance in the history of OSU. We went and collected different pictures we thought might be used as AR markers and have uploaded them to Vuforia and got good rating on almost all of them. Today we brainstormed different ways we can enhance these locations and through what kind of content. All of the ideas are going to be referencing something of cultural significance related to the location and we will be adding content we discovered through our research that is not already shown there. In addition to Mirror Lake, we are also thinking of utilizing the library and using AR installations to interpret the convergence of cultures that happens at the library that people might not even be aware of. Right now, we are thinking of more specific ties to our experience and how to tie that important factor into the whole project to make it more personal.
2/10/22
2/8/22
Had to spend a few more hours today getting the VR experience to work on the headset but it is finally working on the Sim Lab 2 computer, also fixing some minor bugs and adding last visual details currently…
2/7/2022
Today I talked to Jeremy and realized that the problem with Unreal not recognizing the Oculus headset is most likely due to the error that I keep getting when I try to accept the Android SDK license agreement, since the computer admin needs to do it. I spent a few hours trying to fix it with Felicity and we finally figured it out, it needed installing all kinds of new SDKs and another problem was that the project needed to be moved from the Y drive to the desktop. Thomas and I polished the maze layout and we changed the position of obstacles in the level accordingly, and did a few playtests that went pretty fun. We designated the lighthouse as the goal of the maze and we edited the level so that the lighthouse is visible from every part of the map. The person operating the controls will also have a printed out top-down map of the entire maze to look at while communicating with the periscope operator. We also made plans for the next steps and testing up until Friday. Other than polishing the above-water layout, we also added some underwater rocks that act as obstacles and that are going to create further challenges and need for communication between all players.
2/5/2022
Today I spent a few hours at ACCAD trying to launch our Unreal project to Oculus headset and I was able to follow the steps on the online documentation but after I did everything the same the Oculus Quest 2 I was using would not be recognized by Unreal. I managed to look at the file from VR which was fun but that is not what we need, so I will keep researching what the issue is with it not showing up after doing everything to set up the Oculus plugin inside Unreal. If I don’t figure it out before Monday, I will ask Jeremy to see if he might have some ideas, since right now I’m thinking I might be missing something with Android SDK since everything else is set up according to the official Unreal documentation.
2/2/2022, Progress project 1 –
Today we successfully created a shared server for our Unreal project so that all of us can work together in one file and see what everyone else is doing in real time. It has been pretty fun because we can see each other’s little icons moving around and see the changes they are making, and it is very helpful as well for the process. We transferred the mechanics that Thomas is working on in the file with the assets that Megan and I are currently doing. We also set up a plan for next steps for tomorrow and Friday, refining the layout and polishing mechanics, and eventually we will be setting up our Unreal scene with Oculus VR headset this Friday and test the collaborative play model we are envisioning.
1/31/2022, Project 1 progress + defined idea
After presenting our idea to the class, we met to refine it and set more of a clear direction for the rules and interactions, as well as the theme. We decided to center our physical/digital game around the submarine context and theme, where a player is using a fixed VR headset that functions as a submarine periscope, from which they can look into the outside world. Their task is to guide the other player who is navigating the submarine using a mouse and keyboard (without a monitor) by telling them the obstacles they see and where to go in order to avoid them. Likewise, the navigator must work with the observer in order to learn how to navigate in a way most efficient for them to learn about the obstacles before it’s too late. We are incorporating the concept of a maze in the design of our outdoor ocean environment that the players have to work together to navigate through, so the physical aspect is translated into the setup of the game and the way players must collaborate, whereas the maze part is transferred into the layout of the virtual world they are dealing with.
Following our direction, we divided tasks for everyone for the upcoming week and I started the Unreal project our environment with the water mesh and materials, and right now the environment consists of placeholder obstacle assets, that we are currently working on, as well as working on setting up the Unreal project for Oculus headset experience. This weekend Megan and I have been working on modeling and texturing some of the assets that will replace the placeholders, while Thomas is researching more of the mechanical aspects and the best motion and flow of navigation appropriate for our experience.
1/26/2022, Progress on project 1
Our team went through a lot of ideas in the process of settling on a direction that covers our common interests. We initially met to discuss ideas that everyone had come up with on their own and identified areas (conceptual and technical) that were intersecting. We realized everyone was interested to go towards game design and interactive environments and everyone was interested in learning more about Unreal Engine.
We spent some time debating between the two sketched ideas and thought we were going to go with the idea of recreating one of the outdoor spaces at OSU campus with photogrammetry, and using it as a digital exhibition space for projects that people from various departments were willing to share. However, after starting to make a paper prototype of this idea we realized that it had certain limitations, and we have generated new ideas in the meantime through the prototyping process, and the new (final) idea merged the two we already had in a way.
We are currently working on making a physical escape room, interactive experience with physical assets, that depend on the clues in the virtual space that is directly related to this setting and is projected on the wall/curtain in the play area. This is a multi-player experience and it involves solving puzzles in both worlds simultaneously, as the puzzles presented in the real play area are dependent on the answers embedded into the virtual environment that the players can explore as well. I started a rough 3D prototype in Maya that we are going to modify and iterate on tomorrow in class with more specific interaction and puzzle plans.
Since we all either have different levels of experience/want to learn more about Unreal, we are going to use Unreal for creating the virtual environment that is a part of this experience. Currently, I have been doing research on escape room design tricks and methods.
1/21/2022, Initial paper prototype,
