This was a 30-minute exercise where we were tasked with creating a never-ending VR story based on this picture:
• This man above is the main character • He is a scholar, one alone after being banished from his home • He comes to this rocky cliff every day to climb up to the peak • It is a magical mountain, one that stretches and changes every day • VR element of climbing up the cliffside, each time the trek up becoming more random and dangerous • In the beginning of each day, player can pack supplies to aid them on the climb. (climbing ropes to set checkpoints, food to recover energy, etc) • Once at the top, out from the clouds, emerges a dragon, one that has lived for thousands of years. The dragon is the one who changes the mountain and has lived secluded after living many lifetimes. • Each day, the scholar may ask him one question of his choosing (player given option of choosing different questions) and the dragon may ask one of the scholar (player can answer back accordingly) • Occasionally, the dragon may test the scholar’s knowledge, to make sure they have been paying attention to their talks. (player is tested on the knowledge the dragon has given. If they answer correctly, the dragon is happy, if incorrect, he may become upset) • Depending on how the dragon feels, certain actions/scenarios may take place, • After that, the dragon will fly the scholar back to the base of the mountain. • This experience repeats, with the dragon testing the scholar’s mind and body each time. • Each day, both learn more about one another. The scholar learns of the past, whilst the dragon learns of the present world. • In time, perhaps they may both become friends.
Annie really started this class off with a quote right out of some kind of science fiction piece. Oliver Grau’s definition of virtual reality as a contradiction of itself was interesting to think about and was a fun way to start off this class about what reality is.
Given the subject of my final essay piece, I will come back to the recordings of this session quite a lot I believe. The VRChat video we were shown was very interesting to listen to, as well as discussing the different levels of reality, and the concepts of hyperreality. The Harry Potter set we were shown even brought up fond memories, as I had visited said set prior with my significant other. The question ‘what is real?’ (besides bringing up memories of watching The Matrix) is a very interesting point to make when regarding the gaps between virtual reality and what we perceive to be the real reality.
I’ve stated in the past that I do not believe virtual reality should ever try to focus its attention on emulating the true reality as closely as possible. Rather, I believe the technology of VR is best suited for creating experiences BETTER than reality. To take us to places we could never see, to do things we could never do, as people we could never be. I think these things are what makes virtual reality such an amazing creation.
To begin this lesson, we discussed some subjects regarding the accuracy of sites such as Google, touching on the concepts of fake news and such. The Palestine issue – where it was removed from Google Maps – is definitely an example of when the conflicts of social injustice can impact technologies.
In regards to the subject Despoina broached such as search terms and points of truth on search engines, I personally do not believe these are large issues. Whilst the example of a body given during the presentation isn’t accurate to every person, it never could be. Search terms allow for much-needed points of truth that mimic ones found in other areas such as science and geography. As shown, these points of truth can be skewed such as with Palestine, however, this is primarily done through human efforts, and not the result of search terms. There are reasons these images, sites, etc are popular- and that is because the majority of people quite commonly hold them as standard, and as such, sites such as Google will continue to strive for practicality over perfection.
Moving on from that topic, we discussed the concept of cheating in video games and other mediums. During the class, I gave the example of ‘Screen Cheat’, a game entirely based around the concept of cheating to win. However, given the premise of the game is based on it, and the ideas are part of the rules set in the experience, can it actually be considered cheating? Beyond that, cheating in a competitive sense is strictly looked down upon, especially in gaming, so I do believe that whilst there may be room for cheating in games, there is definitely a time and a place for it, and it should not always be present.
The second two lectures Despoina gave us on the aesthetics of storytelling were on subjects I wasn’t too familiar with, most of the practices stemming from film techniques for movies and such.
Class 1 – Environment Design & Spatial Cinematography
Leading lines, while a concept I was not very familiar with before, now seem prominent in experiences I have seen in the past. Many games use leading lines as lighting to highlight objectives for the player in the environment, or simply to bring the player’s attention to one specific area. In VR, a great example of this can be seen in ‘Half-Life Alyx’.
The first environment present in Half-Life Alyx
The leading lines of the wiring and pipes urge the player to follow them to the focal point of the primary tower, with the said tower being central in the scene, a good example of smart blocking in the environment as well by the tower being centralized, giving an unreal and/or overwhelming feeling.
Beyond leading lines, as well as designing environments to suit certain camera angles, a lot of the other areas talked over are things I personally believe to be hard to implement in virtual reality. Certain shot choices can work as shown in the lecture with experiences such as ‘Battlescape VR’, but these shots put the player outside of the environment, with them acting as an observer. My personal thoughts on this trend are that they aren’t using VR to its full capability. The best thing about VR is experiencing new environments, being able to walk around them freely. The usage of specific camera angles can sadly hinder this, making the experience much more akin to a normal console-based video game, or movie, instead of an immersive experience. The fact of the matter is that if you give a player free reign to look and move around their environment, they may not always observe it exactly as you planned, and I think instead of fighting against this possibility, we should rise to meet it, making sure that no matter where the player observes, they are never truly ‘doing it wrong’.
Class 2 – Lights
Already, I have briefly discussed the usage of light in experiences, and how it can fully define an environment entirely through its usage. In our first year, we were given a bit of insight on how it may be used in different ways, but Despoina was kind enough to share some other techniques used in cinematography that can be transferred over to VR.
My first Maya-based project last year was to create my perfect holiday destination. Whilst doing this project, I made heavy usage of neon lights, for which I have a personal fondness. Under most connotations, nighttime is supposed to be the absence of light, used to portray commonly frightening experiences, especially in VR. However, I love using night scenes as an opportunity to include neon, with its vast range of light not only effective at defining an environment, but also as a way of expressing mood, with the ability to use different colors of neon linking back to the ideas of color theory. In summary, I have no doubt that neon will most likely become a staple to most of my projects due to its wide range of uses in regards to light.
So aesthetic storytelling is something I really enjoy, with a lot of the shows, games, and experience. I’m personally familiar with using some of the ideas shown in our first one or two initial classes. The first class focused more on the usage of shapes and props in storytelling., whilst the second was a deep dive on color theories.
Class 1 – Shapes and Props
To begin with shapes and props, we were given a task at the end of the class to analyze a VR experience of our choosing and its usage of shapes, as well as possible props. I chose this screenshot from a VR experience called ‘Into the Radius’ to analyze:
To begin, I analyzed the large spherical anomaly present in the game. From what I learned in the lecture, circles are predominatly used to represent things such as nature, surveillance, and endlessness. In the context of the experience, this fits the theory, with this spherical anomaly acting as one of the main catalyst for the game. Its always present simply as part of the environment, linking to the idea of it being endless whilst its circle shape possibly could also be used in an attempt to have the player come to consider it a part of nature.
Besides the anomaly, there are plenty of usages of other shapes in the environment, such as triangles used for the trees, possibly to symbolize their stability in the environment. Squares are used a lot in the more city-like areas of the view, linking to the idea of the square being a more ‘man-made’ shape.
Moving on to the usage of props in this scene, the primary prop is clearly the weapon the player character has equipped. This is clearly a practical prop to be used more than once, and the scope aimed at a humanoid target not only links to the spherical nature of the scope and its connotations with surveillance but also suits the background of the player character in the game, given the experience is based around entering a hostile zone and fighting off anomalies of different types whilst scavenging.
Given that I was able to analyze and identify ideas stated in our lecture in this experience, I believe I have a firm grasp on these aspects of aesthetic storytelling and how they can be implemented in VR.
Class 2 – Color Theory
This class was a deep dive into the usage of color in storytelling, which is one of my personal favorite concepts to use in any form of storytelling. We looked into a lot of different ways to use color, from different color schemes, tints, and the usage of black and white.
During the class, I quickly began to think of examples in gaming and other mediums where color usage was vital to storytelling. ‘Devil May Cry’ and ‘Team Fortress 2’ are two examples in gaming where contrast colors are used for storytelling, with the rival characters/factions of the games wearing opposite colors such as red and blue.
TF2 on the left, Devil May Cry on the right
Besides gaming however, the American anime ‘RWBY’ (for which I am personally fond of) has its entire character outlines defined by the usage of color, with each individual in the story being represented by a certain color, which can sometimes highlight their personalities (eg. Ruby Rose – represented by red is very energetic and passionate, in line with the ideas shown in the lecture). This is also a direct example of associative color usage.
Moving onto the concept of color schemes, I have some personal history in regards to understanding them, having created a few fictional characters with their own color schemes using a website called coolors, even using it to develop the color scheme I used for my 3D model in my virtual trajectories classes. During class, we analyzed how different color schemes can create different moods in a scene, such as analogous schemes being more calming, and monochromatic schemes being more theatrical in feel.
One of the most striking examples of tints used in storytelling I have experienced is from a game called ‘Soma’. The example links heavily to the storytelling of the piece, with the entire game up until the ending having a dark blueish tint, being set at the bottom of the ocean with little light. In the end, however, the area you enter is vibrant and brightly lit with yellow tints, showing the difference between both worlds.
Finally, black and white usage was discussed, the examples of ‘Limbo’ and ‘The Graveyard’ being discussed – both games I have personally played. Besides the idea of using black and white to visualize importance in the environment through objects, it can also visualize importance in other ways. Certain games such as ‘Uncharted’, have the screen turn to black and white hues the more the player is damaged, signifying the imminent danger to the player. Beyond its practical uses, I also believe black and white hues helps the use of light stand out much more than normal color palettes, as it is the only thing that gives the environment its features. Limbo is a very good example of this, as without light, the game would simply be a black screen.
After some time to overview our previous lessons, I’ve decided to try making some blog posts about my thoughts and feelings about each class and the materials associated with it.
To begin, we had a lecture about the usage of immersive technologies, such as VR and AR. This lecture primarily focused more on the usage of these softwares outside of the realm of interactive gaming experiences, with a diagram presenting all the areas these technologies had branched out into as a result of the pandemic, due to experiences such as VR being able to subvert restrictions commonly in place due to the pandemic.
I do think that perhaps when presented to the public, some of these technologies seem to discredit certain human factors regarding their experiences, in favor of practicality over perfection. One example of this I spotted primarily stemmed from the demonstration of the MyFinder application for those with visual impairments. While the application’s function to find, track, and document items in the surrounding is clearly effective, the app seemed to run the possibility of overstimulating the user with information, with the text to speech software running through multiple tracked items and properties in very quick succession. Of course, this is just my personal view, and as someone who is not personally visually impaired heavily, I cannot say whether my worries regarding the application are well founded.
Outside of the lecture itself, we were instructed to watch a video title ‘The Killing of Mark Duggan’ which followed the investigation of a shooting in London using virtual reality and augmented reality tech. I found the overall video fascinating, with the reconstruction of events of the incident being carefully recreated in VR to the highest degree of accuracy to ensure that the correct information was learned and given in courts. While watching this, another investigation involving the usage of virtual reality came to my mind, that of the crash of US Airways Flight 1549, more commonly known as ‘The Miracle of the Hudson’. While VR was not used as in-depth in this investigation as those used in the Mark Duggan case, flight simulations were an important piece of evidence during the case, being used to determine whether the pilots involved ultimately made the correct decision under the circumstances they found themselves in. Overall, I hope that immersive technology will become more common in the use of investigations, hopefully resulting in more accurate resolutions to each and every incident.
