When thinking of ideas for the Interactive project, the most challenging aspect for me is the gamification. As a game student, it was vital for me to think of an idea that involved a game engine, or some kind of gamification aspect. Luckily, my lecturer spent a lesson with us game students to help us come up with ideas. I came up with the idea of an ARG, Alternate Reality Game, where the players must solve ciphers and use their phones, where they are encouraged to explore the whole building, looking for clues and QR codes.

When I pitched this idea to my group, it was received relatively well, but over the course of a few sessions and discussions, we eventually developed the idea into a two-person experience focused on puzzle solving. This experience would have one player in a VR headset, exploring a ‘whodunnit’ style crime scene, and a player outside the VR with a briefcase full of documents and further puzzles. Overall, I am happy with this development, and was excited to work on a VR game: my last project was meant to be a VR project, but I never got around to adapting it, so I was excited to try it this time.

Overall, my group is very good at brainstorming, and getting work done, but it is becoming increasingly apparent – especially as I type this, during the Easter break – that my group definitely has an issue with communication. Due to this factor, I often ended up having to make a lot of design choices by myself. I chose ‘dark academia’ for the VR space and planned to have it based on a rich person’s study or office. I began to map out layout ideas, and sent them to my group for input.

Upon getting little-to-no input, I just began to plan out clues and ideas myself. Using the design I had created, I made a white box room in Unity to send to our 3D environment student. I created some concept sketches, by taking screenshots of the room at different angles, and drawing over them. Along side the sketches, I found images on google off similar objects to send the modelling students for reference.

I also began to program basic VR elements that we would need for our game, like hand tracking, VR compatibility, and the ability to pick up items. Currently, the ‘hands’ are just rectangles without models; however I plan to replace them with assets from the asset store.

Despite their basic appearance, the hands are fully functional for tracking, and I have programmed them to pick up objects. Currently, there are three grabbable objects in the scene, but these will later be switched out for clues or key items:

During the pitch, the lecturers really liked our idea and progress. They said that we would be able to complete it, and that it was a great idea, the feedback was all very positive, except for some constructive criticism on the logo, but all my work on the game, and planning so far was solid. In fact, the lecturers highly encouraged us to take the game even further, continuing work on it after the project, and even taking it to industry! Overall, this was the most well-received presentation I have done yet!

Knowing that my group tended to not be the best at keeping up communication during breaks or off time- I made sure that most of my work was completed during the build up to this presentation- the headset was tracked by the camera, the hands worked, objects could be grabbed, the only thing I had left to figure out was the movement. The development lecturer actually offered to help my group because we didn’t have a developer student: he said he would work with us to set up some code to make our VR game ompatible with a treadmill machine, so the player could actually walk around the room, which was pretty exciting.

In the last session I had with my group before the break, I got a whiteboard and tried to plan out all the clues in consecutive order. We were able to map out a timeline for the order of clues, with each interconnecting with the last. We had most planned out, except one or two clues, so I specifically reminded everyone to not let communication falter during the three week break- warning them about my first project where everyone struggled because barely anyone was supporting one another. Unfortunately, this message did not seem to stick.

With most of the groundwork already laid, I began to try to try and figure out the movement system. I consulted lecturers back and forth, but despite my best efforts, I couldn’t seem to wrap my head around it. I wasted a lot of time attempting this style of movement, so instead I eventually decided to opt for a point-and-click style of movement. I also continued to improve the mechanics of the game, following a guide that a lecture on VR development that I had been given.

These improvements included the ability to be able to pick up objects from further away, and be guided by a laser pointer from the hand.

I edited a few things, like the distance of grabbing, I changed it to 10 rather than 30 for a slightly more realistic feel, and changed the hand of preference to left instead of right: I personally am right handed, but the right controller of the oculus I was borrowing had run out of charge, and I wasn’t sure which batteries it took (or how to open it) so I worked with just the left one during the game dev.

I also began to work on the teleportation system. This was a relief after trying to get the treadmill to work for so long, and it was surprisingly easy when following the guide. I was able to add in the teleportation relatively quickly, and added a few areas around the room

Currently, I am still waiting for 3D assets to be sent, with two days left of the three-week break. I’m a bit sceptical that I will receive them in time, but luckily it hasn’t interfered with my work much. Because of the delays in production and lack of contact, I’m a little worried that a co-op project, so heavily focussed on puzzles and interconnected puzzles, might fall apart without everyone willing to participate, but I have done the best I can on my end, all I can do now is hope for the best.

Since being back, I have had a group meeting, and am feeling a bit more optimistic. In this group meeting, I once again got a whiteboard and began trying to map out the progression, clue-to-clue, and this time my group were a lot more involved and enthusiastic. During this two-hour session, we were able to map the puzzles, start to finish, so that everyone would know what they had to. This felt like a big achievement, as it finally felt like everyone was on the same page.

Most of my work currently has been research and planning for the puzzles, I am still, however, waiting for the same 3D models that I was before. I am trying to not let it hinder the game though, as I have begun to experiment with lighting in the engine anyway. I can alter the models once the room is modelled anyway, but it will give me a head start to begin to make the game look better.

I think the orange/ warm lighting will go well with the dark academia setting and will really give an appearance of evening light. I add pictures of the finished room when it has all the models implemented.

I was eventually able to implement most of the models that I needed for the room; I am still waiting on a few, but this is the progress of the room:

I think the room looks great with all the models. I ended up altering the lighting slightly to make it work better with the assets, and overall, I think it captures the aesthetic and ‘feel’ that we were going for very well.

The models that I am waiting on are actually not aesthetic ones, they’re models that are related to the puzzles: I am a little bit worried about them bring late, as I really want the project to be fully playable by Transmedia, which is under a week away.

This portfolio is due before Transmedia, so I will be unable to reflect here on any successes or failures, but I am hoping for the best.

As we get into the final stretch of the project, we are polishing and finalising puzzles and layouts for worksheets: here is the planning work I’ve created during the process:

Finally, here is a video of the VR room with most of the assets implemented:

It’s difficult to reflect on an experience that hasn’t happened yet, but I have high hopes for Transmedia. If all the models are delivered on time, everything should run smoothly, which is what I’m hoping for. This project has been one of the better ones: I’ve learned a lot of new skills and have created a pretty much finished final product – something I haven’t been able to do for the others.

In time for Transmedia, I am going to create ome posters and promotional material to draw people to our stand, but I will not have time to upload it here, as this is due on Monday.

Overall, Book & Pen was a good experience, and I enjoyed it a lot more than some of my other projects.