Aquma - Weekly Updates - VR de los Muertos

[Aquma4Livez]

I finally have thing on the screen! After a hurdles of 1 month of not having a working VR headset and 5 weeks of teaching kids game/app dev and being constantly exhausted I now have something that is resembling a project.  


Click on pic above or link for video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rp-Te9fZE5E
Working title: Norwalk 199X.

I'm making a Dia de los Muertos altar dedicated to my late grandmother...in VR! I've decided to set (at least part of) it in her house where everyone from my family spent a good amount of time growing up. It was in the LA county city of Norwalk. The tape footage I have of her was shot in 1990, she passed in 1995. Hence the Norwalk 199x title I'm working with. 

Here's some of the art I've been making for the game: 


Candles that light up when you look at them! Though I might switch to a tap mechanic and still want to add Catholic imagery to them.



A camcorder. I decided that the camera will be a window into the past so when you use it, the footage of my grandmother will appear spread throughout the room. 



Papel picado. I didn't make the paper, just found some online. With a budget though, I would like to hire someone to make an original set that we could scan. Thinking about adding a gaze to mechanic where looking at them sends a little wind or something. 


I made a simple picture frame to hold the photo of Nana. 


She used to smoke.



I finally learned how to make UV maps for 3D models in blender. It's not perfect yet, but it looks close enough to a concha piece of pan dulce for an offering! 


I also made a humming bird. My family used to say they were my grandmother coming to visit when we would see them at random yet significant times after she passed. These creatures have multiple significances to Mesoamerican cultures as does the Dia de los Muertos celebration. Considering that my grandmother's side of the family came from Mexico as well makes me appreciate how all of this ties together.  

[Aquma4Livez]

Other random notes:

Unity 5.3 has this nasty bug that crashes the game whenever you try to play it if you have Virtual Reality Enabled checked off in the settings. What. A. Hassle. I lost a good couple hours of work to that bug!!! 

I upgraded to Unity 5.4 and it fixed the problem. Plus it has a lot of nice VR features and the graphics look better now too! I was getting some weird jagged edges in 5.3 that fixed themselves in 5.4 The best feeling! 

It feels good to just start making this piece. I didn't want to over think it and just let it kind of tell me what it wants to be. Now that it is taking a shape, it's easier for me to guide it in a way that matches my skillset and hopefully stays within scope.

[Aquma4Livez]

I've decided to just update one thread like I've seen some other Launch Pad participants do instead of creating a new discussion each time. Here's the latest: 

I've been adding more art and polish to my experience. Part of me feels like I should be creating a bunch of gameplay, but I remember one of the speakers during Launch Pad was saying that like 80% of development is just making the experience feel good. So I've been taking that approach adding little things like fading, UI feedback for when you can click on something, little visual touches, fleshing out the house and more. 

I wasn't sure how much gameplay, be it action or puzzles or simple interactions to include in my Dia de los Muertos altar, or even what's the appropriate amount given the subject matter. I've decided to focus on the altar part of it though, so it's as if the player is helping to set up the altar. 

Originally I had a simple mechanic where if you gaze at a candle it would light automatically. Then I switched it to a tap on the Gear VR's tap pad and added more animation to the experience. I think this gives the candle lighting more weight and significance and makes it feel less like an accident if you happened to gaze past it. 

 
Also, say hi to the spirit orbs I've added! 

Other additions to the altar (all 3D modeled by me!) include a cigarette, ashtray, marigolds and a vase, a deck of cards, and a shot glass. 



I added a little movement so the player can either stand or walk over to the camcorder sitting on the table. I made sure that the camera moved slowly and at a constant speed with no acceleration.

This type of movement was inspired by Land's End from UsTwo on the gear. I played through it and it was lovely. Though I wish there were more scenes that stayed in one place. At times, the excessive movement made me nauseous. 



Once you have the camera, you can watch clips of my grandmother! 


I also used a fun trick where I'm just showing a black screen to the left eye so it feels like you're actually looking through the viewfinder of the camcorder. I had to update to Unity 5.4 to pull that off in code and I was pleasantly surprised to see all of the other new VR features in the update. It's so interesting to me how putting all of these pieces together (the camcorder model, animation of it moving, animations of the screen going static, the play and stop text, and the one eye trick) really makes it feel like a thing. I don't know. I've been making games for like 3 years now, and it's still oh so magical to me. 

Other new parts:

I'm really happy with how the door came out. It reminds me of my grandparent's house so much!! This cabinet is new, too. 




I added moved the windows and sliding door around, added curtains, and installed a fireplace.



This dresser and the heater both came out pretty nice, too. It's crazy to think about the little associations we have with a space, especially if we haven't seen or thought about them in a long time, and how they can make us feel so nostalgic for a place. 



That's it for now! Thank you for your interest in my project. 

[Anonymous]

Those little details really make this experience start to feel special!

[prettydarke]

Yeah this is looking super rad! I love the way the camcorder works it's a nice touch.

[aleemhossain]

The altar is looking great. I love how that papel picado looks... and it would be AWESOME if they fluttered a bit when looked at! I think details like that can be SO powerful. Great idea. 

[akababa]

What a brilliant idea! Love seeing it all come together! Has your family tried it out yet?

[Aquma4Livez]

akababa said:

What a brilliant idea! Love seeing it all come together! Has your family tried it out yet?

Yes! I showed my grandmother's sisters the project at a recent family party. They got pretty emotional from it, but I think it might be based on the fact that they're seeing footage of her. I felt a little weird subjecting them to something so emotional. My mom's side of the family (the other side) found it really interesting and immersive, but that also might be because VR is so new to them. But in the end I don't think I would have gotten either of those responses if what I had wasn't interesting to begin with, so yeah! 

[Aquma4Livez]

What a whirlwind the summer has been for me! I'm thrilled to have submitted my Launch Pad application and game in on time. I only ended up working on it for 1 month (vs the 3 months of the "jam" period) due to complications with my initial Galaxy S6 phone not working and then having to teach an exhausting tech summer camp for 5 weeks to pay the bills. In the end I'm pretty thrilled with what I made in such a short(er) period of time and feel like I put together a strong application. So now whatever happens, happens. I took care of what I could. 

Here are some things I've added to VR de los Muertos since my last update: 

Video of a playthrough (with a choppy framerate and low audio thanks to the capturing software I used). 


I made a basic title screen. The letters in my name bounce and play a little music note when you look at them. Then I had the tap to continue button to introduce players to this concept that they need to click on things to interact with them.  


My grandmother really liked her makeup, so I added some lipstick and a compact that you can interact with.


After you look through the camera, I made it so a portal appears in front of the fireplace.
Clicking on it sends you to the underworld. 


I want the underworld to feel like a Disneyland ride where you sit and ride through this on-rails experience. I want it to have a bunch of trippy stuff and nods at present-day, real world things from my community. These candles were inspired by the shooting of a 14 year old boy named Jesse Romero in my neighborhood by LAPD while I was working on my game. 

I felt very moved when I saw the altar people had made where Jesse had died and wanted to incorporate that into my experience somehow. 


As you pass through the space, I have the papel picado hanging up from poles, the floor is inspired by the robe worn by the Virgen de Guadalupe (Mexican Virgin Mary). I modeled and put some butterflies in the space to represent the dead coming back as butterflies and our little hummingbird friend from the house is a sort of guide. 

I also made some plants like a nopales cactus and corn!






At the end of the "ride" I have a heart that I modeled. I even gave it a beating animation. I have it set up so the heart goes through the player's chest. I thought it was a neat effect that is afforded by the constraint of the Gear VR player's head not being tracked and thus at a fixed height. In other words, with Oculus Rift or HTC Vive where the player could walk around, this effect would be harder to pull off. 

[Aquma4Livez]

VR de los Muertos Demo - Mini-Post Mortem

Looking back on the wild ride that was developing my demo, I have a couple of thoughts I'd like to share. 

1. I realize how valuable pre-production is! In hindsight, I wish I took/had more time to interview my family for their stories about my grandmother to get more ideas. I wish I had more time to research Dia de los Muertos altars so I could have structured my digital altar in a more culturally accurate way. And lastly I wish I could have prototyped with VR as a medium more to expand my repertoire of VR skills/visual effects/scene layout/art direction. I feel like what I made was solid, but the extra time spent on these parts could have made the demo even better. But it's just a demo! Going forward, I'd like to take a couple steps back to go through some of this before jumping back into full production mode.

2.  The reason I jumped straight into production was a matter of necessity. In this instance, production is just making 3D art assets, adding animations, and coding interactivity. I felt like I didn't have any time to reflect or iterate beyond what was essential. I wanted to show my strengths, which is, to me, just creating a fun space and focusing on little interactions and details that make it charming. I feel like all my brain juice went into creating and switching between creative tasks (modeling, animating, and coding), so to stop, reflect, and maybe even pivot seemed so out of the question.

3. I had to figure out if I wanted to polish what I had, or show a little more breadth of experiences to get my ideas across. I went for a mix but more of the latter. Ultimately I felt like the part of the game in the house was good, despite some bugs and parts that needed to be smoothened out. I could have just stopped with that. But then I was inspired to make this underworld section. That part definitely needs more work. I'm not thrilled with it's current state, but I still think it's pretty cool and has some great moments in it. 

Overall, I'm quite proud of what I was able to accomplish in 4 weeks (1 of which I spent visiting my other side of the family). Like an athlete, I feel like I left everything I had out on the field, or in this case in the app. There's tons of stuff I see now and wish I fixed or adjusted or maybe even took out. But ultimately I did what I could given the circumstance and gave it my all. I have no regrets! No matter if I end up receiving a scholarship or not, I feel like this was a great experience and challenge. I am also finding new opportunities opening up now that I have this VR demo under my belt. So that's pretty exciting as well. We'll see what comes to be over the next couple of months. Until then, I think I'm on the right track, and it feels great to be here!