08-15-2016 06:45 PM
Guys, GUYS!!!
I’ve had a major MAJOR breakthrough that has allowed me to sort out a major issue with my experience that I was struggling with. So excited to share my progress here with all of you now that I have had more clarity on how to move forward and how to explain my vision. First though, to clarify, I am not developing for 360 video but for room to scale using Unity. Room to scale mostly because I had problems with my Gear VR that I got at Launchpad (my Samsung came with a faulty USB port connection) so I decided to continue to develop with the HTC Vive we previously had obtained instead. Without further ado, I leave you with my insights and new findings. Looking forward to your thoughts!
PROBLEM: THE DILEMMA OF PRESENCE IN VR NARRATIVES
Let’s start from the beginning. My personal goal in VR is to try to crack the issue of how to successfully build narratives in VR. Everyone here I’m sure is well aware of the problem of Presence in VR. When it comes to VR narrative experiences specifically (meaning when you are following a story either on reels or in branch form), as developers we are faced with the problem of how to involve the user with the story in a non-passive but more interactive way, which I find is the whole point of this medium.
Using language borrowed from games, I’m pretty comfortable narrowing down the two main scenarios for a ‘player’ to enter a narrative experience in VR right now: either as the protagonist or as a ghost. As a protagonist you are playing inside the shoes of a character, say for example Lara Croft. On the other hand, when you are a ghost, you might be able to interact with the VR space around you, but ultimately you are just witnessing what is happening with the story and the characters. Best example that comes to mind of this, while groundbreaking in VR narrative, is ‘Henry’. Ultimately there was a dissonance between the audience’ presence and the story, which limit the emotional connection to the character: why was Henry so lonely if you were sitting right there with him the whole time?
BRAINSTORMING SOLUTIONS + PROJECT INTRO
This dilemma of presence has been driving me NUTS this whole summer. I have taken to try different types of demos, read blogs and listen to all sorts of podcasts about storytelling in VR, and try to find solutions taking in consideration the limitations of the medium (that we face right now). I have a background in film, games, and transmedia (telling stories across multiple platforms), so I was trying to look at this problem from multiple perspectives. I also started to think a lot about immersive theater and Alternate Reality Games (ARGs).
I have produced a few ARGs before, so this concept of course appeals to me the most as a way towards finding a solution to this ‘presence’ issue. Cause in ARGs, you enter the experience not as a protagonist but as yourself and along the way you are given a mission that allows you to help the story’s narrative move forward. But even then, from this particular point forward, the problem then revolves around structuring the player’s mission and how it ties back to the story you are trying to tell and vice versa. Meaning, how to bring together the goals of the player with the goals of the story.
THE SIMPLE YET HUGE EUREKA MOMENT
For Oculus Launchpad I first started working on a narrative focusing on an AI that recruits you to help her/him solve the mystery surrounding her/his Creator. This experience expands the universe of my Age of Turing game that I launched last year. My partner and I are experimenting with ways to use the Watson API to create a proper AI character that you can interact within the narrative. So far we have been facing some limitations in terms of what we want to do (is just the two of us on a budget). But as the AI tools currently available continue to advance and improve at an extremely fast pace, we are sure that very soon we will hit a phase transition point. In the meantime, I’ve decided to switch gears and started brainstorming on a second concept that I’ve been working on about two rival wizards that end up falling in love.
Switching genres from scifi to fantasy was really good for me in terms of exploring different play dynamics within an experience. I started to think about my favorite fantasy stories and why they were so good. So, of course, I found myself re-reading ‘Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone’. So yes, In Harry Potter you get to follow the story of a protagonist. A protagonist who’s very particular journey you enjoy following. On the other hand you also get to enjoy the story universe in it of itself and fantasize about all the things you would do if you had also gotten a letter from Hogwarts. Also been the key word here. And suddenly, I realized, that when I first had read the book I never really fantasized that I wanted to be any of the characters. I fantasized about being part of the squad, and help Harry, Hermione and Ron along in their adventures.
THE ‘SQUAD GOALS’ SOLUTION
My solution, then, for the Presence dilemma that we face today, that allows the alignment of the goals of the player and the goals of the story, is to give your player a mission that involves being part of the squad of the protagonist (or antagonist if you want to go that route). The key element is to make the player feel part of that squad group in order to motivate her/him to interact with the story (whether it’s in reels or branches) and help move the narrative forward without getting in the way of the protagonist’s main plot.
I think this format allows the player enough space to play in the negative spaces of the storyworld, while feeling like (if built in reels) or actually contributing (if in built branches) to the narrative. The important thing here is that stories that have strong premises about a squad helping main characters achieve their goals (Harry Potter, Stranger Things, Ready Player One, Mr. Robot) are then perfectly suitable to be translated to a VR experience with this format, regardless of whether or not the IP (intellectual property) is well known or not.
VISION AND NEXT STEPS
I think that in the future we might be able to get away with more complex Presence configurations, but as we stand right now I think the Squad Goals Solution (yes, I’m coining this term damn it!) is the best way to move forward with narrative stories in VR, at least until we get to the next level of this medium.
Right now the way the Squad Goals Solution has help me figure out how to move forward with my ‘Rival Wizards in Love’ story (working title) is by adjusting the premise and turning the player into the apprentice of one of the protagonists. As the player your mission, besides assisting and learning from your master teacher, then becomes to discover the antagonist weaknesses in order to defeat her, alas inadvertently (plot twist!) helping the two wizards fall in love.
I am super excited with this breakthrough because it has allowed me to move forward with a plan of action of how to put the game dynamics in place in ways that help move the narrative forward. This breakthrough has also translated into a cleared vision of what needs to be created visually, and that in turn into dozens of small Unity tests of what the characters and game dynamics should look like when we can put all the pieces together.
Since this blog entry is super long already I will leave it here and go into details about that on my next entry. In the meantime, please enjoy some preliminary pictures of my main characters that I have built using Mixamo.
If you feel like chatting VR storytelling with me I’m always available on twitter @aprilarrg. You can also friend me on FB if you haven’t already.
Thanks for reading!
-April Arrglington
08-15-2016 06:54 PM
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08-18-2016 01:28 AM
08-21-2016 02:18 PM
Thank for all your imput guys! Responding to everyone in sections:
Regarding your AI questions @erica_layton (“will you make use of BlueMix speech-to-text to pass voice commands as strings to the AI? Does the AI have a dictionary of trained phrases that the player is likely to say, in a given situation?)
So yes, the idea in the long term is to be able to have a conversation but right now the API is not precise enough. So, for the time being we are planning to use it for specific keywords to be solutions or hints to puzzles inside the VR environment. Then yes, we would be using those words in a dictionary to narrow down the possible options.
Found a fun little link on the latest finds on breaking the fourth wall of human computer interaction, check it out: http://theconversation.com/breaking-the-fourth-wall-in-human-computer-interaction-really-talking-to-...