Image: The name and logo we have created to best describe the socio-educational WebVR framework we are working on.
Introduction
This week has been fine-tuning the back-end, creating a name a logo we can come together on, and ruminating on how best to showcase the various platform functionalities for our September prototype deadline.
Past
So far we the team has been doing a wonderful job of cleaning up the back-end and front-end administrative pages to more production-level qualities while I sketch out the general ideas, model some sample "worlds", describe the focus of this project, and ultimately decide what the "MVP (Minimum Viable Prototype)" we should showcase to Oculus to inspire further support.
Present
This week has included a great deal of thought as we hash out a clearer and "more marketable" direction for this project. We have been fine-tuning the back-end so that worlds are much easier to create and upload to the system, working on better styling of the administrative pages, and the "story1" team has also gathered materials to start mocking up 3D worlds.
I have been focusing personally on some additions to the "campfire hub" we have, adding in locomotion for all devices, and coming up with the name and logo shown at the beginning of this post. After several iterations and some great feedback from the team we have settled on "circles" with an accompanying circular logo.
I wanted to try and get away from more "technology-driven" terminology and instead focus on the motivation of this project, rather than the technology used to create it. I felt that "circles" evokes organic shapes that could also describe our journeys through this world as non-linear and cyclical (like learning!), capable of overlapping with others to form higher-order shapes such as a "sphere" or "basket". The logo itself is also restless, creating a mysterious energy which I think works well within a powerful and exploratory VR context.
Future
My objective is to now start concretely getting content in so that we can have a solid prototype to send to Oculus at the end of September. I think the ideas are mostly formed and the base technologies mostly implemented; but now everything requires combing everything together, modelling more content, testing, and prototyping. I understand that the prototype need not be perfect but it will have to show great potential, that inspires confidence in its completion. "Story1" will be a focus but I will also be exploring an additional world set we can bring in to showcase a larger breadth of work - a "Story2" - what that is, I am still torn on: astrophysicsor Canadian history? Due to my wonderful wife's opinion I am leaning towards the latter ...
"Music brings people together. So my function in anything I do
is to help bring people closer in"
- Gord Downie
Hello! This is Maria and Gordey with Bizarre Barber project.
This week we were selected for Game Pitch Night by Made in NY MediaCenter. It was a pitch competition with very cool judges: one of them being the had of local IGDA chapter, one - Kickstarter gaming manager, another one is an owner of large indie VR studio (iNk stories). We decided it's an amazing opportunity to refine and polish the pitch, and also hear some feedback from the very cool professionals!
Long story short, we won Audience Choice Award prize for our pitch!
We got tons of useful feedback and suggestions and finally made the OLP submission checklist milestone both with tech and proposal features.
Also we tested Nvidia flex for Unity and figured out some useful game mechanic things (like implementing a super hairy boss in the end of the level)
This week we were selected for Game Pitch Night by Made in NY MediaCenter. It was a pitch competition with very cool judges: one of them being the had of local IGDA chapter, one - Kickstarter gaming manager, another one is an owner of large indie VR studio (iNk stories). We decided it's an amazing opportunity to refine and polish the pitch, and also hear some feedback from the very cool professionals!
Long story short, we won Audience Choice Award prize for our pitch!
We got tons of useful feedback and suggestions and finally made the OLP submission checklist milestone both with tech and proposal features.
Also we tested Nvidia flex for Unity and figured out some useful game mechanic things (like implementing a super hairy boss in the end of the level)
VR Sea Legs - Week 8
Status:
We continued working on the Seaside Town level, and to give it a bit more life we added some textures. We reviewed and added our script for the voiceover lines, and on Saturday I recorded my good friend and amazing vocal talent Maureen Honoré. Here’s a bit of the intro and a couple work in progress screenshots.
https://soundcloud.com/user-847858955-164303602/vr-sealegs-game-intro
Our first communication with the player!
Seaside town, now with more textures.
First unlock of the bonus levels!
Content Unlock:
This week we open up a bonus area called Deep Dive!. This is where the user will learn how to swim. At its core, the swimming movement is just a slower form of basic flight. So why would we add a bonus level on the same topic of flight? Because the environment makes a huge difference when dealing with simulated motion. Flying in space feels categorically different than swimming in water.
One of the big differences is that Deep Dive! puts you in the ocean, and this allows us to define a horizon line. In the First Flight level, you play in space with no horizon line. When players see the horizon line, it shows them which way is down, and it allows them to orient themselves more quickly. In air, this can trigger visual height intolerance - this is far more common in people then acrophobia (the fear of heights).
Swimming completely changes the player’s perspective, and eliminates the discomfort. People swimming know they can’t fall to their death.
Part of our methodology in choosing different art styles for each of the movement systems is that expands the player’s palate of experience. Learning those systems in new art styles expands the player’s tolerance for a variety of environments as well. We’re hopeful that this combination will create a quicker adoption of ease in movement in VR.
Blog Post # 8
This week flew by fast. I worked on the narrative script
with my partner and then I recorded some voiceover narration for the first
couple of scenes. I also recorded some sound effects for use in the first
couple of scenes. For what I couldn’t record myself, I used soundbible.com and
freesound.org – both have A LOT of sounds to choose and almost all of them can
be used under the Creative Commons licensing.
My partner continued to work on animating the characters for
the Basement scene. He also animated a cat and I textured the cat to look like
my childhood pet, Simba. Simba was a huge part of my childhood and I’m glad he
is going to be in one of the memories.
The father and daughter have been added to the Basement
scene so we could see what they looked like with some of their animations. I just
need to finish texturing them next week and they should be good to go. Next week
will be some finalization tweaks to the existing scenes and adding a little more
polish for the mid-point prototype.
This week we had a lot of major breakthroughs with getting the realtime AI / lipsync / game triggers all working together - it is starting to feel like 
the experience we are trying to create - so that is super exciting. Had a number of VIP's test it this week, including the Canadian Minister for Immigration, and had some great surprised reactions - they were blown away - and immediately saw the potential for new immigrants learning conversational english.
We have teleportation working, the little robot sidekick also stays close and follows you, and the characters conversations become audible as you get near. Some riveting conversations based on language learning scenarios [sic] 🙂 We are working on adding longer plots and character development. The two game prototypes now trigger when you go near the card player or the holodeck for the vocab game.
quick video sample - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWrfMV3FYvw
the experience we are trying to create - so that is super exciting. Had a number of VIP's test it this week, including the Canadian Minister for Immigration, and had some great surprised reactions - they were blown away - and immediately saw the potential for new immigrants learning conversational english.We have teleportation working, the little robot sidekick also stays close and follows you, and the characters conversations become audible as you get near. Some riveting conversations based on language learning scenarios [sic] 🙂 We are working on adding longer plots and character development. The two game prototypes now trigger when you go near the card player or the holodeck for the vocab game.
quick video sample - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWrfMV3FYvw
Hi!
This week has been super productive on both mine and Nir's projects.
For mine- I finalized shooting dates with my subjects. I know it's crunch time so I am a little nervous about pulling it all off and thank you for the encouraging note to hang in there. I'm equally excited about capturing the stories of Tachibe, the inventor of tuna tartar as well as Karla, who is the founder of SalviSoul which is a blog documenting the stories of other El Salvadorian women and their recipes. I'm also considering sharing my story in the prototype as this project is very personal to me, primarily being a refugee and wanting to humanize us in the light of what's going on. My own parents who have sacrificed everything in order for me and my sister to have a better life, are my driving force. A common theme for a lot of us immigrant children is to justify our parents' sacrifices and for me that means sharing their story and other stories that connect us on a human level, transcend the political noise and bring us to a table like a family. I also had another call with Nathalie who was extremely helpful in helping me identify how to structure my prototype and also how to navigate partnerships.
For Nir's project #Murder, we got a lot done this week. We will be shooting next Thursday and are super excited! We found the house, broke down the scenes and the budget, cast the actors and booked a behind the scenes photographer. Nir and I worked really hard this week to make all of this happen. We have a few minor things still to get done, but the shoot should go smoothly.
And here is a pic I took of Nir doing the Keke challenge during one of our breaks haha
This week has been super productive on both mine and Nir's projects.
For mine- I finalized shooting dates with my subjects. I know it's crunch time so I am a little nervous about pulling it all off and thank you for the encouraging note to hang in there. I'm equally excited about capturing the stories of Tachibe, the inventor of tuna tartar as well as Karla, who is the founder of SalviSoul which is a blog documenting the stories of other El Salvadorian women and their recipes. I'm also considering sharing my story in the prototype as this project is very personal to me, primarily being a refugee and wanting to humanize us in the light of what's going on. My own parents who have sacrificed everything in order for me and my sister to have a better life, are my driving force. A common theme for a lot of us immigrant children is to justify our parents' sacrifices and for me that means sharing their story and other stories that connect us on a human level, transcend the political noise and bring us to a table like a family. I also had another call with Nathalie who was extremely helpful in helping me identify how to structure my prototype and also how to navigate partnerships.
For Nir's project #Murder, we got a lot done this week. We will be shooting next Thursday and are super excited! We found the house, broke down the scenes and the budget, cast the actors and booked a behind the scenes photographer. Nir and I worked really hard this week to make all of this happen. We have a few minor things still to get done, but the shoot should go smoothly.
And here is a pic I took of Nir doing the Keke challenge during one of our breaks haha
