This TO DO list and the brainstorming ideas were initially set up on Trello, we also used Slack, but after a while we ended up just discussing items at meetings and using mainly Whatsapp, email and SMS to communicate with each other. And we started to use the blog Diana set up 🙂
Brainstorming in response to brief
Juan ()
I thought of geographical exploration experience to learn about a country or place. Its tourism in VR. I thought of the user being a giant to see everything from a birds eye point of view.
Immersive Virtual Reality Environments
CI7810: Digital Studio Practice — Project Brief October 2015
“Immersion into virtual reality is a perception of being physically present in a non-physical world. The perception is created by surrounding the user of the VR system in images, sound or other stimuli that provide an engrossing total environment.
The degree to which the virtual or artistic environment faithfully reproduces reality determines the degree of suspension of disbelief. The greater the suspension of disbelief, the greater the degree of presence achieved.”
Emotiv Headset
At the start of our project we were hoping to use the Emotiv (EPOC) Headset (pictured below):
Diana put a booking in for it early on in the project and a few weeks later, Ibby and Cynthia went to make enquiries about it because we had been strongly encouraged to use it in our project and there was no word yet on when it would become available.
We found that the only set available was out on a long loan to a PHD student, but that there might be a second one coming in the next two weeks. We decided to hold on in the hope that the second set might materialise and in the meantime Cynthia and Ibby tested an old Neurosky MIndwave headset on a computer in the uni labs. This only had one electrode sensor though (pictured below):
We weren’t impressed, it seemed to be very random, we ran the tests on each other and neither one of us was able to noticeably make any changes in the display results on the computer screen.
Ibby took the set home to do further tests, but the results back were negative.
——–
You can see what other people who have used the Neurosky thought about it here:
The Emotiv website:
https://emotiv.com/
The Neurosky website:
http://store.neurosky.com/pages/mindwave
Animation for breathing
The following is an example of the various ideas we discussed as a team to assist users of The Elysium, to time their breathing.
In this case we have used the cherry blossom which has fallen from our custom made tree in the nightime garden:
DSP Team 2 presentation
This is the link to our amazing presentation:
http://prezi.com/efdy_jmigp6i/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy
Maya renders
Blocking out detail to get idea of lighting across to team. The cherry blossom would rise and fall/swirl in time with the users breath, giving them an idea of how long each breath needs to be.
Close up detail of a cherry blossom flower, which could float down past the user during their stay in the Elysium. The light is a firefly which has landed in the flower, making it function like a small lamp.
A more detailed render to give an idea of the visuals and the mood of an environment. Custom made cherry tree, blossom and flowers.
User Journey
Menu +Sound
Main Menu Interface
This is a diagram to display how the interface in game would work. Every option leads down to other options categorize by type.
I have proposed and option to log in so multiple users can use the application, but their progress and achievements will be private.
Sound
The design for this environment is mostly natural sounds, such as water and wind breeze. An ambient sound of a relaxation landscape can be added too to maintain a constant narrative.
A combination of sounds and soundtracks will be merged together in layers to make a solid sound
Here are links to the sounds I found and are going to be used in games.
Oculus Rift UK release
Oculus Rift UK release date, specs, features and game rumours: Tune into today’s Oculus Connect 2 keynotes..
VR and immersive environments 