i-solation

A surreal experience to an old-man's dream.

Date: December 2020

Project Duration: Two Week

Teammate: Daisy Chen

My Role: Game Developer

Exhibited at NYU Shanghai IMA Show 2020

Dream is a reflection of the inner desire.What will an old man in solitude dream about? In this experience, we pick the specific angle of pain and pills, aiming to depict of an old man in isolation. Everything appears in a surreal way, everything is in dream. Yet what the scene express is also the real reflection his life experience and thoughts.

Project Brief

i-solation is a surreal narrative that invites the audience to experience the dream of an old, solitary man.

In a first-person view, it aims to build an emotional connection between the old man and the audience, therefore brings empathy in the immersive setting.

Platform: Untethered VR (Oculus Quest / Quest 2)

Playtime: 3 min

Game Engine: Unity

Comfort Level: Comfortable

Research Findings: Isolation as the emerging crisis for older people

Nowadays an increasing number of older people is facing a future of increased isolation.According to data from National Health and Aging Trends Study, around 24 % of community-dwelling older adults are considered socially isolated, while more than 35 % of adults aged 45 and older are lonely.

Design Principles and Objectives

The audience member should be able to discover understand the narrative(old man, virus and pills as the metaphor of pain, illness)

The design of interaction should be intuitive for the audience to understand.

The aesthetics the experience should be consistent among scenes. The sound design should create the atmosphere of calm and loneliness

The sound design should create the atmosphere of calm and loneliness

Brainstorming & Ideation

Jenova Chen, game designer for Journey, has mentioned the game assets should center around storytelling, to “let your assets make up the story for you.” We were inspired by him, and therefore spent a lot of time designing the story & flow of the project.

We design 3 main scenes, including the beginning, the day scene, and the night scene. We expect players’ emotions to change dynamically, and peak in the third scene.

Moodboards

Development & Iteration

The Beginning

Empty room, simple setting.

TV comes closer, and bring the user to the next scene

Day to Night Transition

The transition happens within a short period.

The Portal

Approaching the ending - Particles as transition

Day Scene

A surreal space featuring natural landscape and pills, virus. User move with the boat.

Night Scene

In the first person perspective, the text reveals the loneliness and pain suffered by the old man.

The Ending

Narrative Design

Technical Details

1. Animation System using DoTween Library

We utilize the DoTween Library for smoother animation, combing some built-in C# functions such as Math.Lerp.

We also tried the object fade-in / out effect using the DoTween Library.

2. Interaction System

I am mainly responsible for the interaction system. The whole interaction Design is based on one principle: Intuitive.

We found the OVR Control Documentation and it gives us useful guidance on how the interaction works in VR: https://developer.oculus.com/documentation/unity/unity-ovrinput/

We try to test all the interactions including distance grab, collision test, raycasting, etc.

Project Management

User Testing

For the user movement, at first we would like the user to pretend like an old man walking with the cane. However, during the user testing process, we realize it would bring the user motion sickness, which is a big problem for comfortbility. Therefore, we change our original plan and create the boating system for movement. In this sense, the users can lie on the couch and focus on the narrative.

Future Development

Clear UI
Interaction Serves for Storytelling
Flow Theory In Interaction Design