Impossible Space Project

Subject To Change

Create an environment in Unity designed to be experienced in VR. A future assignment will give us the opportunity to turn this assignment into a VR project. For this submission, the project will be seen and graded through documentation - a video walkthrough and screen captures. The unity project itself will not be graded.

Create an impossible space with a driving artistic concept.

Create an open-ended environment that would not be able to be experienced in reality. Next, answer the following question: How should the user in the space feel? Let the answer to this question (the “user-experience”) inform every design decision you make.

Assignment

1. Create a 3D Unity Scene that represents an environment.
2. The environment must be impossible in some way. This is open to interpretation. The instructor reserves the right to ‘veto’ certain ideas. For example, if a concept qualifies to the letter, but not to the spirit of the assignment.
3. The space must have a single strong artistic concept. There is a purpose to the users experience. The design is aware or in control of the users thoughts, emotions, and/or feelings while in the space.
4. There is no interaction or locomotion required. No locomotion means the environment only needs to “work” from, more or less, a single perspective - a user in VR standing still, looking around, squatting down, taking a few steps about, but not significantly moving to a new location.
5. This assignment does not need to be deployed in VR. (Yet!) The environment must be designed with VR in mind. The scale of the user must be considered.
6. The space must utilize at least 5 external 3D assets (models and/or textures), but will likely utilize many more.
7. The space must be consistent to it’s own created rules (Consistency in execution. For example, no random untextured objects, if everything else is textured, etc.)
8. While we will be using external assets, class workshop time will be spent discussing and reviewing our use of them, such that an academically significant assignment is original work.

Sensory Outline

Consider the users experience of the following?

• Sight
• Hearing
• Touch
• Vestibular (personal movement)
• Proprioception (spatial awareness)
• Agency (control & choice)

Submission Requirements

You must submit documentation of your project. You are not submitting your project directly.

• At least 3 screenshots with, at least, 720p resolution.
• One video
  • Minimum 5 seconds, max of 30
  • the only audio in the video is from-experience (there may be none)
  • No editor window or operating system visible. I.e: Is a proper well-executed screen capture.
• Readme.txt file with all requirements as listed in the syllabus, plus:
  • a few sentences describing your intent
  • Descibe what the space is in your own words.
  • Describe how you want the user to feel.

See the Capture Tools page in the guidebook for how to grab images and record video from your computer screen).

Rubric

• Assignment meets all submission listed requirements.
• Is there a single strong artistic conceit to the space?
• Is the space well executed on a technical level.
  • Gaps? Mis-scaled items? Stretched textures? z-fighting? Distracting geometry intersections? missing materials?
• Are there any extra or unmotivated elements in the space?
• Are there any missing elements or gaps in the space, such as using the default skybox, or not considering the design of a ceiling or floor.
• Is it clear the intended scale? Consider showing a 3D humanoid figure in place of the future VR user to demonstrate this.
• Does the environment uncomfortable or aggressive elements? If so, are they intentional?
• Do all elements of the space work together to create a feeling in the user?

Inspiration

Utilize concepts from readings and lectures on postmodernism and surrealism to inspire you. Consider ways that the elements can have an illustrative or emotional purpose beyond their representative purpose.

Start with a feeling, mood, action, story-beat, and/or sentiment. Don’t start with a literal location.

Consider playing with: Scale, Color, Symbolism, Simile, Dreamscapes, Emotional-Metaphors as Spaces.