The most famous and definitely one of the most challenging course in ETC.
We develop projects in two weeks and learn rapidly prototyping, teamwork, brainstorm concepts within limited time. In terms of technique, we tackle with various platforms including Magic Leap AR, HTC Vive VR, Jam-O-Drum, Valve Index, Kinect…
As an artist in this course, I also learn how to work in cross-discipline teams, cooperating with different roles such as programmers, sound designers.
DIEt
Prompt
“Develop an experience where the guest helps Character A overcome a fear of Character B and achieve a goal”
Platform
Magic Leap AR
Team
Angela Chen, Sound Design, producer / Andrew Mclamb, Programmer / Hanhui Lu, Artist / Isabel Yi, Artist / Zoltan Jing, Programmer
Contributions
Concept development / 3D Modeling, rigging, UV mapping, animation in Maya / Texturing in Substance Painter / Playtesting
Concept
A guest aims to prevent another character from consuming high-calorie food. The guest uses the controller as spatula to swipe the high calorie food off the plate. The more healthy food hops on the plate, the higher points guest will get.
Design Challenges & Realizations
We decided to center the concept of ‘making food alive’. And we did some research and try out the device to realize some restrictions of Magic Leap. Knowing that the frame of the lens was small, we had to discard the idea of building a world where gigantic food drops down from the ceiling. At last, we built a world in which food hop into the guest’s sight so that the guests would not need to look around for targets.
Some frustrating moments
As we meet Jesse and Dave for advice, we learned that the fork we initially made to interact with food would misled them; instead of poking the bad food off the plate, the guests want to pick them up and eat. That is to say, we may need a different tableware, spatula. I learned that it every interaction needs to be considered in every aspect and designed carefully.
More thoughts
AR might be challenging to develop games or tell stories since guests aren't as immersive as they can be in VR.
Up n Above
Prompt
“Develop an experience for naive guest to interact with minimal rules/tutorials while still instilling a sense of freedom”
Platform
HTC VIVE VR
Team
Badri Mohan, Programmer / Isabel Yi, Artist / Tyler Thomas, Programmer, producer / Liangzheng Luo, Artist / William Jin, Sound Design
Contributions
Prop sketching, designing, and fabricating / Concept development / 3D Modeling, rigging, UV mapping, animation in Maya / Playtesting
Concept
A guest enters the world as a bird on a tropical island. The guest should try to collect feathers by flapping their wings and flying to different islands.
Design Challenges & Realizations
During the naïve guest round, the hardest challenge is to playtest constantly and to bring in a wide range of playtesters. I realized the importance of playtesting can help the iteration process much more faster. After a few playtests, I came up with the idea to attach wings prop onto the guest so that they can be more immersed. The team tested the duration of people flapping arms to determine the experience time.
Building Cyber World
Prompt
“Develop a 2-3 minute interactive story for a guest to experience and play through”
Platform
Jam-O-Drum
Team
Isaac Zhang, Sound Design / Isabel Yi, Artist / JD He, Programmer / Ram Iyer, Programmer / Rosy Fu, Artist, producer
Contributions
2D Characters design / Concept development / Interface design
Concept
This was a one-week lightning round. Four guests would play as a team to defeat the Boss in the middle. Guests at the counter side share a pair of portals, which one side catches the fireball and the other side aim for the Boss.
Design Challenges & Realizations
I found deadlines necessary and helpful because teams were more efficient and cooperative. I had teammates who have a great understanding of game design. Therefore, we discussed a solid gameplay soon and had only minor tweaks. However, as we playtested a lot ourselves and all had confidence in the game, there were still challenges to explain our game to guests. It turned out to be too overwhelming for guests to understand the mechanics of the game. We realized that we should put more effort onto the introduction of the game.
The Moon
Prompt
“Create an 8-minute interactive activity and develop a plan to theme a space in order to enhance the world and guest experience”
Platform
Valve Index + VR
Team
Danny Kuo (Sound Design), Grace Kang (Artist), I-Tung Chiang (Programmer), Isabel Yi (Artist), Stefani Taskas (Programmer, producer)
Contributions
Concept development; Storyboard iteration, 3D environment modeling and texturing, 3D assets modeling
Concept
A guest plays as the role of Hades, who collects souls (stars) and enters the moon to bring them to the afterlife. The guest grabs stars on the ocean using Index controllers, then put the stars into the lanterns in order for the stars to float up. In this experience, we construct a story explaining where the souls go afterlife and how does the moon rise and fall. Combining VR & Valve Index to be immersed in the afterlife scenario. Do you know that the rise and fall of the moon are the channel for souls to go to their afterlife?
Design Challenges & Realizations
It wasn’t hard to make up a story, yet definitely challenging to tell a story that affect people’s emotions. I found storyboarding powerful in this round because I can convey my thoughts to my teammates more accurately than word descriptions. A thing that I learned from Jesse and Dave this time, was to construct the whole world of the story. From that, the story can pave towards different ways without having ‘bug’. We could add some interest curve since our experience was calm and zen as if it was a meditation VR experience.
Hamate & Bone
Prompt
“Interactive Immersive Experience.” GO NUTS!!!
Platform
Xbox Kinect
Team
Cara Chen, Artist / Isabel Yi, Artist / Lawrence Plofker, Sound Design, Producer / Sam Hsu, Programmer
Contributions
3D character modeling and texturing / Concept development / Interaction iteration / 2D User interface design / Playtesting / Theming Design
Concept
Two guests work together to create magical cocktails and deliver them to customers. Transport ingredients to make drinks quickly and accurately in the fantasy tavern.
Design Challenges & Realizations
This was a creative round that we had a variety of device choices, and go beyond limits and build the weirdest world. Additionally, there was an extra week for this round that the ideas overflowed and seemed to over scope. However, we overcome this problem by rapid prototyping and playtesting.
Another problem we encountered was that the gestures and interactions in Kinect. After the theme and featured the gameplay was decided, we need to face the problem that the layout of the room would interfere with the smoothness of some interactions.
All in all, the teamwork this round was pleasant and we solve problems together fast. I believe good teamwork is the main reason that led us to the Festival. And thanks to this opportunity, I got to theme up our room and curate the experience.