Data Spaces, 22-23. Findings.

What is it?

Multiverse of Madness is a real-time data installation that communicates interactively with the audience in a form of mini games. The aim was to offer different visual realities for the audience.

Through the concept of going for a journey and choosing left and right for every stage, gives a fifty-fifty percent chance on where they will end up in the game. Using the camera, sound and movement are inputs which allows the sketches to react differently in each unique universe. Through this experimental design, we want to achieve a playful way to communicate interactively and offer an amazing experience.

Findings & Insights

As experimental designers, we wanted to be more explorative and perceive design in a fun and communicative way. Therefore, real time data supports us by giving the idea of playfulness and communicating directly to the audience.

The idea for a game was ultimately decided upon how we chose to progress with our project. As we wanted to create a work that was heavily dependent upon interaction, it felt right that the project became more focused on the user experience. Thus, we decided to create something fun that was injected with a sense of play.

At the same time, we wanted something that would utilise all the senses as we felt that it would enhance the immersion. A project that uses every aspect of data from the sources of input, which pushes for an explorative work into interaction with the software.

Design Decisions

The design is inspired by the games of the past that utilises choice as a form of experience such as those from the “Choose Your Own Adventure” category. We wanted to give the audience an immersive experience allowing them to fully control their journey. Using the branching system for them to choose which sketch they will experience.

Visual aesthetics are usually made up of bright colours, noise, texture, lines, and patterns that were used to present different universes with different interacting requirements. The main menu and endings are bulged to follow the screens of a CRT television. A monotonous noise is produced through the typing of text whenever there is narrative. All these elements help in creating the immersive experience of a game and helps create the retro aesthetic.

Each name of the universe is based on the individual sketch, depending on either the main colours or how it works in order to keep things simple.

Challenges

Through the whole journey, we faced lots of challenges from the beginning. At first, we were unsure about the main concept of the project. We went straight to experimenting without thinking ahead on the end product.

We had to accustom ourselves with a new software in a short amount of time. It is a huge challenge that we needed to overcome. Creating effects that interacted with audio and visual inputs added onto the challenge as we had to control the sketches from going out of hand.

Moreover, throughout the creating process, we faced technical difficulties mainly concerning the software. One of the biggest concerns was the dropping frame rate that affected the speed of the game and caused it to lag.

The need to change all the inputs to link with a gaming controller caused us time as we needed to change for every universe that we made. Recalibration and readjusting of the sketches is needed when we are compiling them together.

Feedbacks

During the process, we asked for constant feedback from either lecturers or classmates. Showing our progress each week, we got more feedback to improve our design.

Starting off with the intention to achieve a more immersive experience for the audience, we were suggested to change from a keyboard to a gaming controller for input. We needed to reconstruct some sentences because the instructions needed clarity. A button to be added that would be used to capture interesting visuals through screenshotting.

Installation

For the installation, a short briefing for the participants before the game was suggested to introduce elements of interactivity and how to use the gaming controller for the audience to understand roughly how the game worked but enough for them to explore by themselves.

Overall, the responses were very positive. The participants said that they enjoyed the installation a lot, with phrases such as “very interactive” and “very playful”.

Achievements

Finishing this project, we came to realise that it was very successful and exceeded our expectations. We went through several difficulties and struggled together as a team. However, the positive reactions from participants gave us confidence in our outcomes. We took the risk to use unfamiliar software and created something unexpected which is a game. It helped us to discover new skills and create visuals throughTouchDesigner. Moreover it also taught us to respect teammates and follow designated time schedules that we created.

Overall, we did not follow the route of deciding the outcome but rather let the explorations dictate the end product. Through that, we were successful in achieving what we set out to and our worries from the start did not deter us from creating something meaningful.