Yesterday was a very exciting day for iMyth. Not only was I treated to the awesome work the artists, producers and engineers were creating, but also we had an opportunity to do the first dry run experience for the Courier. Summan rigged her proxy character to be controlled by. the WASD keys. Chunzi doned the Vive Headset and I played the interactor, Josiah Carter.
The experience was both wonderful and terrible at the same time. It was wonderful simply because it was the first run. Yeah! We are officially creating VR immersive experiences! We have a preliminary timing of a bit longer than 7:00 minutes. It’s a start! I have a handful more of wonderful things but allow me to digress into the terrible things.
The art assets are very proxy by now, which is to be expected. Very few of the Blueprint were functioning. The script was not finished. From a pure production perspective we still have far to go. At 7:00 minutes the experience was too short. Probably worse than anything, I don’t think the experience was fun or suspenseful for the participant. There was very little sense of immersion.
I, however, can not view these things as negative rather than extremely positive!
- We found out that 7:00 minutes was way too short. The participant wants and needs more time to take in the experience. 15:00 to 20:00 minutes will be outstanding!
- The script is very important! As far as the interactor was concerned, I was pulling a performance out of my butt. In order to make this flow smoothly we have to have a truck-load of anticipated responses to stay within the narrative and stay true to the character. We will have to really iron this out in the script.
- Sound is super important! During the experience we were treated by natural thunder. Chunzi thought this was one of the best parts of the experience!
- Maintaining suspense, tension and curiosity will be very difficult to develop and maintain. This will take time and experience. I am super glad we are starting to work on this now. I’m not sure if anyone knows how to solve this.
- Having the playspace mapped out 1:1 is crucial. The teleporting mechanic is awkward at best for maintaining immergence. Empowering the participant to walk around freely without concern of controller will be essential.
This is extraordinarily exciting! Before we can be awesome we need to go through “sucky”. Bring it on! Let’s see all of these problems! let’s grind through these lessons and develop some really functioning skills. There is an epic new media in there. We are on the edge of seeing it in its full glory. This is very exciting.
