Category: capstone2021

 
Dance is a form of self-expression free from the limitations of language that connects your body directly to your soul, and music is the host of this ritual. The instinct to dance is right there in your body. It’s natural, it’s primal, and it shouldn’t be repressed. But too often, people are scared of what others might think and let shame get in the way. What we need is an inclusive space, where self-consciousness is thrown out the window. No judgment, just music.

The Groovehouse is created precisely for that purpose. It’s a 4-minute virtual reality dance club experience inspired by 1970s disco music. Once you put on the VR headset, whatever place you’re at right now is instantly turned into a dance floor. The world suddenly stops spinning, but the disco ball won’t. The spotlights keep shining and flashing like nothing else matters. The juicy bassline flows smoothly in the air, and the stomping drumbeat fills the room with throbbing rhythms. In the dark of the room are ones just like you, looking to release their stress and grooving non-stop to the music. You might be physically alone, but your inner dance floor will always keep you company.

 
Being named as “Shan Hai Jing” monsters: Relearn & Re-create, this project aims to present the monsters from the ancient Chinese classic of early Chinese geography, monsters and myths —— “Shan Hai Jing” in a more engaging and refreshing way. As a book that has been interpreted very differently throughout history, scholars and the general public have had a wide range of understandings towards the mysterious elements in the book. Simultaneously, people have also seen a great variety of creations ranging from diverse fields and forms centering “Shan Hai Jing”. In order to show the rich and inspiring possibilities the book owns as well as to help people get to know more apart from mainstream perception and general public impressions, the project combines both traditional and modern elements of “Shan Hai Jing” and adopts a more interactive way to bring the audience closer to the topic. With the project’s interface applying the style of ancient Chinese books, the audience are able to explore the “book” and decide which specific “Shan Hai Jing” monster they would like to be through choosing from different regions and animal types. Along with the original text description and relevant terms of the monster, the audience can also see their own human and “Shan Hai Jing” monster combined hybrid face, which is built upon the connections between the monsters and the animals in reality. By such a way, the project hopes to provoke thoughts about the possible paths that “Shan Hai Jing” might follow to have gradually taken shape in a dialectical perspective. What’s more, besides arousing the audience’s interests in this topic, the project attempts to take a step further to stimulate and establish the thinking mode of making connections between various works of traditional Chinese culture and to act as a starting point to motivate the public’s passion, exploration and re-examination of these works.

 
How has the COVID-19 pandemic changed our life so far? How are we distanced from each other during the pandemic physically, socially, emotionally, through social distancing and quarantine experiences including self-quarantine, group quarantine, and city lockdowns? Does Digital space help to reduce that distance or increase?

To explore how digital approaches may help people regain and develop empathetic thinking from each others’ perspectives, Our Quarantine Room is a web-based interactive documentary that allows users to experience collected multiple individuals’ quarantine memories during the COVID-19 pandemic through immersive and participatory experiences in a simulated online meeting. Based on video and audio recordings collected from fifteen online interviews conducted by the directors with participants in Chinese and English all over the world, the project tends to link these participants’ quarantine experiences through sharing elements and comparing views, therefore engage the audience with the inspirations of the similarities and differences they may as well share with the speakers. The audience may choose to enjoy a chorale of various voices in a cyber-confession room, dig in and listen close to one specific memory or experience, or read a humanist found poems by diving into multiple monologues with one’s found logic. With the given power of a seeming host, the audience also has the freedom to raise different subjects for the interviewees to talk about and change the direction of the discussion by choosing among topics.

To enhance the experience during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the documentary is presented online so could be accessed by more individuals interested in such quarantine experiences, even those who may be currently quarantining, to join Our Quarantine Room to quarantine alone and together in a digital space. Moreover, the interface is designed as a minimalist online meeting with immersive background, therefore could encourage the audience to experience the documentary as a recreational activity of the director’s online interviews.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has been changing all aspects of our lives, leaving some of us quarantined in a space of memory, physics, and time of this global sharing experience. In this context, Our Quarantine Room aims to bring digital accompanies for those who have been quarantined, being quarantined, to be quarantined.
Special thanks to J.H.Moon and Yanyue Yuan in many aspects of production including technical development and design improvements.

 
Speaking of cultural heritage, a universal agreement is that they are part of the heritage of a group or individuals, and they can contain various tangible or intangible contents including artworks, historical sites, traditions, rituals, and so on. As digital technology has developed into an interconnected era, more and more practices are being taken in new media approaches to protect and propagate cultural heritage. Serious games, sometimes called applied games, are one of those new media approaches that contribute to the digitalization trend of cultural heritage protection in their unique relaxing way. The definition of serious games is still blurry and controversial, but a common understanding is that they are games that do not have entertainment, enjoyment, or fun as their primary purpose.

This project, Journey to Chang’an, then comes from the question: why do many serious games related to cultural heritage lack engagement? I tried to solve this problem by grabbing ideas from successful commercial games. From my research, some useful methods including emergent game mechanics and multi-media interactions are concluded. So this game actually serves as the application of these methods to make serious games more interesting and engaging.

So I studied a lot of history materials, broke up the long introductions about cultural heritage in the museum, and integrated them into different storylines. Different from many cultural heritage digitization projects which often offer overwhelming text or visuals for the audience to intercept, this game enhances emergent game mechanics to incorporate the cultural contents in dispersive interactions. What’s more, I spent a lot of time designing sound, music, collection interfaces, etc. Hopefully through the combination of contents in various media formats, people can stay interested in the game thus get to know more about the cultural message behind the gameplay.

This is just a start, Journey to Chang’an will get better, and hope you can see it again in the future.