Schedule
Part 1: Environments (Week 2 – 4)
Part 2: Interaction (Week 5 – 7)
Part 3: Narrative (Week 8 – 15)
Week 1: Introduction
M 01/28No class
W 01/30Overview of the Course: Realities for VR
Readings for Next Week:
Hamlet on the Holodeck, Ch 3: From Additive to Expressive Form, Janet Murray (1997)
Hamlet on the Holodeck, Ch 4: Immersion, Janet Murray (1997)
Homework:
1) Make sure you have access to the course website for blogging. You will receive an email with login information. Check to make sure it works and that you can post. Plan to have one entry serve as the development blog for each project.
2) Blog about a particular environment that you like and why (from physical world, from a movie, a theater set, in a book, in a game…). Think about what makes it a place – something more than a space. Be ready to talk about it in class.
3) Download Unity to your computer (if that’s where you’ll be working with it). You should have v2018.3
Week 2: Intro to the Dev Environment / VR Low Tech
M 02/04Review Homework Discuss Readings / In-class Exercise Lo-Tech VR
W 02/06LAB: Intro to Unity / 3D Objects, Prepping for Google VR
Readings for Next Week:
The Difference Between Presence and Immersion
https://skarredghost.com/2016/11/09/the-difference-between-presence-and-immersion/
Immersion, Presence and Interaction
https://www.e-education.psu.edu/geogvr/node/875
Notes on Presence and Immersion, by Phillip Maas
https://medium.com/@phili_maas/notes-on-presence-and-immersion-58010bc2c840
Homework:
1) Begin sketching out the environment you plan to make based on your chosen descriptive identity. Consider sources of inspiration from architecture, urban design, theater, landscapes, animation, sci-fi, etc. Bring in any references to show with your sketches.
2) Make sure you have the necessary builds for Unity (both PC and Mac, and either Android or iOS if you want to view it on the Google Cardboard and your phone).
Week 3: Alternate Realities
M 02/11Alternate Realities and Fictional Worlds / Presence and Immersion /
Review Sketches / Keeping a development blog
W 02/13LAB: Working with Prefabs, External Assets and Lighting
Readings for Next Week:
How to Design for Virtual Reality, Wired https://www.wired.com/2015/04/how-to-design-for-virtual-reality/
Jaron Lanier snippets on post-symbolic communication (very short), from You Are Not a Gadget
https://gist.github.com/cvan/5b253bffe09c1410fe735af5bed21e36
Homework:
1) Work on your project. Continue adding to your development blog.
Week 4: Environments / Projects #1 PRESENTATIONS
M 02/18Discussion: Environment / Viewing with the HTC Vive (and Oculus TBD)
LAB: Project Work
W 02/20Project #1 Presentations
Readings for Next Week:
Responsive Environments, Myron Krueger (PDF)
https://github.com/periode/alternate-realities/blob/master/assets/pdf/krueger.pdf
The Aesthetics of Interaction in Digital Art (NYU elibrary) https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nyulibrary-ebooks/reader.action?docID=3339682&ppg=112
Homework:
1) [moved from previous week] Choose a Google Cardboard VR Title (free or paid) to review. This can be computer-generated or 360 video. Write a few paragraphs with your interpretation of how the environment works in terms of communicating information, and how the view has been composed.
2) Blog about a particular interaction that you like (between two human beings, a human and non-human, an artist and their audience, within a game or other media experience, etc.). Be prepared to discuss them in class.
Week 5: Interaction
M 02/25Concepts of Interaction / Review Homework & Readings /
Forms of VR Interaction / Assign Project #2
W 02/27LAB: Working with C#: Game Objects and Components
Readings for Next Week:
Watch: Understanding the Body’s Role in AR and VR Game Design, Robin Hunicke
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTTZSjv9ZBA&app=desktop
Storyboarding Content for VR, Medium: Virtual Reality Pop
https://virtualrealitypop.com/storyboarding-in-virtual-reality-67d3438a2fb1
Homework:
1) Begin storyboarding project #2. Consider how the user will interact within the space. Post your storyboards as part of your development blog.
Week 6: Interacting with the Vive
M 03/04VR Examples – Interaction / Review Storyboards
LAB: Working with the Vive Handsets
W 03/06LAB: Interaction in Unity, Raycasting
Su 03/10IM Workshop Mental VR, SUNDAY 6-8pm (required)
Readings for Next Week:
Watch: The Humane Representation of Thought, Bret Victor
https://vimeo.com/115154289
Homework:
1) Blog about a form of representation you feel would be suited for the medium of virtual reality and what it creates an interface to.
Week 7: User Interface
M 03/11The Interface Effect / VR Examples – Interface
LAB: Work on Projects
W 03/13LAB: Work on Projects / Troubleshooting
Readings for Next Week: none
Homework:
1) Work on your project.
Week 8: Project #2 PRESENTATIONS
M 03/18Project #2 Presentations
W 03/20SPRING BREAK
Readings over Break:
Invisible Cities, Italo Calvino
Week 9: Spatial Fictions
M 04/01Building Spaces for Fiction / Discuss Reading
LAB: Considerations of a space for fiction
W 04/03LAB: Establishing Attention / Assign Project #3
Readings for Next Week:
Scenography of Kentucky Route Zero, Cardboard Computer’s Tamas Kemenczy 2014https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nh_o8JEmVdw
Game Design as Narrative Architecture, Henry Jenkins
http://homes.lmc.gatech.edu/~bogost/courses/spring07/lcc3710/readings/jenkins_game-design.pdf
Homework:
1) Begin storyboarding and scripting your final project.
Week 10: Animating the Space
M 04/08Discuss Project Ideas and Storyboards
LAB: Working with C#
W 04/10Lab: Basic Animation with Code
Readings for Next Week:
The Storyteller’s Guide to the Virtual Reality Experience, Medium: The Stanford d.schoolhttps://medium.com/stanford-d-school/the-storyteller-s-guide-to-the-virtual-reality-audience-19e92da57497
The Four Different Types of Stories in VR, Voices of VR, Devon Dolanhttp://voicesofvr.com/292-the-four-different-types-of-stories-in-vr/
Recommended also:
Balancing Player Control and Authorial Control with “Virtual Virtual Reality”, Voices of VR, Samantha Gorman & Danny Cannizzaro http://voicesofvr.com/621-balancing-player-control-authorial-control-with-virtual-virtual-reality/
Homework:
1) Start on a prototype of the layout of your VR space in Unity. Consider how the space captures the potential for interactive “story”.
2) Playtest a paper version of your world with a classmate or friend to get initial feedback.
Week 11: Character and Story
Su 04/14Sarah Rothberg Artist Talk. 6pm – 8pm, IM Lab
M 04/15VR Examples – Narrative / Review Rough Prototypes
LAB: Sarah Rothberg Guest Visit
W 04/17LAB: Animation Controller for Characters
Readings for Next Week:
Implications for Interactivity: What Does It Mean for Sound To Be Interactive?,Karen Collins TBDhttps://github.com/periode/alternate-realities/blob/master/assets/pdf/collins.pdf
Homework:
1) While at the VR Park in Dubai, take note of those aspects of the experience that feel particularly immersive and why. Are you engaged in the premise of the experience? What is your role and what do you get to do? Does light or sound play a distinctive part in making the experience compelling? Write about this as a blog post and be ready to share in class on Monday.
F 04/19: Field Trip to VR World in Dubai Leaving Campus 8AM SHARP
Week 12: Sound and Light
M 04/22Sound and Light Design in Digital Worlds
LAB: VR Title Review
W 04/24LAB: Considerations for Lighting
Readings for Next Week:
The Rise and Fall and Rise of Virtual Reality, The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/a/virtual-reality
Why VR “Storytelling” Does Not Currently Work. And Can it Ever?, Medium: Mobile Lifestyle.
https://medium.com/mobile-lifestyle/why-vr-storytelling-does-not-currently-work-and-can-it-ever-work-728ff15efb1c
Why VR Isn’t Going to Further Isolate Us Like Your Parents Think It Will, Medium: Virtual Reality Pop, Shawn Kilmer
https://virtualrealitypop.com/why-vr-isnt-going-to-further-isolate-us-like-your-parents-think-it-will-4a0fae73f707
Homework:
1) Work on Projects.
Week 13: Future of the Medium
M 04/29Social Realities and the Future of the Medium
Share Progress on Projects
W 05/01LAB: Controlling Spatial Sound / User Interface for VR
Readings for Next Week: none
Homework:
1) Work on Projects. Update development blog. Bring a workable version of your project to class for Playtesting.
Week 14: Works in Progress
M 05/06Playtest Sessions
W 05/08Project Work Time
Readings for Next Week: none
Homework:
1) Work on Projects.
Week 15: Final Project PRESENTATIONS / IM Show
M 05/13Final Project Presentations
W 05/15Course Review / Evaluations / Prep for IM Show
Th 05/16IM Show, 7:30-9:30pm