Semester Two, Entry Three
'Un-Reality'
'Un-Reality'
This final project was one I was very interested in from the get-go, as it is quite different from any of the assignments we have done before. It represents something that not only tested the regular BCT skills of time management, working under pressure, ingenuity and observation, but also a key aspect of interacting with others. Unlike, for example, a piece of design work, the alternate reality game presents the challenge of tuning in to a person's intuition in order to move forward. In addition to telling a compelling and interesting story through a new world, we had to take into account the many ways a person could interpret the clues they were given, the decisions they would make and, ultimately, ways to keep them on track.
One of the reasons I found this project so enjoyable was because although the real world is our medium, the exercise as a whole drew numerous parallels with disciplines such as video game design (a huge influence in my decision to enroll in the Bachelor of Creative Technologies). For one, it must be interactive which presents a unique set of issues, often centered around the fact that involving people introduces a lot of variability. Each step must be carefully calculated in order to give the participant a sense of freedom within this new world that they have been thrust into, and a challenge - yet the challenge itself must be obvious enough to be followed in a linear or semi-linear fashion. Additionally, precautions must be made in order to direct the participant back to the path if they have strayed off course.
Our particular alternate reality game focussed on somewhat of a Truman Show meets Fallout 3 scenario, in which the world is in a state of turmoil after the Cuban missile crisis went wrong in an alternate timeline, resulting in the fall of many world superpowers. As humanity itself crumbles, a small, faraway country is chosen not only as a safe haven, but an experiment on the few unharmed humans left in the world. We establish that what is known to us as New Zealand in 2011 is actually a massive 'vault' experiment not unlike those seen in the Fallout series - a way to observe human behaviour in an idealized environment cut off from any outside factors.
Our main character was an escaped 'convict' who was wise to the machinations of New Zealand's governing bodies, who were upholding the illusion. Our participant meets him in the first and final segments of the game, following his tracks in between through artifacts such as a flash drive containing top secret files, to QR codes, to a dropped nametag and beyond.
Eventually these lead to a room where the participant is then asked to give the drive to either the convict or the government representatives in order to facilitate freedom and moral choice into our otherwise linear story. Both decisions had their respective outcomes, though neither was designed to elicit any real sense of closure or gratification. To the participant, the world then continues as normal.
One of our main problems was that, in the process of trying to create immersion through detail, we ended up puting too much focus into the backstory and mundane aspects of the game that we somewhat neglected the actual journey and execution. One example of this would be the web page the participant is directed to with a QR code - I spent a long time editing the HTML, finding a host and integrating the news stories Sam had written that I ended up neglecting the world as a whole. We were criticised for the game being too short, and were also ill-prepared for the run through as we had not properly rehearsed all of the 'scenes'. For example, none of us were prepared when Maggie came through the wrong door during the final scene, and were thus caught off guard and not in position. However, Sam (the convict) actually used this to our advantage - he asked myself and Ke (the other security guard) to go talk to Maggie and then burst out and started the game without us having a clue what was going on. This added considerable immersion as we were just as bewildered as the participant as to what was going on, something comparable to a hollywood technique known as 'method acting'. Though I was absent from much of the run through due to my role, I'm told that the rest of it went through without a hitch until the final area.
Overall I would say that this project was a showcase of my own personal growth throughout the BCT. I am often plagued with doubt about my own work, for example, and made the resolution to be confident and push my ideas in a constructive manner. My group members have told me this was evident. Additionally, I feel that my need for better quality, more polished work showed up in some of the methods of immersion that I suggested, though they were not without their flaws. This is the next personal barrier I hope to overcome, along with my work ethic, which often still leaves something to be desired. That said, I am still proud of our result despite its inherent flaws, and would like to experiment more with alternate realities when the opportunity for working with them arises.
The fake news site from our game can be viewed here, along with a video explaining the convict's story.
One of the reasons I found this project so enjoyable was because although the real world is our medium, the exercise as a whole drew numerous parallels with disciplines such as video game design (a huge influence in my decision to enroll in the Bachelor of Creative Technologies). For one, it must be interactive which presents a unique set of issues, often centered around the fact that involving people introduces a lot of variability. Each step must be carefully calculated in order to give the participant a sense of freedom within this new world that they have been thrust into, and a challenge - yet the challenge itself must be obvious enough to be followed in a linear or semi-linear fashion. Additionally, precautions must be made in order to direct the participant back to the path if they have strayed off course.
Our particular alternate reality game focussed on somewhat of a Truman Show meets Fallout 3 scenario, in which the world is in a state of turmoil after the Cuban missile crisis went wrong in an alternate timeline, resulting in the fall of many world superpowers. As humanity itself crumbles, a small, faraway country is chosen not only as a safe haven, but an experiment on the few unharmed humans left in the world. We establish that what is known to us as New Zealand in 2011 is actually a massive 'vault' experiment not unlike those seen in the Fallout series - a way to observe human behaviour in an idealized environment cut off from any outside factors.
Our main character was an escaped 'convict' who was wise to the machinations of New Zealand's governing bodies, who were upholding the illusion. Our participant meets him in the first and final segments of the game, following his tracks in between through artifacts such as a flash drive containing top secret files, to QR codes, to a dropped nametag and beyond.
Have you seen this man?
Eventually these lead to a room where the participant is then asked to give the drive to either the convict or the government representatives in order to facilitate freedom and moral choice into our otherwise linear story. Both decisions had their respective outcomes, though neither was designed to elicit any real sense of closure or gratification. To the participant, the world then continues as normal.
One of our main problems was that, in the process of trying to create immersion through detail, we ended up puting too much focus into the backstory and mundane aspects of the game that we somewhat neglected the actual journey and execution. One example of this would be the web page the participant is directed to with a QR code - I spent a long time editing the HTML, finding a host and integrating the news stories Sam had written that I ended up neglecting the world as a whole. We were criticised for the game being too short, and were also ill-prepared for the run through as we had not properly rehearsed all of the 'scenes'. For example, none of us were prepared when Maggie came through the wrong door during the final scene, and were thus caught off guard and not in position. However, Sam (the convict) actually used this to our advantage - he asked myself and Ke (the other security guard) to go talk to Maggie and then burst out and started the game without us having a clue what was going on. This added considerable immersion as we were just as bewildered as the participant as to what was going on, something comparable to a hollywood technique known as 'method acting'. Though I was absent from much of the run through due to my role, I'm told that the rest of it went through without a hitch until the final area.
Overall I would say that this project was a showcase of my own personal growth throughout the BCT. I am often plagued with doubt about my own work, for example, and made the resolution to be confident and push my ideas in a constructive manner. My group members have told me this was evident. Additionally, I feel that my need for better quality, more polished work showed up in some of the methods of immersion that I suggested, though they were not without their flaws. This is the next personal barrier I hope to overcome, along with my work ethic, which often still leaves something to be desired. That said, I am still proud of our result despite its inherent flaws, and would like to experiment more with alternate realities when the opportunity for working with them arises.
The fake news site from our game can be viewed here, along with a video explaining the convict's story.
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