OUTCOMES

5 GAMES IN VR

Based on the research we gathered on virtual and physical lobby and waiting spaces, students choose a specific context to design their own "level" in order to apply their research into a real context and social setting. The outcomes range from museums, university orientation & campus life, architecture school, social chatting games and a virtual film festival.  In this course, students will design a level for a virtual reality game. The game’s core mechanic is based on the concept of The Lighthouse (see next page) and will require navigating and using a 2 x 2 meters area as an infinite plane to inhabit the world. An endless lighthouse effect. Each level will uniquely play with space, physicality and gestures in the physical and virtual world. We will do this by learning game design, user experience design, supernormal interactions and building these spaces with new proportions. Students will experiment with non-Euclidean architecture, interaction design, and do case studies on VR experiences that have a physicality in terms of navigation and perception of virtual architecture. 

THE LIGHTHOUSE

STORY

You are the keeper of this lighthouse. You have been here for 3 weeks, your space is comfortable, warm and simple. The waves of the fall season are getting higher and higher, and you can hear them breaking during the night along the outside wall. You appreciate that all the controls are close to you, so you don't have to climb to the top of the tower. Nevertheless, that persistent creaking for 4 nights on the floors is starting to get your attention. And it might be time to check it out.

When you reach the top floor, on top of the worn and rickety steps, you find a short note hanging on the closed-door telling you that the emergency key is in the old tower toilets. But when you decide to descend, you have the feeling that you can no longer see the ground. The first floor is plunged into darkness. A few paper lanterns have lit up along the ramp, and you can make out more floors than you feel you've climbed.

In the lighthouse, distances and time no longer have the same logic. The durations become successively very short or excessively long, the steps between the floors, which you cannot count, become more numerous, and the floors innumerable. But above all, with each door you open, the spaces become twisted, voluptuous and filled with dreams. An ancient spirit still lives here. A knight of the round table? A sorcerer? A goddess prisoner?

Although each place gives you an initial sense of dread, you discover that each room holds a memory of a life spent guiding the most unlikely ships and vessels, observing extraordinary and monstrous sea life, and refusing to leave a cherished place dedicated to guarding a world you know nothing about. The Lighthouse is a narrative architectural wanderer. An interactive puzzle game where the level design teaches you as much about your character as it does about the designer of each room.

The Lighthouse is Lovecraft X Pirates of the Caribbean X Aliens. With a touch of Daniel Sloss and his Jigsaw. 

1.

Infinite

VIRTUAL REALITY: IMAGINING FANTASY AND ILLUSION.

A game that creates an immersive dreamland for players to feel a sense of illusion, either through sight or by changing their perception of space. The game is about escaping the fantasy that the lighthouse keeper breaks into the space of new dimension and the rule in reality does not work anymore here. The player is trapped in this new dimension, in a dream, in a fantasy, in an illusion. Thus, the player needs to escape this infinite space of illusions, otherwise, you will be trapped in this illusion space forever.

PROJECT BY: Ziliang Huang

2.

The Labyrinth

EXPLORATION OF PHENOMENOLOGY IN VIRTUAL ARCHITECTURE.

The Labyrinth is a sensorial retro adventure set in the enchanting VR maze. Traverse through the
portal to uncover a visually stunning, sonically pleasing, and immersive non-Euclidean universe from
your own little room.

PROJECT BY: Lily Thin Myat Noe

3.

If You Are The One

"THE WAY OF TRUE LOVE IS NOT SMOOTH"
- SHAKESPEARE

In the future, when the gender ratio is unbalanced and social pressure is increasing, people’s marriage is also facing great challenges, so only the brave have partners. Blind daters need to jump over the floater in a relatively short time to reach the top area, and they can choose which one to date. Floating water as a boundary, like a mirror, refracts and reflects light, so that players can experience romance and mystery when they participate in the game. 

PROJECT BY: Ling Tian

4.

Aqua

ESCAPE GAME

A leak has cracked open into an old aquarium and the building is rapidly filling with water, you need to find an escape before time runs out otherwise you will drown!

PROJECT BY: Lachlan Bresson

5.

Treehouse

BODY MOVEMENTS X VIRTUAL SPACE

The Core idea of designing this game is to explore more possibilities of architecture in virtual space. VR is an extension of the real world, where we can experience more diverse Spaces. Architecture is often about space, exploring the relationship between the human body, activity, and space. In a treehouse game, the controller is more like the player's foot than the actual foot, and the rule is that the player needs to control the controller to move between rooms, causing body movements.

PROJECT BY: Wandi Jin

WELCOME TO
THE LIGHTHOUSE. 

ARCHIVES