For this assignment we were tasked with creating an immersive experience built to be shown in a VR headset. This blog post will discuss the inspirations ad design considerations I have made whilst designing this virtual experience. The theme for the immersive design is ‘Down the Rabbit Hole’, I have decided to interpret this quite literally as I thoroughly enjoy the story of Alice in wonderland and want to pay homage to the original Lewis Carroll story. I am planning on creating three different 3D environments perfect for a VR experience.
The stylistic choices I will make rely heavily on my skill level, I am confident that I will be able to create a compelling experience whilst keeping the 3D assets clean and simple, I also have spent some time considering the different styles I could go for and finding inspiration in different media.
One of my biggest inspirations in terms of style is early PlayStation games. I love how atmospheric these games are without consisting of overly complex textures and models and want to emulate this same feeling in my immersive experience. One of my favourite inspirations is the early Spyro games. One of the key features I like in ‘Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly’ specifically is the haziness of the background, the assets that haven’t quite loaded into the foreground are tinged in a purple hue and I really enjoy this effect and I also like how the models are still charming at a low-poly level.
Figure 1 – You can clearly see the purple mistiness in the background which I wanted to recreate. You can also see the simplicity but charm of the models.
One of my favourite Alice in wonderland interpretations is ‘Alice: Madness Returns’ developed by Spicy Horse and published by EA. This game is a very dark and twisted interpretation and I love the art style and themes presented in this game. I do love this style but I don’t think I will go down this route as I would like to experiment with different styles and ideas in my immersive experience.
Figure 2 – Whilst ‘Alice: Madness returns’ is definitely a favourite of mine, I decided eventually to experiment with different stylistic choices.
As for the final VR experience, I have decided that I definitely want to interpret key parts of the books into an immersive experience so that avid fans of the story could experience their favourite scenes in a 360 view. I have read the book a couple of times so I already had a specific set of images in my head that I feel I can interpret into an immersive 3D design. I have decided I want to create three different atmospheres and styles, one very whimsical and aesthetically pleasing scene, one as a more classic fairy-tale interpretation and one that is a scarier and more threatening scene. For my first whimsical scene I will create the garden or forest in which Alice meets the caterpillar. For the second scene I will model the red queens castle and gardens to mimic the croquet scene which appears in the book and famously in Disney’s cartoon version of ‘Alice in Wonderland.’ For my third and final scarier scene I have decided to recreate the chessboard from ‘Alice Through the looking glass’. To create these scenes I will use Maya to 3D model all assets myself and utilise ‘Skydome’ lights and VR Cameras to produce a fully finished immersive experience.
References
JohnGodGames (2013) Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly – Gameplay PS2 (PS2 Games on PS3) [Video]. Available online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNnIR8rkyR8 [Accessed 22/04/2023]
Kuhnke, O (2023) American McGee is leaving game dev following rejection of Alice: Madness Returns sequel. Available online: https://www.vg247.com/alice-madness-returns-sequel-rejected [Accessed 22/04/2023]