Immersive Design 1: Idea Explanation
Premise
This immersive project is very loosely based on Alice in Wonderland as the idea of a figurative “rabbit hole” is the main focus instead. The base idea is that the player/user is transported to other dimensions or worlds by a seemingly normal elevator as they leave their place of work. The elevator takes the place of the “rabbit hole” as it takes the player deeper and deeper into fantastical locations. However, this will probably only involve a couple of locations with the limited time I have for the final video. Besides the obvious Alice in Wonderland inspiration, I am also partly inspired by the Roald Dahl story “Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator” as the idea of a fantastical adventure in a transparent elevator is part of my base idea.
Story
As there is a limit of about a minute for the final immersive prototype, the story for the idea is very fast paced. The initial idea is for the player to be in a normal office building before being transported to a fantasy village type location via the elevator. The elevator will seemingly start to break down before the walls peel off to show the village. After the player has had adequate time to take in the sights of the village, a giant will climb over some nearby mountains and approach the elevator. The giant will pick up the elevator and then swallow it and the player whole. This transitions to the next area which makes use of darkness to hide some kind of sinister presence. The aim in this part is to try and spook the player a little with use of audio and limited light. After this section, the player appears back in the world with everything seemingly fine. The question is whether what just happened was real or not.
Design
The software this project will be created in is Unreal Engine with the use of an optional Movie Render plugin that allows an Unreal render to be captured in a full 360 degree view. However, as it will be a render there won’t be any actual interaction for the player but this is fine for this as it is only a prototype of what this idea could be if ever developed further. Unreal Engine was chosen as I have much more experience in it than Maya and I can make use of the level sequence cinematics system to animate my scenes. The render times should also be more manageable for my personal computer allowing me to test my project semi-regularly to work out any issues.
References
yannick (2007) Glass Elevator Boulogne Paris [Image]. Available online: https://www.flickr.com/photos/21624989@N07/2120607541/ [Accessed 18/5/2023].