Installation
Flow[er]
flow[er] is an interactive flower made completely of recycled materials that responds to movement. flow[er] senses your presence and ‘blossoms’. It represents the cycles and flow of energy of creation and destruction in cities. Our actions have the ability to create beauty, the question is, what do you think is beautiful?
Exhibitions:
Robotronica (QUT) – Brisbane, Australia
ARS Electronica Festival – Linz, Austria
2high Festival – Brisbane, Australia
QUT Illuminate Exhibition – Brisbane, Australia
Designed, programmed and built by myself and Jennifer Heng
Student Prototype
Cache 22
‘Cache 22’ is an interactive non-linear narrative set in a retro-futuristic noir universe that explores duty and morality.
Cache 22 follows a simple core game loop. The player begins the experience with a memory presented to them, it is up to the player to then carefully examine these memories and search through them to find triggers (tags) that will unlock other memories, recent and past.
Memories take the form of images, videos and audio files. Players can search these memories by using their cursor as a marquee tool and dragging over a portion of the screen they choose and press the analyze button. The system will process the player’s selection and let them know if they have unlocked any further memories, where the player repeats this cycle.
I helped build and develop world and characters however my primary role was that of a game designer, and created the narrative structure that would end up in the game.
Every time a player completes a module and moves on to the next, a part of the brain is damaged, this creates the illusion of limited choice in the player and is also a sign of progression in the game. The game ends with the entire brain being damaged and the player is unable to unlock any further memories. The player is however allowed to go back and review all found memories to help further understand the story and piece together the mystery.
Student Prototype
Blind Faith
Blind Faith is a side scrolling puzzle adventure game where the player assumes the role of Nina Renner, a young systems analyst who is trapped in a computerized afterlife. Nina must solve puzzles and move backwards in time, triggering memories and hyperrealities to figure out how she got there in the first place. This game has been developed working one day a week for 13 weeks.
A HUB Games production.
As the Designer, Writer and Product Owner of Blind Faith, I created and pitched the initial concept to industry members and colleagues to recruit team members and garner support.
During the pre-production phase I wrote scripts and dialogues, conducted character studies, storyboarded the game alongside a concept artist, created paper prototypes, conducted mechanic tests, designed puzzles and design documentation.
My goals were to experiment with mechanics, aesthetics and dynamics that would help deliver narrative in the best possible way. This was done by testing overall design concepts storyboarding and then testing in unity. Most of the prototyped mechanics were scrapped in the final game but the exercise helped push the game forward creatively and mechanically.
Publications
“‘Blind Faith’ An Experiment With Narrative Agency in Game Design” Human-Computer Interaction: Interaction Technologies August 2015
Game Jam
On Call M.D.
Simply put, On Call M.D. is a game about triage. You take on the role of a doctor who has to diagnose and treat waves of patients based on their symptoms. It is up to you, which patients do you save and which ones do you sacrifice? Your job security is based on your performance. This game was made using Unity and developed in 48 hours. A working build is available here:
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B4KIZd-6s2JYY3pJSlZtY1Z4RkU&usp=sharing
Game Jam
A Hop, A Skip and A Jump Through Space
This is an interactive exhibit that lets visitors (children) feel the gravity of different celestial bodies by putting them in the boots of an astronaut jumping his way across their surfaces.
This project was made in 48 hours at the Centre For Digital Media. Before I began my masters, the school had us do a game jam with people we had never met before, days after just moving here. This is the result of that weird concoction of anxiety, stress, jet lag and weird first impressions.
The task was to build an educational exhibit for a younger demographic for space themed museum. We wanted to build something that was interactive, fun, easy, appealing to all users and that that included users that are passing by, older people and also something that could draw a crowd. We believe we achieved that with AHASAJTS.
Game
Mythic – Halfbrick Academy
Founded in 2001, Halfbrick has been on the forefront of the Australian game development industry for many years. Under the mentorship of game designers from Halfbrick Studios, I was required to design a vertical slice of Halfbrick I.P. I worked with a group of 6 other students to develop and prototype this project. Due to the nature of the project, no more information could be revealed till recently. The game I was working on is now in beta mode and is titled ‘Mythic’
Vidhi 