For my animation final, I chose to create an Oculus game built in Unity. In order to create this, I had to do some programming in C Sharp to create colliders that generated platforms upon the player leaving another platform, and in order to integrate Oculus into my Unity Game.
The game begins with the player standing on a small carpet in space, with clouds below them. They listen to a robot reciting Manifesto for a European research network into Problematic Usage of the Internet, set to William Basinski’s Mono no Aware. Once the player tires of listening to this esoteric soundscape, they can jump off of the carpet, and fall onto a platform comprised of the video and audio components of Rick Astley’s Never Gonna Give You Up music video. Upon feedback, I added 10 more platforms comprised of various internet video memes for the player to fall through before they reached the Never Gonna Give You Up platform.
This project was a metaphor for the addictive nature of the internet and the interconnectedness of internet culture and mindless media consumption. We know that over-use of the internet is addictive, and harmful to our mental and physical health. This is not to discount the positive content of the internet, rather, it is a mindful realization that utilization of “mindful” and “mindless” content are two sides of the same coin in regards to internet abuse.
Playtest of My First Game Version
Two Playtests of My Second Game Version