Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
3.4.5
Lost in a Rift
'Lost in a Rift' is a third-year studio project that was designed and implemented by
three students. The intent was to extend the amount of sensory information for a
virtual environment beyond visual and auditory.
8
Using Arduino and a custom cir-
cuitry, they connected a fan and a heat lamp to the computer that run the virtual
reality simulation. The students then designed and modelled virtual scenarios with
locations and situations that would make the best use of these additional devices. In
one scene, the user could feel the wind blowing when they would cross a bridge over
a mountain pass. The heat lamp would be activated in a scene where an explosion
occurs close to the user or where the sun is shining.
In order to also facilitate a seamless transition from the real world into the virtual
world, the starting and ending scene were modelled in a way that resembled the
setup of the physical installation, so the user would fi nd himself/herself sitting in a
chair in a high-rise building, being able to look out of the windows. Navigation was
made simple by merely three buttons for walking forwards and turning left and
right, conveniently located on the chair's armrest.
Nothing in this project was predefi ned by lecturers or course content. The
project was born from the students' fascination of virtual reality and latest tech-
nologies like the Oculus Rift and a desire to play with such technologies to see
what may emerge. Such an approach is common with fi nal year students who
learn through a process of making, rather than having a specifi c goal in mind.
From this starting point, the group developed the whole concept, did the neces-
sary background research and kept in close contact to the lecturers who would
help them in specifi c aspects, e.g. game engines, electronics and the aspect of
'presence' (Slater and Wilbur
1997
). Some design decisions even happened by
accident, e.g. the idea of the heat lamp was born during a feedback session where
the lecturer happened to sit in the sun shining through the window during a sunny
virtual reality scene. The fi nal environment developed by the students is shown
in Fig.
3.7
.
As with the previous project, this is very much an example of students adopting
the play as self rhetoric, using their projects to explore themselves and their inter-
ests. Whilst play as self rhetoric is often applied to solitary activities and hobbies or
high-risk phenomena like bungee jumping, there is also an element of play as self-
realisation (Henricks
2014
) which correlates well with elements of the self, particu-
larly where play is idealised by attention to the desirable experiences of the
players - their fun, their relaxation and their escape. In this project, the students
truly escaped the confi nes of a more traditional education by having fun whilst
exploring their own interests.
