Creating Disorientation, Fugue, And
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OCCLUSION: CREATING DISORIENTATION, FUGUE, AND APOPHENIA IN AN ART GAME by Klew Williams A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Interactive Media and Game Development __________________________________________________________ April 27th, 2017 APPROVED: ____________________________________ Brian Moriarty, Thesis Advisor _____________________________________ Dean O’Donnell, Committee _____________________________________ Ralph Sutter, Committee i Abstract Occlusion is a procedurally randomized interactive art experience which uses the motifs of repetition, isolation, incongruity and mutability to develop an experience of a Folie à Deux: a madness shared by two. It draws from traditional video game forms, development methods, and tools to situate itself in context with games as well as other forms of interactive digital media. In this way, Occlusion approaches the making of game-like media from the art criticism perspective of Materiality, and the written work accompanying the prototype discusses critical aesthetic concerns for Occlusion both as an art experience borrowing from games and as a text that can be academically understood in relation to other practices of media making. In addition to the produced software artifact and written analysis, this thesis includes primary research in the form of four interviews with artists, authors, game makers and game critics concerning Materiality and dissociative themes in game-like media. The written work first introduces Occlusion in context with other approaches to procedural remixing, Glitch Art, net.art, and analogue and digital collage and décollage, with special attention to recontextualization and apophenia. The experience, visual, and audio design approach of Occlusion is reviewed through a discussion of explicit design choices which define generative space. Development process, release process, post-release distribution, testing, and maintenance are reviewed, and the paper concludes with a description of future work and a post-mortem discussion. Included as appendices are a full specification document, script, and transcripts of all interviews. ii Acknowledgements I want to extend my deepest appreciation to my thesis advisor Brian Moriarty and my thesis committee members Dean O’Donnell and Ralph Sutter for their guidance, advice, and help throughout the course of this project. I also want to extend gratitude to the other members of the Interactive Media and Game Development program, in particular Dr. Alexandrina Agloro, who provided me with moral support, research material, and Milka. And thank you to all the IMGD graduate students who offered Unreal Engine advice, playtesting, and comradery during the course of my work. Finally, endless thanks to my life partner Allison Stout, who has these many months lifted up me and my work and believed in the both of us. iii Table of Contents Abstract ......................................................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................................... iii Table of Contents ......................................................................................................................................... iv Table of Figures .......................................................................................................................................... vii Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... 1 Critical Context ............................................................................................................................................. 2 Glitch Art, Internet Art, and net.art .......................................................................................................... 2 Procedural Remixing ................................................................................................................................ 6 Digital Surrealism and Psychedelia .......................................................................................................... 9 Materiality in New Media ....................................................................................................................... 16 Glitch in Architecture and Space ............................................................................................................ 19 Collage and Décollage ............................................................................................................................ 21 Experience Design ...................................................................................................................................... 23 Summary ................................................................................................................................................. 23 Experience Goals .................................................................................................................................... 23 Core Design Approach and Inspiration .................................................................................................. 24 Interaction Design................................................................................................................................... 26 Folie à Deux: A Madness Shared by Two .............................................................................................. 26 Design for the Aesthetic of Change ........................................................................................................ 28 Art Design ................................................................................................................................................... 32 Art Direction ........................................................................................................................................... 32 Architectural Design ............................................................................................................................... 32 3D Assets ................................................................................................................................................ 33 2D Assets ................................................................................................................................................ 33 Lighting and Post-Processing ................................................................................................................. 34 Audio Design .............................................................................................................................................. 36 Technical Design ........................................................................................................................................ 37 Development Overview .............................................................................................................................. 38 Ideation ................................................................................................................................................... 38 System Design and Initial Work ............................................................................................................. 39 Research, Script, and Interviews ............................................................................................................ 41 Version 0.1.0 Development .................................................................................................................... 43 iv Distribution ............................................................................................................................................. 47 Assessment .................................................................................................................................................. 48 Assessment Approach and Objectives .................................................................................................... 48 Assessment Methodology ....................................................................................................................... 48 Post-Play Survey Questions and Results ................................................................................................ 49 Assessment Results Statistical Analysis ................................................................................................. 57 Interpretation of Results ......................................................................................................................... 60 Maintenance ................................................................................................................................................ 63 Future Work and Distribution ..................................................................................................................... 65 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................. 66 References ................................................................................................................................................... 68 Appendix A: Design Specification ............................................................................................................