LIFE SENTENCE. (working title)]]>
SUMMARY: A multi-user web-based virtual experience/ game featuring a full-motion video-based avatar. Users are invited to discover the mysterious impacts of collective thought patterns on the life and emotions of an anonymous human being.
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KEYWORDS: video avatar, database-driven narrative, FMV
PRIMARY DOMAINS: web-based gaming, interactive video, virtual reality
ARTIST: Ian Spangler
INSTRUCTORS: Ted Byfield, Stephanie Owens, Louisa Campbell
EMAIL: iaspangler@yahoo.com]]>
CONTEXT]]>
In an age of vacuous online experiences and human avatar simulations revolving around shallow notions of appearance and social behavior, this thesis project re-conceptualizes the user-avatar relationship, forcing a deeper and more introspective dialogue to emerge. The goal is create an unconventional virtual experience in which users collectively shape the mind of a shared avatar as opposed to controlling the appearance, conversational quips, and bodily behaviors of their own individual avatar. They can then see how the avatar's life and emotional state evolve over an extended period of time (ie: months). On an aesthetic level, the creator has sought out alternative, more authentic, methods of portraying an avatar to the 3D models typically employed.]]>
PRECEDENTS]]>
FULL-MOTION VIDEO GAMES ("INTERACTIVE MOVIES"):
Beginning with Dragon's Lair in 1983, this genre of game-making involved the use of pre-rendered, TV-quality live-action or cartoon video sequences to present stories with limited player interaction. Learn More
THE VIDEOAVATAR LIBRARY:
An early open-source system developed for incorporating pre-made video avatars into a networked virtual reality application. Spawned many projects at the Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL). Learn more]]>
THE VIVID GROUP VIRTUAL REALITY GAMES:
Player can insert himself into a game simulation and play in real-time through patented gesture tracking software. The games are limited to special venues where a blue screen environment can be set up to transform users into video-based avatars.
Learn more
More Precedents >>]]>