FutureTechLive! World Builders Hub at

Comic-Con 2020

Co-Technical Director with Parallux

This was my first time being a Technical Director, with Sebastian Herscher, on a project for Parallux. I worked on:

Partner Relations / Integration
UI / UX
Game Design / Development
Environment Design
Narrative Design / Development
FX
Lighting
Sequencing
3D Modeling

In a month from concept to release, our team of 2 developers, 1 creative director, and 1 producer created a virtual activation for VR and computer users to explore content from 16 different partners.

The Hub was full of XR art, cutting edge volumetric content, and portals that took players back and forth between partners' standalone experiences and the Hub. It was a dream come true to work on Comic-Con and an absolute pleasure putting it together with all the partners and people involved!

More details here: https://parallux.co/comic-con and https://www.futuretechlive.com/

Mary and The Monster

Associate Technical Director/Creative Technologist with Parallux

A multi-user XR experience that brings to life the origin story of Frankenstein through the eyes of a young Mary Shelley.

I was brought on as an intern to do Avatar Design and Development. As this project and my role at Parallux evolved, I worked on:

UX
Game Design / Development
Environment Design
Ports to iOS ARKit, Quest, and Magic Leap
FX
Lighting
Sequencing
Motion Capture Cleanup

MARY AND THE MONSTER was produced in partnership with the NYU Future Reality Lab, with support from Magic Leap. It recently made its World Premiere as part of the Tribeca Virtual Arcade @ Cannes XR.

More details here: https://parallux.co/mary

Mentally In Action

Sole Creator ft. Landon Rudd

In Mentally In Action, interaction and reaction to the world expands the story. Progression relies on exploration, especially when the player experiences recurring PTSD flashbacks.

The narrative reveals the depths of horror and trauma that armed conflict creates, and sheds a light on the past and present treatment of a surviving veteran.

The mechanics mimic real world actions to remain accessible to a player with any level of VR experience. M.I.A. is a seated experience where players operate a wheelchair to move and use the grip buttons on VR controllers to interact.

Available on Itch:

https://gamecenter.nyu.edu/projects/mentally-in-action-2/

Real Al's Humanity Academy

Co-creator with Brett Moody and Matthew Ricci

Real Al’s Humanity Academy combines wacky minigame action, an Adult Swim style sense of humor, and the world’s most human robot to give you a VR party game unlike any other. In Real Al, you became a student of the titular Artificial Intelligence character as he teaches you everything you need to know about the human condition through a series of ten second minigames: you’ll rob houses, bounce eggs, meet puppets, and exorcise demons - just like a normal human! You can attempt to graduate from the Academy by entering the “Human Training Mode” or face off against your friends for a place on the “Human Leaderboard” in the unlockable “Endless Mode.” There’s never been a better time to learn how to be human. Enroll today!

Available on Steam:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1025710/Real_Als_Humanity_Academy/

VR Vinyl

Play it!

Sole Creator

For my Hypercinema final project, I chose to flesh out music albums through immersing the audience in their cover art. In creating these interactive worlds, I hoped to better capture the tone of the music. I created this project with the same intent as visual albums, such as Lemonade, which aim to provide their music with more context.

The walkthrough video uses the non-VR fallback keyboard and mouse controls, but the experience was designed for VR from the ground up.

Gabe Barcia-Colombo's 2018 Hypercinema class

Bienvenue Au Ballet

Play it!

Sole Creator

You find yourself thrust into a ballet class where the tiny children around you know every move. Precisely position your lanky, unwieldy ragdoll to mimic them and avoid humiliation!

This is an autobiographical game about experiencing my very first ballet class, as a high school freshman, in a class of all 4th graders. I chose this topic because it was an hour of my life where I was diving into a world completely alien to me, and I feel often that’s what games do best. It’s a memory that stands out to me as a big obstacle in life, and one I’m proud I overcame. However, I thought that the chaotic fumbling through the first class would be more uniquely entertaining than a representation of myself knowing how to dance. After learning about the physics joints in class, I knew I wanted to make a game that used physics in an interesting way. Upon thinking of this memory, I thought a hinge joint rag-doll would be the perfect way to articulate how out of place and inexperienced I felt in the class at first.

Robert Yang's 2017 Intermediate Game Development class

Overconsumption

Development Commentary

Co-creator with Lisha Payne

Two players operate paddles to collect normal heads, and deflect toxic heads towards their fellow player! Heads become toxic and overcome with greed by consuming money or food objects. These greedy heads drain the player’s opacity on contact, but when normal they add to the player’s color, signifying a positive life influence. Toxic heads revert to their original colors after a short time, representing how we can make amends to unhealthy lifestyle choices. However, if enough toxic heads come into contact with the player, the player’s head will disappear, again representing the significant impact of the people we surround ourselves with.

This project was selected for exhibition at MCC’s mediaWorks_2018. We rebuilt the project for this event and switched all the obstacles to money to make things more cohesive. It received an overwhelmingly positive response from the crowd, and served as a large attraction that stood out due to its interactivity.

Gabe Barcia-Colombo's 2018 Hypercinema class

Just Right

Play It!

Co-creator with Sarah Park

In this VR interpretation of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, you are a bear, and you return home to find everything in disarray. In order to find the intruder an escape-room style puzzle lies before you.

Gabe Barcia-Colombo's 2018 Hypercinema class

Clone Chlome

Play It!

Co-creator with Kelsey Hu, Erin Qin, and Caitlin Falls

The concept was to take the game Gone Home and recreate it as close to the original as possible. We set ourselves up well with scope from the beginning, deciding to take on the room most crucial to the experience, your sister Sam's room. This meant designing the main controls and interactions with objects, and then creating the environment present in the game with recreated assets and audio.

Robert Yang's 2017 Intermediate Game Development class

Necrenomistake

Rulebook

Co-creator with Ariana Barry, Allison Weiss, Jack Chiarello, Matthew Cutts, Rachel Geng, and Sisa Chiang

It all started in the cellar, when you and your companion found the Necronomicon hidden in a pile of old magazines. You both believed yourselves relatively skilled fighters with potential in the mystical arts, so naturally, the both of you decided to try summoning monsters with it and… miraculously succeeded! The newly summoned creatures, confused by their sudden change in environment, were consumed with rage and turned their ravenous gazes on to you. With the equipment you’ve got, you and your friend must subdue the enemies and make them bend to your will. But wait, a thought occurs that one of you is definitely better at summoning and slaying than the other. And so you each agree to a friendly--and potentially deadly--wager: whoever can successfully defeat 10 monsters first, and without falling in battle, shall be the “Master Summoner” and thus the victor. You’re trained and prepared for facing your own army of monsters--though it hasn’t really worked until today--so now it's a matter of conquering your fellow summoner before they conquer you.

Josh Debonis's 2016 Intermediate Game Design class

The Powder Rush

Play It!

Worldbook

Narrative Designer

This branching narrative tale is part of a series created with Matthew Cutts, Ben Fried, Rachel Geng, and Andrew Woo. We created a world from which to base all of our stories: The Lotus Den. This independent island lies in an unknown sea, a territory outside the claim and jurisdiction of any single nation. It is the home of pirates, outlaws, and exiles from around the world. Step into the shoes of a pirate gunner in, The Powder Rush.

Josh Debonis's 2016 Intermediate Game Design class

Infinite Walker

Play It!

Sole Creator

You just slipped on a pair of brand new shoes, and they should at least last through your morning commute, right? Wrong. In order to survive these procedurally generated streets you'll have to essentially play hopscotch to avoid scuffing your sneaks.

You alternate feet with each input, which can be:

A - narrow step

S - medium step

D - wide step

AP Thomson's 2017 Procedural Generation class