Graphics + Audio Design

Planet Astra

Timeline

September 2019 - December 2019

Team

Adrienne Locher-Lo, Coco Miko Purbah, Eric Cheng

Tools

Premiere Pro, Audition, Maya

Contributions

Project Manager, Sound Designer, Screen Writer

Planet Astra is an immersive virtual environment game created to encourage physical activity for seniors suffering from arthritis or chronic pain. This was a project for an immersive environments class (IAT 445) and it was intended to be an extension for a preexisting game created by a professor and grad students at SFU. In this environment, players are challenged to use a range of upper body movements to capture stars found within the environment.

The Visual Effects Title Sequence I created for game

Visual Cues

In this game a player finds themselves in a cave on a remote planet. The players first visual cues consisted of interactions and UI's:

Interactions

UI

Grab Star
Grab Torch
Deposit Star
‘Light’ Mushrooms
Teleport

Star Counter (located on the top right hand corner)
- Displays the amount of stars the user has in their inventory
Starfire Counter (hovering above the star fire)
- Displays the amount of stars thrown into the fire

Grab Star

Grab Torch

Deposit star using the Star Orb + Light' Mushrooms

Teleport

Star Count UI

Starfire Counter UI

Narrative Theme

During Initial play testing, we noticed that often players were unsure of what to do with the given visual cues. That is when we decided a narrative could help guide players through the game. Along with sounds I found on Freesounds.org, to help bring the environment and actions to life. I also created a script, that I rehearsed, recorded and edited to create an other worldly ethereal narrator for the game.

Towards the beginning of the game, the purpose of the narrators voice is to provide context and a friendly guide to the player. Later on, it serves as an extra layer of feedback as the player explores the environment. It then provides a sense of climax when it prompts the player to re-enter the cave. Lastly, the voice finishes the narrative of the game by providing an ending and uncovering secrets, that were first mentioned in the initial voice heard by the player.

Opening Narration for Planet Astra

00:00 / 00:29

First Checkpoint when player exits the Cave

00:00 / 00:15

Positive Prompt as players approach the First Star

00:00 / 00:08

Plays when player nears Crystals along the base of a Mountain

00:00 / 00:10

Plays when player enters the Bulbous Woods

00:00 / 00:08

Hidden Piece of Information that Foreshadows the Stars use in the Cave

00:00 / 00:05

Plays when a player nears a Pond in the environment

00:00 / 00:07

Plays when player enters the Pheonix Meadows

00:00 / 00:09

Plays once player has collected the sufficient amount of Stars

00:00 / 00:04

Final Narration as player completes the game

00:00 / 00:27

Sound Philosophy

The sound philosophy for this project was to create a whimsical, foreign and natural soundscape to immerse our players. I kept our sounds natural, such as the sound of running water, fire and cave echos to provide a recognizable experience for our audience. I then added a whimsical and fantasy like, experience by finding sounds that contained an enjoyable and mysterious tone to them. Interactive objects like the stars, mushrooms and orb were given sounds to encourage interaction.

The star was given, a sound as it hovered and then it provided feedback as the player grabbed it. The mushrooms were given 3 different sounds based on their height and it served as feedback for the player as they were touched with the torch. Lastly the orb was given sound to tell the player that it was interactive much like the stars in the outside environment.

Cave Interior

Planet Astra Ambiance

Star Poke

Star Captured

Small Mushrooms when poked

Medium Mushrooms when poked

Large Mushrooms when poked

Final Exhibition

At the end of the semester, we exhibited our project and had several passersby and other classmates playtest our game. During this time I conducted the pre and post questionnaires for each person testing our game to gather our final data for the project report. Once the exhibition ended our professor passed out awards to congratulate teams that had achieved a successful feat for a virtual reality game. Our team was awarded "Best Narrative".

Playtest Area

Booth Setup

Camera Setup

Candies & Brochures for participants

QR Code, Consent Form & Sign Up Sheet

Reflection

Overall, I enjoyed finding and creating the ambiance and sounds of Planet Astra. I was proud that my efforts in creating an intriguing storyline set our game a part from other projects and complemented the visuals and playthrough we created. This project also taught me the importance and value of conducting playtests, as a lot of modifications we made were inspired by feedback from our participants. "Astra will not be forgotten!"

Final Video Documentary for Planet Astra that I narrated