The double slit experiment lays bare the duality of existence. The double slit experience lays bare the individuality of perspectives and that you are responsible for your actions.
Project
Approach
First time choosing my own team
A very elaborate inspiration phase because of the tour to Disneyland Paris
Trying to create one focused (WTF – ) effect
Trying to let players experience that their perspective may not be the perspective
Result / Evaluation
Working, alienating experience made possible by two players seeing something else
Playtest provided us with an amazing amount of information we could use to improve this unconventional concept. Also, it was a blast to do.
concepts which require complex technical parts must be proven to work or rejected in an early stage
Description
In this project I was able to create a team with a diverse and balanced mix of disciplines. We went on an excursion to Disneyland Paris for inspiration on “ride” experiences, which we incorporated into the final project.
We created an experience where two players think they are seeing the same things, but are actually experiencing something different. This creates an alienating effect which leaves you wondering whether your perspective is the ‘correct’ perspective.
We did this by having one player take the role of ‘controller’, able to steer an avatar through a game world. In this world there were various interactions possible (some examples: batting a piñata, kicking a soccer ball around, but also releasing children from prison (or electrocuting them))
Meanwhile there was a second player watching this through VR-glasses (google cardboard)(eventually there was too little time to get this piece of technology working so we substituted with a second screen) This second player was allowed to make general comments about how he felt about what he saw, but apart from that neither of the players were allowed to communicated. This rule was installed after we discovered the experience ended as soon as people found out they were seeing different things.
There was a catch however. The second player saw (and heard) something different than the controlling player. In his world the piñata was a corpse, the soccer ball was a brain, and the children were monsters that followed the player. At the end of the ‘ride’, players were able to communicate freely and then they soon found out they had been experiencing something entirely different.
With this ‘ride’ we aimed for creating one big ‘reveal’ moment where players suddenly saw things shift into focus and realize their perspective of the world was not necessarily the same as someone else’s. This experience goal is something I return to more often, as I believe more awareness of this can make people more openminded.
Project Role
Niels de Jong – programmer, designer
Silver Huber – project lead, programmer, designer
Robbie de Gier – hardware programmer, designer
Rick Kamp – Artist
Emmelie Hoberg – Artist
Project Duration
9 weeks
Originally published on 1-6-2015
Play time
5 minutes
Links
Double Slit Experiment windows (1407 downloads )Double Slit Experience Project Documentation (1619 downloads )