The
Cave Trip
An Interactive, Immersive Storytelling
Timeline
Summary
My team designed a narrative interactive experience through various technology, Including Vive Tracker, multiple projectors, and a mechanical platform. We aimed to create an immersive experience for audiences
"Welcome to this mining cave! You have just owned this place. I will lead you to explore this cave thoroughly. Please enjoy this trip, and hopefully, you will find an interesting story, probably about yourself..."
2 weeks
My Role
Narrative Designer, 3D Artist, Programmer (Visual Effects)
Software&Devices
Unity, Maya, Blender, Projector, Vive Tracker
Game Video
Design Process
About The Story
"Welcome to this mining cave! You have just owned this place. As an old miner who has been working here for decades, I will lead you to explore this cave thoroughly. Just make yourself relax, and here is your ID card. Please make sure not to lose it! Please enjoy this trip, and hopefully, you will find an interesting story, probably about yourself..."
The story we created for this interactive experience is that the player, as the main character in this story, is taking a mine cart trip to get familiar with the mine he/she just purchased. But the truth is, the character is actually a soul that refused its death. The mine cave is exactly where the character was killed. And the old miner who did the guidance is actually a grim reaper, trying to let the soul remember and accept its death. the scary scenes during the player's trip are actually what happened before the character's death. And the dead body which appeared both at the beginning and at the end of the trip is exactly the character's body.
Interaction With Vive Tracker©️
The interaction we designed for players is based on HTC Vive Tracker. Players can use the lever to stop or start up the mine cart. And they would receive a helmet during the gaming process, which can light up the environment in the game scene.
Scene Design
Those scary scenes in our game are crucial. Since they are not designed to simply scare the player. The significant function of them is to give pieces of evidence that the character had died in this mining cave. However, the indications couldn't be shown directly. We hope the player would feel that something is not right experiencing those scenes and realize the whole story (that the character is not a living person but a soul) at the very end.
The first scene shows the beginning of the previous tragedy: The emergency exit was blocked by the falling stone. Therefore the character and his/her friend Dave were entirely trapped in the mining cave.
One of the methods we designed for indicating the truth, is by playing some mysterious human voices, which are, in fact, screamed out by the character before his/her death. Those fragmentary words are indispensable for players to understand the whole story.
In the second scene, the temporary wooden bed and those digging tools indicate that the character tried to survive and found a way out in this desperate situation. And then it comes to the third scene, showing directly a dead body, indicates that the character's only companion, Dave, was dead.
Design For The Climax
Interest curve is significant In interactive storytelling. And <The Climax> refers to the most emotional moment in the interest curve. In our game, the climax is when the player finds out that the character is already dead and, instead of being a businessman, he/she is playing as the soul of the deceased character.
As the main character, the player actually would see his dead body in the very beginning. But we deliberately designed this moment, that the player wouldn't realize it at all. Firstly, the player would get the helmet in the middle of the game. Without the helmet, the player wouldn't connect him/herself to this dead body. Secondly, the player would be far from the body, therefore not able to see the ID card on the body's vest is exactly the same as his/hers.
The first time seeing the body at the beginning
The second time seeing the body at the end. It is clear that the ID card on the body shows "549".
The number on the player's vest