Design 6400 3/21 Journal
Coming into this project, Gathering Sky is my main source of inspiration. It is a game about guiding a flock of birds flying over green meadows, golden waves of grain, milky forests of stone, and riding winds of rainbow. Suddenly, an eagle cries, swooping down and breaking the flock into pieces. All the companions fade away into the darkness. When the storm recedes, the birds find their way back together again and reshape the flock, leaving behind them traces of white clouds.
With scenic backgrounds, beautiful music and sound effects pertinent to the current environment, and playable particles that are the birds, Gathering Sky is an epitome of my ongoing proposal on a relaxing, soothing game/visual effects. Therefore, I’ve been thinking about how I can expand on it, especially in ways that are relevant to my stakeholders, bedridden hospital patients.
This is where I thought about using eye-tracking and breathing to guide the birds/fish, and I am experimenting with the techniques. Because of my previous project about aquarium and many research-based evidence on the soothing effects aquariums, I naturally thought about making my own Gathering Sky underwater.
But compared to sky, water seems to lack the feel of free flight, breathing in fresh air, and overlooking the ground that we normally dwell on. Instead, a large body of water evokes the feel of depth, mystery, and even pressure and danger. Can a game based on water environment feel as free as Gathering Sky? The best way to answer this question is probably to make a demo and test with it. I also realized that, I will need to port my aquarium scene to Unity, since it has more robust support for video game related features.
Right now, I am working on letting my fish swim in underwater environment from the Unity Asset Store because the pre-made assets are helpful to test and visualize the game, both for myself and for potential composers that I want to contact. I should be able to get it done early next week.
Sources of inspiration:
Gathering Sky: http://gathering-sky.com/
Donkey Kong Underwater Level: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPtjHqQhEQ0&list=LL&index=4&t=1875s
Fantasy Underwater 2D: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7TmoRv-jUY&list=LL&index=4
2D Underwater Paralax Backgrounds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1E59WKjBrT0&t=20s
