Parallel Perceptions

A virtual installation by the Cyberkids of Spring 2021 Senior Design Projects, where the user interacts with digital signage in an overworld, transporting them into the perspectives of 2 different people. Here, the user observes the same scene at the same time, but with subtle differences to convey the thoughts and feelings of each different person so as to promote empathy and a stronger sense to be conscientious of those around us.

Project Description

When first deliberating over project ideas, we found the concept of parallel universes was a strong theme that could draw on our real-world experiences. We decided we wanted to highlight those different experiences, as they themselves are a parallel universe. While we shifted between many ways we could go about doing this, a virtual installation that allowed for users choice seemed to fit best with our individual skills, and what we were looking to get out of this project.

On choosing a setting for the experience to be based in, we landed on the idea of a hole-in-the-wall, intimate bar scene. We felt that the bar would be an environment that the users would likely have a sense of familiarity with and could relate to. Additionally, we think that the sense of intimacy given off from a tightly-packed, small bar scene would lend itself well to the goal of the project to promote mindfulness of those around us.

Other details for our project include the interactivity mechanics as well as the narrative. Firstly, our team decided on an interactive text-based experience as we felt it would be a good way to promote engagement with the user without necessitating any specific hardware or software requirements. Narrative-wise, we settled on the main conflict being focused on one groups night being flattened by a louder, less-respectful group of bar patrons. This way, we could present a story focused on being empathetic of those around oneself while still maintaining a lighthearted tone.

Developed By:

Riley Zawistowski: Technical lead, publishing producer

Lindsey Powell: Production artist (character design), creative lead

Ramina Nejad: Content creator, sound design

Josh Rector: Technical engineer, project producer

Ellen Hernandez: Production artist (environmental design), project manager

Development Process

Check out a detailed breakdown of our process here.

Next Steps

Ideally, our development team would come back to extend and polish our current experience! Developing additional perspectives and characters would be the main goal, to help further flesh out the Steel Devil Bar and its inhabiting characters.