Architecture as Level Design – The Lighthouse

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Nature and its relationship to the human body has been studied, mapped and analyzed for centuries- that architecture should respond to the proportions of the body. Building codes and patterns defined by Da Vinci, Le Corbusier (or, even better, Charlotte Pierrand), Leon Alberti, among many others exist today based on general universal measurements, from bodily relationship of one’s elbows to the foot, arm, palm, etc. The perfection of Cindy Crawford itself.

As architects, we are equipped to think on a human scale, the gestures that accompany each bodily movement increase user presence. We’ve been taught to design in regards to the program of space, to create emotional landscapes that intensify the physicality of a users’ gestures as they circulate, augmenting feelings of presence. Just like how we intuitively manipulate physical objects, architecture can manipulate how a user inhabits a space. We must crouch or crawl in small tunnel spaces, descend with ease down a ramp. Simple elements that make up a building, their proportions and material qualities push the user to move and react. Breaking one of these codes can be dangerous: like the obnoxious “women staircases” designed by men in the 70s to fit the perfect “female stride” that satisfy nobody but cause people (both women and men alike) to misstep and plummet down the steps… Afterall, form follows function.

In this course, students have designed a level for a virtual reality game. The game’s core mechanic is based on the concept of The Lighthouse and requires navigating and using a 2 x 2 meters area as an infinite plane to inhabit the world. An endless lighthouse effect. Each level uniquely plays with space, physicality and gestures in the physical and virtual world. Students did this by learning game design, user experience design, supernormal interactions and building these spaces with new proportions. Students experimented with non-Euclidean architecture, interaction design, and did case studies on VR experiences that have physicality in terms of navigation and perception of virtual architecture.

For more information about the student work and brief please visit the official page by TygerTyger:
https://aavs.tygertyger.io/outcomes-2021

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Student:

Concept
The project brief is to build a VR puzzle game to examine and develop a new set of rules and techniques for designing user embodiment in virtual space. I chose to explore the phenomenological aspects of space and multisensory perception of the human body in virtual architecture through the labyrinth game concept.

Game description
The Labyrinth is a sensorial retro adventure set in the enchanting VR maze. Traverse through the portal to uncover a visually stunning, sonically pleasing, and immersive non-euclidean universe from your own little room. In the Labyrinth, players explore levels with the different environment that draws inspiration from the 80s Synthwave visual aesthetic. Manipulated light, sound, and space deconstruct the players’ senses: vision, hearing, and touch. The levels are tailored to change the way the players feel, sense, interact in a rich spectrum of sensory environments while finding their way out.

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This game explores the theme of illusion that attempted to create an immersive dreamland for player to feel a sense of illusion, either through their eyes or by changing their perception about the space. The game is about escaping the fantasy that the lighthouse keeper breaks into the space of new dimension and the rule in reality does not work anymore here. The player is trapped in this new dimension, in a dream, in a fantasy, in an illusion. Thus, the player needs to escape this infinite space of illusions, otherwise, you will be trapped in this illusion space forever.

To create the illusion, the game focused on the optical illusion and the change of gravity. The main mechanics is that player can use the portal to achieve the change of gravity so that he can walk on different planes and escape this 3D maze. The use of a portal can achieve a seamless transition between different spaces. There is one main maze room where it has lots of portal connecting some small puzzles. The game tends to create some infinite scene to make the player feel disorientated and trapped in the endless loop. Thus, this game invites the player to break the rule to find solutions for the puzzles and escape some of the “infinite” room.

This game is more about walking and experiencing the space of illusion. Therefore, in terms of locomotion, the player will need to use their whole body to walk. To be specific, they need to swing their arm to walk in the game, not only for enhance the immersive experience but also to reduce the motion sickness.