GeoCistern is an Explorative and educational virtual experience that takes users through an interactive sequence of virtual exhibits, galleries, games, and open spaces modeled off of Early Modern Ottoman styles. The space provides a new and engaging way for researchers and students alike to engage with early modern ottoman history and culture, as well as interact with other types of Meditative and game-like experiences.
the following are images of the different spaces within the space. Notice how some of the features and open spaces resemble elements of Medieval and Early Modern Turkish styles.
The following are some videos of walking inside the main space and transitioning to some of the UI experiences:
This educational game takes users through a series of open-ended prompts in which they are able to draw out their thoughts and ideas.
This drag-and-Drop map-making experience is a more guided game in which users can tell their own stories about a topic through maps and droppable items.
This is a meditative experience that takes a user through different parts of a city (in this example it is London) as well as projects different audios that associate each scene. This experience resembles a journey and does not require the user to to interact with the game, but rather just listen, meditate, and think about the various prompts that may appear.
Scripting the Experiences
Key Scripting for Drag-And-Drop Map-Making experience
I used the I_Drag_Handler Class to control the mouse-obejct interaction within the UI. THe code on the left shows how to handle the mouse-clicking sequences.
Key Scripting for Meditative Experience
For the Meditative Experience, I used a collection of Booleans and timers to control when to move through the different stages of the city experience, when to start audio, when to display the prompts, etc. Below shows an example of how some of those booleans are used in order to control the flow of the experience.
Key Scripting for Whiteboard Unguided Experience
Left: Use of Line_renderer class to make lines using mouse.
Below: Scripts controlling the transitions between when the user is completed and submits his/her drawing and when the next prompt is displayed.
Key Scripting for Zooming in and Out during meditative experience
In order to zoom into an image or panel in Unity, you must change the Top, Bottom, left, and right components in the UI inspector for that image, also indicated by the Offset Min and max values in the script.
For more information on scripting methods and the design process of this virtual space, feel free to contact me (information found in contact section).
