At the Threshold of the Afterlife
- Sep 3, 2024
- 3 min read
Updated: May 31
OVERVIEW
At the Threshold of the Afterlife is an interactive narrative experience in which the participant embodies a departed soul reflecting on their past life in limbo between the physical world and the afterlife. The prototype was part of my final project of the Immersive Media postgraduate course at Liverpool John Moores University.
The prototype served as a means to explore interactivity and agency in a cinematic experience and their ability to elevate audience engagement and empathy with the story’s characters. Testing sessions partially validated the technology’s ability to engage users and create empathy, but also highlighted how it dampens the author’s control over the narrative.
THE CHALLENGE
The main hurdle was designing an experience that balanced user agency with a clear, compelling narrative. The user flow had to be paced so that time for input was carefully balanced with time to simply inhabit and observe the world, while still keeping the audience’s attention on the unfolding events of the story.
ROLES & FOCUS AREAS
As the sole member of the project, I was responsible for authoring and designing the narrative, the user experience, building the virtual environments, soundscapes and programming the experience’s interactions and narrative sequences.
The project focuses on interactive storytelling using Virtual Reality technology and leveraging immersion to engage audiences in a virtual world and create a space for introspection.
SOLUTION & PROCESS
IDEATION
As a narrative concept, the experience interprets the intermediate state between the physical world and the afterlife as a liminal space where the departed revisit past memories and reflect on their life.
Additionally, the experience’s art direction is inspired by the aesthetic of physical liminal spaces as seen in cinema and the popular internet phenomenon.
DESIGN
EXPERIENCE USER FLOW
During my research, I studied the concept of “Ma” and how adding moments of stillness and silence in gameplay gives space for introspection, allowing players to reflect on their journey through the virtual world.
The above visual outlines the user’s journey through the experience, highlighting how each revisitation of a past memory is succeeded by a question that the audience can reflect upon before moving forward with the story.
ACCESSIBLE GAMEPLAY AND INTERACTIONS
The experience’s interaction mechanics were designed to be as simple and digestible as possible to reduce distraction from the story.
Additionally, sufficient clues and instructions were integrated into the virtual environment as props existing within the space rather than floating UIs that could break immersion.
DEVELOPMENT
STYLISATION FOR GAME OPTIMISATION
Adopting a stylised approach to the experience’s art direction to avoid issues with performance during gameplay, as well as making room for more expensive effects such as fog and other dynamic shaders.
The use of low-poly assets with bright colour palettes was inspired by games such as Playdead’s Inside and What Remains of Edith Finch.
GENERATIVE AI FOR VOICE-OVERS
Due to budget constraints and the potential for multiple iterations, using generative AI tools for text-to-speech conversion proved useful to program unique and realistic voice-overs for the story’s characters.
PROJECT OUTCOMES & NEXT STEPS
Research and development conducted for the project proved effective in giving practical experience for the design and development of interactive narratives.
Based on audience feedback, 66.7% of participants agreed that the experience evoked emotions during or after playing it. The other 16.7% of participants felt it did not, focusing on the virtual environment and its interactive elements. The remaining 16.7% of participants were unsure of their experience.
From a narrative design perspective, the experience sheds light on the challenge of balancing interactive freedom with narrative focus, demonstrating how authors lose control over what their audiences experience when compared to more traditional media such as films. Additionally, the project also highlighted the subjectivity of empathy in storytelling experiences.
