In class we briefly discussed “Text Rain,” an interactive installation developed by Camile Utterback and Romy Achituv in 1999 (check out Utterback’s website. She has some amazing new projects). The installation allows for users to directly interact with falling text being projected on a screen. Text lands on the bodies of users and can be dynamically toyed with in a…
Author: Steve
A New Way to Read? : The Oculus Rift and Virtual Books
I, like so many eager others, have yet to experience the capabilities of the highly anticipated, head-mounted virtual reality device known as the Oculus Rift. Initially announced and profiled back in 2012, the Rift has seen drastic improvements to its tech and functionality since its initial display, causing fans and many in the gaming industry to dream of different intuitive…
Players and Decisions of Morality
There has always been a sense of desire in video games to create an experience authentic enough to more greatly suspend reality. This is largely contingent on the extent of player freedom, a facet of game design that game developers have been struggling to perfect for many years. The first games were linear, entirely operated within the specific constraints of…
The Dear Esther Question: Is This a Game?
A video game was once a relatively simple thing to identify. Pong, Pac-Man, Space Invaders; these were/are simple games that possess an undeniable gaminess and self-awareness of this fact. Modern games have largely turned the tables on this trend, using advanced technology to create visual landscapes and narrative tools that work to immerse players in the worlds of games,…