This week marked the onset of many parallel lines of development and investigation. We finalized the core narrative for the experience which we also refer to as the different concept phases. On a high level, the story is divided into six phases :
PHASE 1 : GENESIS
- This phase represents a twilight zone, a transitioning area from which the player will launch into the World of the Sea of Stories.
- It allows us to start of at a small scale before launching the player into the Sea of Stories World so that it appears even more big and overwhelming. Think of it as setting up an ah hah moment for the player in the next phase.
- From a VR experience point of view, we can’t start the player off flying on the bird. It would be extremely jarring and disorienting to start off in a virtual world with the entire environment moving around you.
- Oculus Story Studio describes 3 stages to begin a narrative in VR : The In, The Letting Go and The Call to Story. We’ve utilised all three of these stages in this phase.
PHASE 2 : DESCENT
In this phase, the player has mounted the bird and together they enter the mist and clouds blocking the user’s vision as it descends down the cliff. The bird breaks through the final clouds as it soars over the sea of stories to reveal the magnificent world stretched out in front. The player’s body glows brightly and the bird caws with satisfaction majestically. On either side in the distance, the player can see other birds transporting other glowing orbs.
PHASE 3 : TURMOIL
A slow rumbling sound echoes in the sky. Slowly dark ripples snake their way across the sky casting the world in shadows. Green pillars of fire erupt from the sky into the world. The massive spring begins to lose it’s shine, collapsing inwards. However, the pillars do not break into the sea; they are blocked by a dome of energy. The player’s glow fades back into the dull brown/grey color.
PHASE 4 : PASSAGE
The player crashes into the sea. Above the sounds of the fire making inroads into the dome are still audible above reminding the player of the danger the world is in. Slowly the player drifts through the stream until he sees a stream. As he drifts closer to the stream, his faded color glows once more and he gets pulled into the stream.
PHASE 5 : JOURNEY TO THE SPRING
As the player exits the stream, he hears a huge rumbling sound from above him. The dome cracks open as a huge pillar of fire streaks into the sea and obliterates the stream into a million pieces. As the stream explodes, the air streaks with the sounds and images of the stories, knowledge and human culture lost in the fire. Suddenly all around, the pillars of fire streak into the sea around the player. From above, the player sees the bird enter the sea and rescue him from the fire. The bird streaks through rapidly evading the fire pillars getting closer to the spring.
PHASE 6 : APOTHEOSIS
Finally the player reaches the base of the spring. The player floats into the spring and the bird caws and nods sadly. Just before the player merges into the spring, a pillar of fire hits the bird seemingly killing it. The player merges with the spring and begins to rise up to the top of the spring. His vision is partially blinded by the light in the spring. He reaches the top of the spring and sees the dome destroyed, the water slowly turning green and polluted and the world submerged in chaos. The pillars of fire are all around him and he can see the silhouettes of a bird trapped inside of each pillar.
A golden sphere pulsates from the player and ripples into the world. However, the sphere shatters as comes in contact with the pillars. From below him, he sees other orbs flowing upwards into the spring merging with him, making his glow brighter and brighter. Another golden sphere ripples through, this time destroying the fire and the black sky as it engulfs the entire world. The player’s view is engulfed in bright golden light. Slowly the world fades back into view, tranquil and peaceful with the streams in the sea restored and the birds soaring majestically.