Pickup Scene

Archive “P.O.N.D. Virtual World” using the game as a medium

This article introduces P.O.N.D. Virtual World, a work that expresses the digital archive in VR.

This work explores new archival possibilities by using 3DScan to create 3D computer graphics and by adding gameplay to the work itself, while focusing on VR as a medium for the digital archive.

I will now introduce the scene and explain each element individually.

P.O.N.D. Virtual World

What is P.O.N.D. Virtual World?

P.O.N.D. is a cultural festival held at PARCO in Shibuya from October 16 to 25, 2020. In this festival, innovative creators of various genres such as art, fashion, music, food, etc. participate and create a new culture.

At PARCO MUSEUM TOKYO, on the 4th floor of Shibuya PARCO, 15 artists exhibited their works.

 

Taken from the P.O.N.D. website　https://pond.parco.jp/

P.O.N.D. Virtual World was created on STYLY as a way to experience the exhibition online as well.

JACKSON kaki, who exhibited a VR work at P.O.N.D., was the overall director and producer of the exhibition.

 

A virtual space with psychedelic undertones

The first impression of this piece is the color scheme with bright primary colors.

 

Psychedelic hues

Psychedelic hues

This color scheme is based on the colors of the flyer, featuring pink, green, blue, yellow, and white as the axes.

Flyer design

The design art direction was done by Ota Takumi of .otd.

http://o-t-d.jp/about/

Based on a vivid color scheme, PlayStation / PlayStation2 and PC games were collected as references when designing a space (level design). Here are some of them.

One of them is LSD, the psychedelic Dream Emulator software for PlayStation, released in 1998.

LSD is a game in which you “just walk” through a psychedelic space. In other words, there is no “puzzle solving” or “battle action” in the game.

The catchphrase at the time of release was “This is not a game”.

LSD | Software Catalog

 

LSD

 

LSD

Here, I’m referring to the psychedelic space.

Another reference is BROKEN REALITY, an adventure software game for PC.

 

BROKEN REALITY

 

BROKEN REALITY

Like LSD, BROKEN REALITY is a psychedelic space.

The space itself becomes a work of art, not only to enjoy the work as a digital archive but also to replace the experience of the work in a VR space.

The space itself can also be replaced as art, “expanding the worldview of the P.O.N.D. project itself”.

Novelty as an archive

This Virtual World presents new archival possibilities.

Two major possibilities include the ability to create digital copies of your work with 3D scanning using LiDAR, available since the iPad Pro2020.

The other is the creation of a spatial conductor with a simple mini-game.

These two possibilities are presented here.

Digital copying with LiDAR

Some of the archives of the works exhibited in this world are scanned and digitally archived in 3D using LiDAR on the iPad Pro 2020.

Scanning with LiDAR

Scanning with LiDAR

Unlike regular Photogrammetry, this kind of 3D Scan creates and textures a mesh directly.

It’s possible to generate a 3D model in minutes—something that would take hours with Photogrammetry.

Of the 15 archives we created, two-thirds of them were completed in one day.

Scanning with LiDAR


Scanning with LiDAR

The quality may be inferior to the more accurate Photogrammetry, but advantages include the speed of 3D model generation and the ability to produce a higher quality when scanning flat surfaces, etc.

Leading Spaces with Games

The main element that makes this scene novel as an archive is the presence of a simple mini-game element in the scene.

At the same time that you can experience the space as a walk simulator, mini-games are incorporated as a conduit for the space.

A bulletin board placed in the space

When experiencing VR and virtual spaces, it’s hard to get a clear UX of “where to go” or “I don’t know the purpose”.

Similarly, in this world you experience it as a space, but at first you don’t know where the work is located.

This is why I created a game as a way to experience the space.

As you can see in the GAME on the bulletin board, I incorporated a mini-game to search for P.O.N.D.’s mascot characters, Pong and Dong-chan.

There are 20 Pong and Dong-chan hiding in the space. When you find those 20 characters, the space is transformed.

Find them and click on them to rotate.

Click on it, and it rotates.

The web browser’s UI shows the count.

Count UI

In this way, we extend the depth of the experience by incorporating gameplay.

The scene

We have combined various elements to bring novelty to the experience of viewing the archive.

If you haven’t experienced P.O.N.D. Virtual World before, or even if you have, we invite you to revisit the scene to discover something new in light of this article.

A new and enhanced experience of art archiving is here.

 

  • Experience it from your smartphone

    Download STYLY Mobile and launch your scene. (See the following article for instructions on how to download.)

[Summary] How to experience STYLY scenes VR/AR(Mobile) / Web Browser Introduction by step
[Summary] How to experience STYLY scenes VR/AR(Mobile) / Web Browser Introduction by step

 

  • Experience the scene from PC / VR

    Click on the image below to go to the STYLY GALLERY scene page. Select your equipment and experience it.

Learn VR/AR content creation even without prior experience

Learn the basics of Unity and PlayMaker to create VR/AR content, and learn the process (and production techniques) of creating compelling content available on STYLY. NEWVIEW SCHOOL ONLINE, our online learning site, is now open!

  • Create VR/AR content without having to write any programming code.
  • Officially supervised Unity courses available.
  • Additional elements such as photogrammetric production methods and content lightening.
  • Learn the necessary concepts for creating VR/AR content.