Weekly Group Update #5

Deciding, Refining, and Ideating Again

Hey everyone! 🌟 This week was all about tough decisions, brainstorming, and figuring out how to bring our VR project to life. Here’s how things went:

The Big Decision: Penguins or Mastodons? We had to finally pick one idea to move forward with — penguins or mastodons. It wasn’t easy!

To make the best decision, we started by listing the pros and cons of each experience. Penguins had a fun, playful vibe, especially with the “hatching from an egg” idea, which we thought could be really appealing to younger players. But embodying a penguin presented challenges, especially with locomotion mechanics. On top of that, we struggled to create a solid user journey, which left us feeling unsure about fully committing to it.

Pros and cons of each idea

Mastodons, in contrast, had a simpler locomotion system and a more cohesive story. However, even with that advantage, it wasn’t a straightforward choice. To dig deeper, we considered the production phase — thinking about coding, 3D design, art, animations, and the challenges we’d face with each concept. We hoped this analysis would make the decision clearer, but it didn’t help as much as we’d expected.

In the end, after a lot of discussion, we decided to move forward with mastodons. It wasn’t unanimous — one teammate leaned more toward the penguin idea — but with the deadline looming, we committed to mastodons and started refining it.

Refining the Idea: A Reality Check Once we chose mastodons, the next step was improving the concept. We wanted the story to be as realistic as possible, so we reevaluated some earlier ideas and removed anything too imaginary or historically inaccurate. This wasn’t easy, as it meant addressing several challenges with our previous concepts. For example:

• Shamanism wasn’t present in pre-Clovis societies.
• Early North Americans didn’t regularly inhabit caves.
• Many Native American myths about elephant-like creatures are rooted in later interpretations, not necessarily in their interactions with mastodons.

With these considerations in mind, we refined the idea to align better with what could be historically plausible.

We met in person on Thursday after class (which was on Wednesday) and again online on Friday to brainstorm and refine further. At first, it felt like nothing was working. We even considered revisiting the penguin idea at one point! But ultimately, we decided to stick with mastodons and used the 3–4–5 method — a technique we’ve relied on in the past where everyone writes down ideas, and we combine them into a cohesive concept. Surprisingly, it worked, and we were able to put together a much stronger user journey.

The New User Journey The updated journey starts in a cave with a shaman inviting players to travel back in time. Players collect artifacts, drink a potion, and find themselves in a prehistoric landscape. They track mastodons, gain their trust, and protect them from hunters. The journey includes a map, which adds a great sense of exploration that we all loved.

It’s still an early concept — not fully locked in — but we’re happy with how it’s shaping up.

User Journey

Reaching Out to Experts As part of this project, we’re preparing a one-pager to share with the Senckenberg Museum. This document introduces our idea and includes questions for the museum’s experts to help us make the experience as accurate and educational as possible. Here are the key questions:

• Do you have any details about the specific mastodon on display (e.g., age, gender, or signs of injury)?
• What kind of plants would this mastodon have lived among?
• What do you think were the biggest threats to mastodons before they went extinct (e.g., climate change, hunters, or predators)?

The answers will guide us as we refine the story and design of the experience.

Journey to the Holocene

Looking Ahead This week was a turning point. From weighing the pros and cons to brainstorming through challenges, we made progress as a team. The process hasn’t been easy, but with a clearer direction and some great teamwork, we’re excited to keep building on what we’ve created.

Thanks for following along as we work on Journey to the Holocene! Stay tuned for more updates as we bring the world of mastodons to life.

Cheers, The VR NOMS Team 🐘

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Semester: P3 Group name: VR NOMS

Group members: Noah Wendt, Omid Ameri, Milena Malova, Stella Campana

Author of the story: Omid Ameri

Date: 26.11.2024