Category: LookingOutwards-01

Immersive Van Gogh exhibit is a conceptual video installation which brings art into a digital form allowing viewers to live through the paintings, as conventional art becomes increasingly obsolete, immersive expression of art is really something that attracted me towards it. It was designed and conceived by Massimiliano Siccardi, who took 12 years to complete this project. The Lighthouse Immersive group formed a mosaic of images employing 53 Panasonic PTRZ770 laser projectors and an internal network to produce a fully immersive, 360-degree experience. The creator of the project is a pioneer in the digital arts and has always been inspired by renowned 2d artwork that he could one day convert into immersive digital art. The project, although 22 years old, is relevant now more than ever. The world is becoming increasingly appreciative of art, and witnessing these artworks in digital immersive environments are truly magnificent and attractive. For the future, this immersive form of conveying art is more crucial than ever.

Minecraft, a game developed by Mojang Studios and created by Markus Persson to be fully launched in 2011, broke previous standards of what a videogame should be, making its way to becoming the best-selling game of all time. Before the creation of Minecraft, video games followed a precise template where players had to always be directed through a story or adventure. Instead, this game provided a free-range platform that allowed players to create and customize their worlds. Its tremendous popularity in the game industry, along with its far-reaching influence on design, culture, and education, leads me to admire it.

The simple nature of this game is what makes it so astounding. Through large pixelated blocks, players can build endless structures, craft tools, and mine for materials. Engaging in this game allows the user to exercise and improve their spatial awareness, concepts of symmetry and geometry, along with problem-solving skills. It took Markus Persson just a week to create the first version of considerably what is one of the most popular games in history. I believe it was coded through JAVA. Markus was inspired by an existing game called Infiniminer which also used pixelated blocks allowing players to mine and build. I see this computational project evolving into immersive technology such as VR/AR that allows the player to explore their world more actively. With certain adjustments, it can even potentially become a type of immersive 3D modeling experience that may be used professionally!

Work Cited

Fulton, Michael. “Why Is Minecraft So Important?” Lifewire, Lifewire, 19 Feb. 2020,
https://www.lifewire.com/why-is-minecraft-so-important-4027563.
“The Cultural Impact of Minecraft (10 Years) – H20 Esports.” H20 Esports Campus
Amsterdam, 24 May 2019, https://h20.gg/the-cultural-impact-of-minecraft/.

September 3, 2022
I’ve always enjoyed exhibits at museums that were interactive and changed depending on input. I remember as a kid going to museums in San Francisco with my parents and always gravitating towards them. More recently I visited SFMoMA and they had an interesting piece which appeared to just be a drum set in the middle of a room with strips of cloth hanging from the ceiling on wires. When someone went up and started playing the drums, lights would turn the room red and smaller white lights would flicker around depending on tempo and volume. Now that I’m thinking about it, it doesn’t seem as cool as I thought it was but I think I really enjoyed it in the moment because of the interactive aspect and immediate results.
I’m assuming that the artist had to create some sort of program in order to achieve the desired effect and they might have taken inspiration from strobe lights or other things of that sort from concerts that also react according to beat and tempo etc.
I can’t remember the name of the artist and couldn’t find the exhibit on the MoMA website. Link to MoMa.

I’m not sure if this entirely counts, but I admire the game Genshin Impact from a design and developmental standpoint for a few reasons. On the game design side, the expansion of the map and story
frequently happening after the release of the game rather than with it is a really interesting structure that allows the player to develop skills as the story develops, much like a real adventure would happen. From the programming and development perspective I don’t know much about industry standards, but I think it’s really interesting how they used a customized version of unity to build the entire game. They had two separate
rendering systems? or pipelines? characters were cell shaded and all
environment was PBR. For a game of that scale and cost (free!) it’s really impressive how complex the process behind the scenes is.

Work:
miHoYo 2020

Evette LaComb
Mario Kart 8

• What do you admire about the project, and why do you admire these aspects of it?
  I admire Mario Kart 8 because of the fluency of interaction between the player and the system. I enjoy the customization of the cars as well as the choice of tracks. I enjoy the random features such as the ability cubes, as well as the skill based aspect of the game play.
• Who created it and how long did it take them to create it?
  Nintendo created the game directed by Kosuke Yabuki. The game took two years to develop.
• To the best of your knowledge, did creating this project require the development of custom software/scripts, or did the authors create the project using “off-the-shelf” (commercial) software?
  I believe Nintendo used custom software
• What prior works might the project’s creators have been inspired by?
  The project’s creators were inspired by previous games in the series as well as other racing games of the time.
• To what opportunities or futures does the project point, if any?
  I think this game points to a future of racing games, as well as party games. The random features of the game make it less serious, and I think a lot of Nintendo’s games especially in the Mario universe reflect that. Hopefully we can look forward to more surprising and exciting games to play with friends and family in the future.
• Provide a link (if possible) to the work, and a full author and title reference.
  https://mariokart8.nintendo.com/