Hindsight

Developed over the course of one semester at the Carnegie Mellon University Entertainment Technology Center, Project Hindsight was an exploration into VR interactive storytelling. Frustrated by the lack of interaction in 360 films and wondering if photo-realism enhanced the immersive nature of virtual reality, Project Hindsight saw a team of 6 students combine film and game development techniques to craft an choice-driven, interactive, live-action 360 film for the Oculus Rift. The work of the project was split into crafting an interactive script focused on responsibility behind the wheel and bad driving habits, merging high-quality computer generated models with film, editing 360 4K footage in such a way that narrative flow between branching story elements would not be lost, and creating a technical architecture to play 360 film, allow for player interaction inside the game, and switch between story segments in response to player actions.

Project Hindsight was a finalist in the CHI PLAY 2017 Student Game Design Competition. The extended abstract detailing some of the work can be found here.