Browsing by Author "Justin Johnson"

Now showing 1 - 12 of 12

Combating Conspiracy
(05-2022) Granholm, lydia; Justin Johnson; Kate Greder; Marc Russo
While nothing new, conspiracy theories are shaping our world in dangerous and increasingly apparent ways. From Covid denialists to violent antisemites, conspiracy theorists are killing people by spreading and acting upon misinformation. The goal of this project is to develop in players an understanding of what makes a credible source of information and how to think critically about what they see online and in the news. Combating Conspiracy is a serious game that will achieve this by teaching a mindset that prevents people from falling into conspiracy theories, by gamifying the curriculums of English and Theory of Knowledge classes. The supporting research for this project is based in how games can be used in education, how games reach a diverse audience, and the evaluation of sources of information. The resulting game is one that can be played in a traditional high school classroom setting to engage students in the material and facilitate further classroom discussion.
In Their Eyes
(2021) Fang, Chutong; Justin Johnson; Tania Allen; Chandra Cox
ABSTRACT Light pollution dramatically disrupts the natural day-light pattern and threatens wildlife’s survival. By creating an immersive and empathetic VR experience, In Their Eyes aims to provide people an empirical and more immediate experience of the negative impacts of light pollution in the animals’ eyes. Players will experience sea turtles’ sea-finding behavior by playing the role of a hatchling trying to find the sea under the effect of light pollution. Players will also be educated on how they can help in daily life. This project will provide a deeper awareness and understanding of the problem, thereby causing people to care more about the issue through this experience with the hope that resultant steps might be taken to prevent this damage from further continuing.
In Their Eyes
(2021) Fang, Chutong; Justin Johnson; Tania Allen; Chandra Cox
Light pollution dramatically disrupts the natural day-light pattern and threatens wildlife’s survival. By creating an immersive and empathetic VR experience, In Their Eyes aims to provide people an empirical and more immediate experience of the negative impacts of light pollution in the animals’ eyes. Players will experience sea turtles’ sea-finding behavior by playing the role of a hatchling trying to find the sea under the effect of light pollution. Players will also be educated on how they can help in daily life. This project will provide a deeper awareness and understanding of the problem, thereby causing people to care more about the issue through this experience with the hope that resultant steps might be taken to prevent this damage from further continuing.
Kid Gaia
(2021) Goyret, Fernando W.; Tania Allen; Justin Johnson; Patrick Fitzgerald
Kid Gaia is a narrative VR game that tells the story of a young hero, Kid, who must save his world from the evil corporation, Panorama, that is destroying it through its disregard of nature and the environment. In the game, the player embodies the spirit of Gaia who is the embodiment of mother nature. Using background theories and references of The Hero’s Journey, Archetypes and constructivism in its development, Kid Gaia presents an epic journey of reaching awareness of the elements that are fouling the environment, learning the ways to reduce the negative impact of daily human activities on our planet, and ultimately encouraging others to do the same. Kid Gaia uses storytelling as a main tenet for its immersive engagement, as the main characters talk to people and animals, solve puzzles and tasks and ultimately regenerate the environment. It explores the ways that VR can be used as a medium that can enhance empathy towards others and towards the environment, because of its immersive and interactive nature. And it explores the ways that game-play can use principles of constructivism and procedural rhetoric to persuade players of an alternate reality.
Kid Gaia: - An Environmental Awareness VR-based Video game
(2021) Goyret, Fernando William; Tania Allen; Justin Johnson; Patrick Fitzgerald,
Kid Gaia is a narrative VR game that tells the story of a young hero, Kid, who must save his world from the evil corporation, Panorama, that is destroying it through its disregard of nature and the environment. In the game, the player embodies the spirit of Gaia who is the embodiment of mother nature. Using background theories and references of The Hero’s Journey, Archetypes and constructivism in its development, Kid Gaia presents an epic journey of reaching awareness of the elements that are fouling the environment, learning the ways to reduce the negative impact of daily human activities on our planet, and ultimately encouraging others to do the same. Kid Gaia uses storytelling as a main tenet for its immersive engagement, as the main characters talk to people and animals, solve puzzles and tasks and ultimately regenerate the environment. It explores the ways that VR can be used as a medium that can enhance empathy towards others and towards the environment, because of its immersive and interactive nature. And it explores the ways that game-play can use principles of constructivism and procedural rhetoric to persuade players of an alternate reality.
Loxodonta
(5-2022) Connor, Mitchell; Marc Russo; Justin Johnson; Dr. Derek Ham,
Loxodonta is a virtual reality application that explores the importance of memory, and how specific visual styles might be able to trigger them. This thesis is the culmination of the research and practice that went into making this VR experience. The main objective of Loxodonta is to explore the efficacy of virtual reality being used as a nostalgia triggering device, as well as the best practice for achieving nostalgia while in virtual reality. This was accomplished by creating an experience that focuses on generalized nostalgia, with the aid of retrieval cues. The virtual environments consist of an interactive playspace with a large collection of objects that are related to a specific, meaningful time period for the user. It is important to note that this experimentation is targeted towards a very specific audience and time period, as this is only an experiment of virtual reality that triggers nostalgia, and the results may vary across audiences. Loxodonta is meant to be a tool - a device which allows you to access what was once lost to time.
Phygital Fashion Emporium
(2021) Rant, Katie; Dr. Derek Ham; Kate Greder; Justin Johnson; Precious Lovell
The modern consumer is immersed in an experiential driven economy. Fashion has been rather slow at embracing emerging technologies, but the COV-19 pandemic has accelerated the digital transition online by forcing the industry to re-evaluate and adapt to new digital formats. Historically, luxury products have been presented in a manner that crafts a compelling narrative which appeals to the consumers’ quest for self-actualization. The conspicuous reasons for consumer purchases are not the primary vehicle driving consumers’ motives as they previously once were. Using Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs as a theoretical framework, the fashion market has shifted from satisfying basic priorities towards fulfilling personal growth and identity offered by experiential moments. It was the establishment of French Couture which enabled a desire for fashionable products. As it is commonly misunderstood, the emergence of luxury fashion brands led to the disappearance of diverse regional folk costumes and to the attenuation of heterogeneous class differences in dress. This was achieved by harnessing the power of storytelling through the act of runway presentation. Globalization and mass mediation has broadened the way contemporary fashion is perceived. This project seeks to remediate the experience of luxury fashion in the form of a new e-commerce interface designed for inclusivity.
Safe Break The Virtual “Third Place”
(05-2021) Poarch, James F.; Justin Johnson; Kirby Culbertson; Patrick Fitzgerald
“Safe Break” is an interactive experience for people with sensory sensitivity to escape to a virtual “third place” when the outside world is overwhelming. Inspired by VR experiences that emulate the autistic experience and taking cues from VR Chat and Mozilla Hub, “Safe Break,” when adaptable by its users, can provide sanctuary and a sense of belonging to those who find it difficult to acclimate to visual and auditory overstimulation. A virtual third place like “Safe Break” can be beneficial to young adults in fostering real world social engagement and can be useful when in accordance with occupational therapy and Ayres Sensory Integration (ASI) intervention to help develop better coping strategies. This fully mobile demo can transport players to a virtual coffee shop—a typical example of a “third place,” social spaces between the home and the workplace—where the skybox outside the shop and the environment inside can be tailored to the user’s desired comfort level. In addition, relaxing environment sounds can be customized to a player’s desired volume. The user interface is designed to accommodate individuals with varying degrees of ASD functionality. Immersion, Presence, and Narrative Theory were considered in developing a convincing environment separate from reality.
Safe Break : The Virtual “Third Place”
(05-2021) Poarch, James Freeman; Justin Johnson; Kirby Culbertson; Patrick Fitzgerald
“Safe Break” is an interactive experience for people with sensory sensitivity to escape to a virtual “third place” when the outside world is overwhelming. Inspired by VR experiences that emulate the autistic experience and taking cues from VR Chat and Mozilla Hub, “Safe Break,” when adaptable by its users, can provide sanctuary and a sense of belonging to those who find it difficult to acclimate to visual and auditory overstimulation. A virtual third place like “Safe Break” can be beneficial to young adults in fostering real world social engagement and can be useful when in accordance with occupational therapy and Ayres Sensory Integration (ASI) intervention to help develop better coping strategies. This fully mobile demo can transport players to a virtual coffee shop—a typical example of a “third place,” social spaces between the home and the workplace—where the skybox outside the shop and the environment inside can be tailored to the user’s desired comfort level. In addition, relaxing environment sounds can be customized to a player’s desired volume. The user interface is designed to accommodate individuals with varying degrees of ASD functionality. Immersion, Presence, and Narrative Theory were considered in developing a convincing environment separate from reality.
SIDEREAL
(05-2022) Rigall, Jeff; Kate Greder; Justin Johnson; Tania Allen; Lee Cherry
This project aims to answer the question: How can the medium of video games leverage visual storytelling to communicate hard to grasp but existentially important questions related to the nature of the self and the divide between synthetic and organic consciousness? SIDEREAL, a 3D first-person narrative immersive experience, aims to provoke intellectual engagement with multiple ideas surrounding the personhood of artificial intelligence. This product is packaged within a format and duration that is easily accessible and encourages reflection. This paper consists of the design influences, theory, background research, documentation of process, and product development of SIDEREAL: an immersive experience exploring how the medium of video games can communicate hard to grasp, but existentially important and personal ideas pertaining to the self through the lens of the speculative future consciousness of artificial intelligence struggling to process the best answer to an ethical thought experiment: the Trolley Problem.
Snow Seeker
(05-2022) Rhagavan, Vaikunth; Marc Russo; Justin Johnson; Patrick Fitzgerald
Climate change is transforming our planet, drowning ecosystems with the polar meltdown and pushing many species into their extinction. This project explores the predictions of climate science through the conceptualization and design of a role-playing game experience, Snow Seeker, which visualizes a future Earth adversely affected by climate change, depicting the likely transformations to the Antarctic and other ecosystems from multiple perspectives and see how such transformations affect every species on the planet. Using the latest theories framed by the scientific community to explain climate change and combining them with game engines and procedural 3D tools, the game environments created for Snow Seeker are designed to represent how the world will look in the future if the South Pole completely melts and global temperature goes above 4°C. Through storytelling and gamification, the players will embark on a journey for survival, looking for basic supplies as they travel across the globe over harsh and volatile ecosystems, witnessing how the lands change and realizing what could happen if we fail to control global temperature rise and climate change. Players can choose to play as different species and experience the landscapes as such and gauge how each is affected differently. Through speculation of such a future, the hope is to change people’s attuide and encourage them to work together and solve the climate crisis.
The Naturalist’s Challenge:
(05-2022) Willett, Erin; Tania Allen; J. Mark Scearce; Justin Johnson; Jay Levine
How might an interactive web experience educate participants to climate change solutions related to food, agriculture, and land use while instilling them with a level of personal agency to make a difference? The Naturalist’s Challenge, an online game application, educates participants to sustainable habits related to diet and consumption while giving structure to enable successful integration of new habits into the player’s everyday life. It leverages the innate sociability of games to create a community that expands the positive environmental impact and spreads through social networking to help combat the climate crisis. Unlike others of its kind, The Naturalist’s Challenge, directly approaches issues within our global food system to educate users about things that can be done at an individual level to help reverse global warming. A key aspect of the project is that it aims to inspire, create agency, and bring hope. Its key precedents are carbon tracking apps, behavioral modification apps, and cooperative simulation games. Climate change is an ever-impending issue that our world is in the midst of grappling with. The International Panel on Climate Change, who documents the progress of global warming, just released a report that we have entered into ‘Code Red for Humanity’. However, when talking about climate change, many people feel hopeless that any individual action can make a difference. The good news is that things can still change and understanding the options is the first step. The food, agriculture, and land use sector contributes a whopping 24% of all greenhouse gas emissions. This is an area where individuals can make the most difference. The Naturalist’s Challenge targets this sector and related consumer habits and combines it with the theories of learning through play and behavior modification through gamification to create an engaging, educational structure for individual and community change.