SIDEREAL

Abstract

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.