First play test:
I prototyped my interactive environment/ artworks idea by allowing my playtester to pan and zoom around this scene in Blender, and describe what they want to interact with and what they would like to do. When the interact with an object, I zoom in and pull out an artwork from one of my sketchbooks and ad-lib visual and dialogue responses to the play tester’s “clicks.”
After getting feedback, here are my takeaways:
- Interactive objects, words, and images could have some indicator
- My play tester was curious about the artist, and who they were.
- My playtester wanted to interact with words, as well ad images.
- Narrative could use framing: who are you, the player?
- What is the player’s objective?
For small changes, I decided to frame the environment, and have the player stumble upon it, and go through a bit of an ordeal to enter this abandoned place. For interactions and dialogue, I was still improvising, because hadn’t decided anything concrete yet. I narrated the set-up and some flavor text while showing images on my screen and using my sketchbook.
I was intending this project to be more ad hoc but it seems that people really want to know about the painter themselves, and about the player character, which is a pleasant surprise. I will be thinking about that.