MNPUL8R

MNPUL8R was a Virtual Reality experiment utilizing The Leap Motion Orion to control interactions by using hand motion instead of controllers in a low poly environment.

Developed by Gold Team Games for our 2016 - 2017 Capstone Senior Project in the Informatics program at Indiana University. Developed in Unreal Engine and modeled in Blender.

• UX Designer: Kiki Mowery

• UI Designer: Kiki Mowery

• Level Designer: Kiki Mowery

• Concept Artist: Kiki Mowery

• 3D Modeler: Alexandria “Ali” Heston

• User Testing: Alexandria “Ali” Heston

• Developer: Vincent Orlowski

• Developer: Fernando Flores

• Developer: Patrick Lee

• Sound Design: Kiki, Fernando and Vincent

• Promo Materials Creation: Kiki Mowery

MNPUL8R was born from a longtime dream of mine to create a low-poly walking simulator in Virtual Reality. I had been deeply inspired by atmospheric art games that rejected the traditional combat-based game format like Proteus, Panoramical, Gone Home, DREAM, Dear Esther, The Stanley Parable, shelter, Serena, and many more.

The original concept for the project was an environment that the user could explore where they would be able to manipulate objects inside of that environment - point their hand toward a tree, gesture, and change its appearance (change its color, make it grow or shrink, etc), with the potential for musical cues as well. Hence, the name MANIPULATOR stylized as MNPUL8R.

As the project was created in an academic setting, the project guidelines required that we create some type of puzzle or problem to solve in order for the project to be considered a game. While I view this rule as restrictive of the medium and negligent of the endless possibilities of game design, we complied and designed a puzzle for each of the 3 levels the user would have to solve in order to beat the game.

We created this project when experimental VR like the Leap Motion Orion was a lawless land, with little documentation or example to follow. (Our developers were geniuses.) Designing for the user in such a special landscape was a treat and a challenge.

For this project I created the game concept, generated concept art for the 3D modeler, generated colored paper-like textures for the 3D modeler, planned the level maps and how the user would solve the puzzles, and designed the menu system and other UX-UI elements that the user would interact with using special hand controls.

I also conducted project meetings, ran a kanban board for our team in order to manage the project, and created project documentation.

Below you can see storyboards I created for the project, concept art, a loading screen and planning documentation I prepared, the game logo I designed, and some screenshots from the game development environment.

Due to the specific hardware required to run MNPUL8R, we did not release it to the public.