Lantern Cut/Scenes (Oculus Launchpad Week 6)

(crossposted from the Oculus Launchpad Blog!)

Wrapped up summer camps this week!  I've started the Lanterns Unity project, but don't quite have content to show yet.  Programming and production will commence in earnest!  

I have been thinking a lot about how the game will present itself in its opening cutscene.  Watching Dunkirk this week I saw how important it is to keep the audience up to speed about what is happening.  It's not enough to assume that the viewer or player is familiar with the cultural traditions or history.  In Dunkirk, they included onscreen text to explain how dire the situation was during the war.  I would like to do a similar thing to explain what the purpose behind the lantern festivals are.

I've also considered the writing that will appear on the lanterns.  During lantern festivals, families will write messages to their deceased loved ones.  I'd like to include some of these messages--perhaps in a variety of different languages.  Another option I've been considering is to create messages in an fictional language, and have the players infer the meanings and stories behind each.  A game that did this well was Journey, where the story was presented with imagery, and not words.

Also, got to tour Sony San Mateo!  We checked out their Sound department and got inspired by the music (in Uncharted, Journey, etc).  So much detail and care was taken in getting the sound to evoke the right emotions.