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PODCAST

Voices of VR

Designing for Virtual Reality. Oral history podcast featuring the pioneering artists, storytellers, and technologists driving the resurgence of virtual & augmented reality. Learn about the patterns of immersive storytelling, experiential design, ethical frameworks, & the ultimate potential of XR.

technology design

All Episodes

55:19

#1251: From Book to Play to AR Installation,...

Voices of VR ·

2023/08/16

Colored is a HoloLens 2-based, augmented reality immersive story installation for 3-10 people that talks about the forgotten history of Claudette Colvin. "This experience plunges the audience into the Deep South during segregation. In the course of that journey, we meet the young Claudette Colvin, 15 years old who, on March 2, 1955, refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white passenger. Nine months later, Rosa Parks repeated this act of defiance and became the icon that history remembers to this

en-US

53:45

#1250: Translating 1:1 Experimental Theatre...

Voices of VR ·

2023/08/16

Over The Rainbow is the second episode of a 360 video trilogy by Craig Quintero (see my interview about All That Remains from Venice 2022). Quintero is the artistic director of Riverbed Theatre, a Taipei-based performance group that has been doing 1-on-1 experimental theatre shows. Quintero has been translating these 1-on-1 shows into 360 videos in a way that transcends the audience's expectations, in a way that is very much inspired by the performance work of Marilyn Arsem. I had a chance to catch

en-US

51:43

#1249: Experiential Design Breakdown of “Reimagined...

Voices of VR ·

2023/08/16

Reimagined Vol II: Mahal is the second edition of the Reimagined VR series that premiered at Tribeca Immersive 2023 (see my interview about Volume I from Venice 2022). It's a Quill animation piece that has lots of stylized cinematography, deliberate environmental and character design, a personal story that's very well-told through the lens of mythology. The synopsis says, "Inspired by Philippine mythology, the story focuses on Apolaki, Mayari, Tala, and Hanan, the four immortal children of the

en-US

44:22

#1248: Tribeca Games Curator Casey Baltes Recaps the...

Voices of VR ·

2023/08/16

This year, the seven games that were a part of the Tribeca Games selections were co-located with the 13 Tribeca Immersive experiences at Spring Studios. I had a chance to unpack each of the games with Casey Baltes who curated the selection and serves as the Vice President of Tribeca Games & Immersive at Tribeca Enterprises. We talk about the narrative innovations, novel gameplay mechanics, and expression of artistic excellence included in the seven games including Nightscape, Despelote, A Highland

en-US

27:03

#1247: The Branching Narrative Architecture of “The...

Voices of VR ·

2023/08/16

The Expanse: A Telltale Series is a 5-part, 2D narrative game series that's a prequel to the Amazon TV and book series. I had a chance to play through the first 90-minute episode at Tribeca Games, and then unpack it with game director Stephan Frost of Deck Nine Games. It's published by Telltale, which is well-known for their interactive narrative games where there are consequential decisions that impact how the story unfolds in later episodes in a "broomstick" narrative architecture where episodes

en-US

36:28

#1246: Smartphone Orchestra’s “Emojiii” Cultivates...

Voices of VR ·

2023/08/16

Emojiii is an immersive social experience for 20 – 200 people by the Smartphone Orchestra where people use their phone web browsers to be guided through a number of interactive games and quizzes exploring how we make meaning and communicate with emojis. Steye Hallema is the founder of the Smartphone Orchestra, which aims to "unlock new possibilities for telling stories and creating unforgettable, large-scale experiences." Hallema identifies as a multi-hyphenate creative director, artist,

en-US

1:01:22

#1245: “The Pirate Queen” Narrative Game Wins Tribeca...

Voices of VR ·

2023/08/16

The Pirate Queen: A Forgotten Legend is a narrative VR game with lots of exquisite environmental storytelling with embodied puzzles and escape room mechanics. You play as a 19th-century Chinese woman named Cheng Shih as she becomes one of the most powerful pirates in history. Singer Studios premiered the first 30 minutes of the experience, and it won the Tribeca Immersive Storyscapes award. The jury statement says, “For its outstanding technical execution, immersive user experience, and unique and

en-US

45:24

#1244: “Maya: The Birth” Animation Uses Mythic...

Voices of VR ·

2023/08/16

Maya: The Birth (Chapter 1) is an animated Quill piece that explores menstrual taboos by juxtaposing lots of mythic and archetypal symbols with more mundane scenes of shame and exile within the context of family, schools, and the broader culture. The piece was created by Poulomi Basu and CJ Clarke, who are both artists working across a number of different media. Basu is an Indian artist and activist working across contemporary art, photography, book formats, installation, movement, sculpture,

en-US

1:11:06

#1243: Origin Story of “Pixel Ripped 1978” with...

Voices of VR ·

2023/08/15

Pixel Ripped 1978 is the third in a trilogy of game-within-a-game series from indie development shop ARVORE based in São Paulo, Brazil. It taps into some deep nostalgia by recreating the environmental and contextual aspects of computing through the ages. Pixel Ripped has continued their fusion of mixing 2D platformer games with embodied gameplay mechanics in VR, but also adding a whole new level of multi-dimensional puzzles and time travel storytelling. Ana Ribeiro is the creator and creative

en-US

32:49

#1241: “MONSTRORAMA” Narrative Game Uses Mixed...

Voices of VR ·

2023/08/15

MONSTRORAMA is a mixed reality narrative game from Atlas V that transforms your living room into a monster museum. There is a lot of environmental storytelling that's used to modulate your home, and you end up using your hands to draw mixed reality portals in order to battle both inner and outer monsters. I had a chance catch up with director Clement Deneux (previously directed Missing Pictures) at Tribeca Immersive to break down the design process, mixed reality considerations, future plans, and

en-US

35:58

#1240: “Meneath: The Mirrors of Ethics” Uses Pepper’s...

Voices of VR ·

2023/08/15

Meneath: The Mirrors of Ethics uses the Pepper's Ghost Technique from theme parks and theatre to represent hidden indigenous ancestors within her animation film. This technique uses two perpendicular monitors with a piece of glass at a 45-degree angle between them that reflects the image from the monitor facing up, giving it a ghostly apparition appearance. Terril Calder is an Métis from Fort Frances, Ontario, and she said that her piece is "presented as a political puppet theater experience

en-US

30:09

#1239: “Fortune” Uses AR Filters to Tell Spatial...

Voices of VR ·

2023/08/15

Fortune is a series of 8 Snapchat and Instagram AR filters that explore the topic of money and our relationship to money. Each project is around 90-seconds in length and uses a variety of immersive storytelling techniques from tabletop-scale animation to interactive facial filters to experiences AR-enabled interactions. At the end of each episode is a question designed to kick off a broader social media engagement campaign and group discussion about money. It should be premiering on Arte's social

en-US

32:17

#1238: “The Fury” Combines Two-Channel Video...

Voices of VR ·

2023/08/15

The Fury is a two-channel video installation in combination with a 360 video that "explores sexual exploitation of female political prisoners, referencing the Islamic Republic of Iran’s brutal treatment of political prisoners." Director Shirin Neshat is an established visual artist, photographer, video artist, and filmmaker who collaborated with Khora CTO and co-founder Peter Fisher who led the 360 video production. The two-channel video installation is told in three different parts, and the VR puts

en-US

1:26:36

#1237: The VOID’s Curtis Hickman on his book...

Voices of VR ·

2023/08/03

The VOID was a location-based entertainment company that shut down during the pandemic and maybe coming back at some point. The VOID Co-founder & Chief Creative Officer Curtis Hickman convinced his partners to allow him to reflect upon and share the many experiential design lessons in a book titled Hyper-Reality: The Art of Designing Impossible Experiences. The book launched on June 15, 2023, and does an amazing job of sharing a ton of theoretical design insights that are grounded in specific

en-US

56:16

#1236: Blind and Low-Vision Challenges &...

Voices of VR ·

2023/07/13

Sean Dougherty and Jeffrey Colon are Access Technology Experts who work for the LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired non-profit, and they were very active at the XR Access Symposium during a number of sessions focusing on the NSF-grant funded SocialSense XR: Making the Invisible Visible program, doing a review of Vision Accessibility with AR+AI Tools, and facilitating a group discussion about Exploring Accessible VR for Blind Users. This was the final interview from my trip to XR

en-US

27:01

#1235: Head-Mounted AR as an Assistive Technology for...

Voices of VR ·

2023/07/13

Yvonne Felix has been using augmented reality as an assistive technology since 2012. They tell me, "I actually wear an augmented reality device that allows me to see. I'm legally blind, so that means that I have about 2% of my vision left. And I use something called eSight Eyewear that actually gives me access to 100% of my vision, depending on the situation." I recorded this interview with Felix the VRTO conference back in 2018, and I wanted to include it in this series because I heard a lot of

en-US

30:51

#1234: Geospatial Browsing AR Feature in Google Maps...

Voices of VR ·

2023/07/13

Ohan Oda works at Google on an AR feature in Google Maps called Live View that he was showing off during the demo session at the XR Access Symposium. It adds some screenreader support for geospatial browsing where users can search for nearby landmarks and businesses, and Oda wanted to get some feedback and raise awareness for these accessibility features in Google Maps. I had a chance to catch up with Oda where he elaborated on how his team's finding that most sighted users were not returning to

en-US

20:58

#1233: Intersection of AI and Spatial Computing for...

Voices of VR ·

2023/07/13

Liv Erickson is the ecosystem development lead at Mozilla focusing on innovation in spatial computing and AI technologies, and they are the former director of the Mozilla Hubs team. They gave a presentation at the XR Access Symposium that they summarizes in their blog post on "Multidimensional computing accessibility in the age of XR and AI," and they also facilitated a break-out session on Spatial Computing, Data, and AI. I had a chance to catch up with them at the start of the second day to talk

en-US

57:21

#1232: Low-Vision VR Design Innovations & XR...

Voices of VR ·

2023/07/13

Owlchemy Labs has been on the leading edge of accessible VR game design since 2016. starting with Job Simulator, and then following up with key accessibility features for Vacation Simulator, and Cosmonious High. They were at XR Access Symposium showing off their pioneering work on low-vision VR features for Cosmonious High launched last March, and I had a chance to sit down with their Accessibility Product Manager Jazmin Cano and Senior Accessibility Engineer Peter Galbraith to unpack their journey

en-US

26:18

#1231: XR Accessibility Insights from a Government...

Voices of VR ·

2023/07/13

Joel Ward is an Emerging Technology Manager at Booz Allen Hamilton who has been working within Web Accessibility since around the time Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act was enacted on August 7, 1998 and the W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines came out (WCAG version 1.0 was published on May 5, 1999). Ward spoke on a XR Access Symposium panel discussion about Empowering the Workforce through Accessible XR, and also brought a pair of XREAL Air glasses with live captioning to show off the

en-US

559 results

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