Posted on Friday 14 May 2010
The students of the “Imagining Immersive Worlds” course (IASC 3F00) at Brock University presented their Second Life prototypes on April 6. The class projects launch attracted faculty members and students from other years in the Interactive Arts and Science Program.
The “Anatomy Online” team, Casey Scott and Matt Clare introduced the development process and explained the potential applications of their educational augmented reality prototype in Second Life. “Anatomy Online” is a virtual museum in which one uses multimedia (such as PowerPoint, and potentially video/audio) to learn about different parts of the human body while navigating through a three-dimensional space. Matt and Casey explained that “Anatomy Online” is an augmented reality tour for high school students. They both maintained that their prototype is adaptable to accommodate other subjects taught in public schools.
The second team, “Relic Raceway”, talked about both the challenges and advantages of developing a game in Second Life. Brad Bouwers, Corey Sherman, Sarah Drew, Michelle Chan, and Christian Barrious took turns in the presentation to provide a deeper insight into their different roles in their teamwork experience and the different design stages of the game. The “Relic Raceway” game provides the player with different play options, diverse play experiences, and so it could be played more that one time: the game can be played in single or multiplayer moods, and as a first or third-person game. Moreover, the player can move through the game world on foot, using different vehicles, flying, and by using teleporters. “Relic Raceway” is story-driven and the player is able to communicate with non-player characters. The audience of the “Relic Raceway” presentation applauded the visuals (especially the animated textures) and the diverse play experience. I was personally proud and impressed by both presentations and the hard work the IASC 3F00 students put to meet their design goals.