The Unreached Realm

The Unreached Realm: Vientiane Symbiosis

Date

03/2023 - 06/2023

Concept

Find a suitable VR game for the Shanghai Museum to engage the audience. Players play the role of a Starman in this game, who was born in the Stonehenge venue. Through different Stonehenge players can enter different venues, which are - Creation: Supporting Human Beings, What Dream: Consciousness Upload, Long Distance: Light Speed Cocoon Room, Light Cage: Dyson Sphere, Ice and Fire: Great Filter.

Research

Game Play

The player incarnates as a starman in the scene, aiming to let the player discover the insignificance and brilliance of human beings in the universe. Players are born in the Stonehenge venue, and each Stonehenge door can pass through, thus entering different venues. Stonehenge in the universe is a symbol of ancient human aspirations. Players can use this to view cosmic stars.
After entering the first venue - Creation: Supporting Humanity, players can sit in a church chair and think about how humans were born and the meaning of human existence.
Entering the second venue - What Dream: Consciousness Upload, players will intuitively see a man with a full sense of technology being made by a machine, and think about whether human beings are also made by other species.
Entering the third venue - Long Distance: Light Speed Cocoon Room, players can walk around the huge planet and see the wreckage of the spaceship.
The fourth venue - Light Cage: Dyson Sphere brings players into the universe, where players can move freely in the universe, even day and night! But no matter how long they walk, the player can't get out of the Dyson sphere-a huge spherical cage, which traps the player like a cage.
Walking into the fifth venue - Ice and Fire: The Big Filter, players enter a huge volcano and snow scene, and the weather inside is also unpredictable, making players think whether human beings are punished by nature to enter the next reincarnation.

Technical

Technical implementation ranges from prop modeling to scene modeling, to scene construction, and finally to blueprint writing. Blender and C4D were used for prop modeling, and texture maps were drawn using Substance Painter. Scene modeling and construction: I first drew a sketch of each scene, and then made adjustments and improvements during modeling and construction. After arranging the scene objects, adjust the lighting effects. However, this also increased the burden on computer performance, so some models and scenes were reduced. Finally, the scene was connected through BluePrint, and BluePrint was drawn for dynamic materials and interactive experience.

Stonehenge (Entrance)

Stonehenge stands as an enduring relic from a bygone civilization, a treasure imbued with the wisdom of ancient intelligences, its origins stretching across the vast chasm of time to converge with the modern era. Approaching the enigmatic edifice of Stonehenge, one is engulfed by an aura of mystic vitality, the very stones pulsating with an otherworldly luminance. It emerges not merely as a historical marvel, but as a portal to the uncharted realms, beckoning the intrepid and sagacious to decipher its cryptic narrative—an invitation to commune with the cosmic forces that shape existence itself.

Integrating the essence of Stonehenge into the tapestry of a science-fiction universe unshackles the bonds of temporal and spatial limits. This fusion conjures an all-encompassing enigma that transcends the confines of time and space, as though stitching together the veiled riddles of the cosmos. As one steps through its virtual threshold, they traverse not only physical landscapes but journey through epochs, evoking an intricate dance that interlinks the mysteries of the universe, past and future entwined.

Creation: Supporting Humanity (Scenario #1)

Regardless of human beings or other extraterrestrial life, the boundaries of thought and wisdom are limited by the control of the Creator God, and the wisdom of the Creator God is infinite and omnipotent. All things are created by God, and they all have spirituality, that is, divinity; if God created alien civilizations, they would be born. God is Tao, and Tao is God. Therefore, under the planning layout and laws of God, all civilizations will never be able to contact other civilizations.

#Related works: Short Science Fiction "Caring for Humanity"

#Keywords: Garden of Eden, divine, natural selection, creation...

What Dream: Consciousness Upload (Scenario #2)

With the help of radio, it is possible to detect and receive information on a cosmic scale, and even to invent the technology of uploading the consciousness and thinking of creatures to computers, which has achieved the goal of immortality and immortality. For the intelligent life that has been uploaded, the biggest threat is that outsiders will set foot in their own planet and civilization, discover and destroy these machines that store their own consciousness, so they will work hard to erase the traces of their existence.

#Related works: Science fiction "God Computing"

#Keywords: Interstellar immigration, computers, electronics, artificial intelligence, immortality...

Long Distance: Light Speed Cocoon Room (Scenario #3)

At present, using the technology of modern human beings on the earth, the light-speed spacecraft manufactured cannot grasp the speed of light. If the speed of light is reached, the mass of the spacecraft will make the gravitational force tend to infinity, attracting all the matter in the universe around the spacecraft, resulting in a big bang. Because of this, human beings are still unable to travel out of the solar system, and the road to exploration is long and far away...

#Related works: science fiction action movie "Star Trek"

#Key words: optimism, future world, humanism, sailing, light speed spacecraft...

Light Cage: Dyson Sphere (Scenario #4)

There is a huge spherical cage called a Dyson sphere in the universe. It absorbs energy and emits light, making itself as bright as a candle in the dark. However, its huge volume is enough to cover the visible light of other stars, so it is currently invisible to human eyes. Or under the limited viewing angle of optical telescopes, it is impossible to observe signs of the existence of other planets.

#Related works: sci-fi space-themed construction game "Dyson Ball Project"

#Keywords: space, automated factories, mechs, intergalactic, cosmic ecology, interstellar engineering...

Ice and Fire: The Big Filter (Scenario #5)

There are many other living planets similar to the earth, but they only provide some necessary conditions for the emergence of life. Whether life will really appear, then develop intelligence, and eventually become an interstellar civilization, it still needs to go through many levels called the Great Filter. In front of every big filter, life may fail, go extinct or stagnate. Moreover, because the time span is too large, all other evidence of the existence of extinct civilizations has been erased by time, so it is difficult for humans to find.

#Related works: Science Fiction "Under Space"

#Keywords: secrets under volcanic ice, alien ruins, nano-robots, sword of Damocles, refuge, hibernation...

Demo

Division

This is a project we completed during our internship at the Shanghai Planetarium.

In this project, as the person in charge, I mainly participated in the following work: preliminary research (group), theme design and idea determination, scene design (modification), object modeling (mostly), role modeling, and scene construction (Entrance, scenario 1, scenario 4, scenario 5), code compilation (Niagara, portal).

My team members were responsible for: preliminary research (group), scene design sketch (first draft), linking department, object modeling (part), scene construction (scenario 2, scenario 3), partial code compilation (text preview and interaction), VR connection, on-site placement, and user feedback.

Reflection

Milan Kundera, a prominent influence, explores the intricate relationship between soul and body in "The Unbearable Lightness of Being." Detached from the corporeal, individuals may transcend into insignificance or expand into the cosmos. Souls, represented as radiant particles, defy humanoid forms within the narrative. Initially favoring arbitrary shapes, I realized our perception is constrained by self, challenging complete separation of body and soul. But I later realized that we can almost never see and think about the world outside of ourselves. The body can never be completely separated from the soul. During the scene, characters will occasionally disappear and regroup.

In the narrative, characters intermittently disappear and reassemble, echoing my engagement with Chinese Taoist philosophy. The mutable soul undergoes perpetual flux, seeking coexistence through resonance amid existential struggle.

The central inquiry, "Why am I who I am? What am I?" serves as a pivotal juncture in my narrative. Rather than imposing personal ideologies, my aim is to provoke contemplation beyond daily life, guiding individuals towards profound introspection and an intellectual journey beyond their accustomed cognizance.