Done With Ephemera
Status Update as of Jan. 1 '06
Source Engine World Editing &
Second Life Experiments: KRTU-SL
(Original Design Document)
...
Done With Ephemera Research Paper:
On Redundant Emulation, User-Created Content, Agency, Telepresence, etc.
T.O.C.
The Ephemera project has shapeshifted considerably from its original inception. One of the major changes that has effected this metamorphosis has been the change of platform that it is being developed upon. The project started as a Source Engine (Half-Life 2) modification that would enact an unorthodox virtual environment within which virtual art displays and interactive installations would be experienced. It has now become a much farther reaching, community-oriented performance facility within the virtual world of Second Life.
Statement: Virtual Worlds Flower
I'm a gamer/game designer posing as an artist. Virtual phenomenology has been a keen interest of mine for a very long time, thus much of my work involves some investigation of virtual world design, sociology, art, etc. I work in various fields. Since the design of virtual world often involves an attempt at augmenting reality to some extent, there are extensions of real-life research fields involved all over the metaverse: sociology, psychology, media studies, politics, persuasion, game design, 3D art design, interface design, marketing, existentialism, economics, film-
 A disabled boy and his virtual avatar in 'Star Wars Galaxies' |
making, music theory, and phenomenology are some of the facets that apply most directly to my investigative forays into the virtual world. The media I find myself working in are most often 3D art, scripting, digital 2D art, web design, audio sequencing/editing, video editing, collage/montage, and text. As the title of this project denotes, the only bits of my work that end up as hard-copy are on my apartment's walls. Beyond the first-tier media that I work in, in the virtual world my art takes the form of interactive installation, large-scale, building-sized frescoes, machinima film-making, etc. My art takes on different forms within the media that are provided in the virtual realm, after its inception in the real world.
I wish to promote awareness of a subrealm that has been a reality to many people for a very long time. The population and refinement of virtual worlds has been increasing at an exponential rate for many years, and we're living through a major time of change right now. McLuhan said that all media works us over, completely. Never has this been truer than with virtual worlds. These entirely diegetic, autonomous, self-contained worlds of extraordinary possibility engender within their citizenry a very interesting change in their perception of reality and possibility, as well as their conception of spatial and temporal limitations. The metaverse has increasingly awesome potential to realize unprecedented change in the worlds pedagogy, activism, consumer exchange, therapy, socialization, music, film-making, and art, just to name a few. At this moment, the beginning of 2007, we're standing on the cusp of a real explosion in the popularity and immersive capacity of the virtual realm, an augmented reality that holds so much potential to enact positive change in art just as much as in human relations.
work until now...
My work in the metaverse has spanned a few primary fields over the past few years, namely ethnography, film-making, and game-design. It started with my sociological investigation of two
 A hangar-sized LAN party, communal play. |
virtual worlds in 2005. Wizards vs. Engineers: The Rumble in the Proverbial Jungle was the culmination of a 4-month immersed ethnographic study within Anarchy Online and World of Warcraft . Being primarily a research project, I performed interviews, daily observations, etc. looking into major issues like the facilitation of community, engagement, environmental design, andthe differing overarching player motivations. A few months after the Wizards project, I began work on a screenplay that would turn into a 28-minute blended-media film about dynamic identity and perception in the digital world. Somna was a full-scale short-film production, that pioneered some new approaches toward blending machinima film-making with more traditional film, as well as rotoscoping animation. Over the past couple years I've been developing a couple games: Revenge of the Amish! Is a text-based comedy puzzle/adventure game, and Ethyria: Empires at War is a much more complex game development project (by our very own Boogaloo Games™) that I acted as lead design on.
The gallery that best fits my work is a computer, and the Ephemera project directly investigates the dynamics of a virtual art exhibition/performance space. My work is displayed in digital form because that's the approach I've been taking since I was 12. I've got a cyborg's approach, if only because it's a direct reflection of the subjects I delve into. I'm drawn to this work because I spent a good chunk of my childhood in video games, and interacting with people from around the world in virtual worlds. Travel is one of my passions, as well, and in the virtual realm I get to travel every day in some sense or another even when I'm not really ‘travelling,' and communicate and collaborate with interested parties all over the world. When already-meaningless boundaries start collapsing, it's a very fun experience. You start realizing what you've been missing.
and I'm done with ephemera...
The current project, Done With Ephemera! , investigates art creation, collaboration, and exhibition in a virtual environment. It has changed forms radically a couple times from its original inception, but now involves live performance and remote collaboration in a centralized jazz music space within the virtual world of Second Life. In the coming months I will be organizing a few local ‘blended reality' events that involve taking audio and video from a live concert and streaming them into the virtual world, where a virtual version of the performance will be taking place. Players from around the world (that cannot make it to the real show) will gather around a venue in Second Life and listen and watch the video of the real-life performance, while an avatar of the performer(s) plays on the virtual stage. Meanwhile, the virtual environment will be projected large on a wall, where patrons of the real-life venue can manipulate and interact with Second Life. I see my work trending toward this more engaging community-oriented performance mode.
Finished Project/Semester Artwork
The end of this semester finds the project in a place I hadn't expected, but the tradeoff for a polished product is that simultaneously the scope has narrowed to a manageable scale, and I've found a base that's very expandable. My 'finished project' for this semester are the cards laid upon the table for the forthcoming Spring semester of work. Thus, my finished project is an amalgam of my semester art work, and what I've learned from my experiences in designing and implementing the virtual art space.
Thus far, I've developed substantial content both for the Valve Source Engineand Second Life (and considerable from-scratch level design for the former, some of which
 Physics demonstration in the Valve Source Engine. |
can be seen in the midterm status report I submitted a while back ). I see this semester's portion of the project as what it has been thus far: a test of some different engines (designed for very different purposes), and their various pros and cons as media through which an art space can be created and transmitted.
I've been working with three engines: Source, Second Life, and OGRE (a freeware development engine), learning the tools and SDK (software development kits) for each of them. My desire to explore multiple engines started with the realization that the amount of work I've given myself (content-creation, level-design, modeling, coding, texturing, and game design) was a bit ridiculous in the face of a really complicated and technical game engine like Source. The modding community is composed for entire teams that work at a snail's pace through lack of experience and full-time devotion…and I've given myself the job of an entire design team.
I realized that some re-thinking was in order. I'd gotten a good grasp of the Hammer level editor, and finally wrapped my head around texturing, bump-mapping, lighting, etc. to some extent, and realized that It'd taken me a considerable amount of time to learn the fundamental technical aspects of the engine from scratch (and without a real reference for technical help besides the modding forums). This is when I began to work a bit in the OGRE freeware engine, doing some level design and some basic scripting with the SDK tools they'd provided. The engine was referred to me by a professional developer at a conference, so I gave it a go, thinking it'd be a more intuitive, less complicated (albeit less elegant) engine. This was also proving to be quite difficult, as I realized it's a freeware engine for a reason: it's been designed by programmers and designers on their own time, an accurate reflection of the entire modding community ethic, really.
I'd been lingering around Second Life, a Massively Multiplayer Online Virtual World whose primary function is content creation and shaping the world. I realized that the game had incorporated at a top level all of the functions and tools that I'd been pretty much jerry rigging and creating from scratch for the previous two engines. I quickly realized that I could skip that initial learning curve because the game was designed specifically for that purpose. To this point I've developed a number of small structures and have nearly completed, in collaboration with an experienced in-world builder, a rather large radio station jazz-music complex, that will be fully functional by february.
The Move to Second Life
Based on the work that I've done with the source engine, the OGRE engine, and the second life engine, I've decided to move my project into the realm of Second Life. It is the engine and environment most conducive to the rapid prototyping approach that I've found most conducive to my creative abilities. These three engines have their benefits and detriments, and I feel that my investigation into them, as well as the rather cumbersome amount of work this project will require, represents what has thus far
 Second Life as a virtual social/exhibitionary space. |
been a solid semester's worth of work. Having given myself the responsibility of content-creation, level-design, modeling, coding, texturing, and game design, and having little to no experience in most of these fields, I feel that the project should extend into the next semester. With the amount of knowledge that I've garnered, not just regarding the specific engine mechanics, but fundamental and overarching design dynamics, I feel that I can give the implementation of the art space full steam in the world of Second Life.
Secondly, as Second-Life is an oft-referenced game as far as user-created content, and malleability, creativity and such, my paper from the beginning was using it and some of its core designers' publications as referential materials. Deciding to work in Second-Life more accurately links with my writings, and reflects the paper more accurately. On a basic level, however, Second Life overtly incorporates the tools ‘out-of-the-box' that have allowed me to build and create, with the help of only one collaborator instead of what would've been required had my work continued in the Source engine: a small team consisting of a mapper, 3D modeler, animator, scripter, coder, texturer, sound and video, etc. Finally, as opposed to the loosely-composed modding and gaming community surrounding the Source engine (players who want to make maps and mods to blow each other away, not to ingest art), Second-Life has a persistent population of over 2 million residents, many of whom are very much interested in progressive spaces in-world. The choice is as one between Tupelo and Los Angeles, and I choose the latter.
Product: Source Maps & KRTU-Second-Life |
Source Maps
Initial Alpha Test Documentation
Left: partitioning for 512x512px export :: Middle:Proximity event triggers for scripted events and sounds Right: Textures applied to 512x512px brushes, paneled and arranged
My work modifying the Valve Source engine spanned roughly between September and mid-November, when I began short-lived experimentation with the OGRE engine, and eventually moved the Ephemera project's platform to the virtual world of Second Life. The initial alpha test documentation covers that first portion of the project, and elaborates widely on the strengths and weaknesses of the various engines I worked on, and rationalizes my decision to move to Second Life for the duration of the project.
| VV |
Source Engine Video
(click to download .wmv)
A quick runthrough of early versions of two of maps 2 & 3, exhibiting some work with static lighting, custom texture work, imported 2D art of my own integrated into the rooftop map. Effective nodraw use is demonstrated here, as oxymoronic as that sounds. Water dynamics in combination with nodraw provide for an interesting disorientation, and can be pretty deadly apparently when mixed with extreme heights. Besides that, basic brush creation, entity placement, skybox and ambient light work, and some other basic accoutrement of the virtual.
KRTU-Second-Life
Design Document
The KRTU-SL studios is a collaboration between myself, builder Jessie Keller (Jessie Jensen in Second Life), and the staff and DJ's (including myself) at KRTU, a local non-profit Jazz radio station. The purpose of the complex is to facilitate live jazz performance by artists from around the world, impromptu and scheduled. Furthermore, the space acts as an interactive exploration of the weekly KRTU jazz programming, allowing access to the station's live stream, as well as archived downloading of the previous week's programming. The space acts as a community hub, around which networking, shared collaboration and appreciation of Jazz music both in San Antonio and world-wide.
Features:
Jamming Composition Game: A music-making game that would allow visitors the option to produce and play accompaniments on various instruments, and showcase what they've made. Basically this would be a sequencing applet that provides 6 riffs per instrument, in three groups of key/tonality/tempo. This small added challenge requires the user to 'match' the correct sequences for each instrument together, in order to create a full piece. Users can then choose to save their jams, for their own library, as well as for upload to the user-contributed music database (available for review in the broadcast booth).
Live Stream/Archive Selector: The live audiostream from KRTU's FM broadcast will be available to play anywhere in the complex (via the user's own heads-up-display), and various key elements of the week's archived programming will be available for download.
Live Performance: Here we have the unparalleled ability to bring together musicians (as well as jazz fans) separated by physical space. These artists, who would most likely not get the opportunity to play with each other will be able to collaborate, a process that can be easily facilitated by the complex. These collaborations can be as simple as private jams, and as elaborate as publicized shows. Furthermore, our lounge stage would be free for open mic performances. Anyone with a microphone could enact a solo performance for the audience. The live performance capacity of the space will promote healthy community involvement.
Design Approach:
Organized Parallel to the Ephemera Research Paper
Initial Plans for KRTU-SL
Avoiding Redundant Design
The idea when designing the complex was to distinctly avoid unnecessarily redundant design. Thus, any design elements that would inhibit or deter SL-oriented functionality or navigation were cast aside. The building itself is a mixture of brick and glass, at ratios and in succession that wouldn't be possible given real-life physical constraints. The central booth, for instance, is a glass bubble that ostensibly supports the entire cylindrical broadcast booth library by itself. Other build features embrace the unique Second-Life mode of popular transport that is flying: the roof of the venue as well as the studio are phantom, meaning they do not actually impose physical boundaries, and can be traversed through by any visitors. Furthermore, the entrance for the broadcast booth is through a hole in the roof.
As outlined in the paper, redundancy is a necessity in virtual world design, that boundaries need to be in place in order to be crossed. An initial zone of comfort and navigability can only be engendered by a space that sufficiently mimics 'meatspace.' Thus, the structure has walls, ceilings, doorways, etc. However, many ostensibly solid surfaces are phantom, and the experienced navigator of Second Life will realize quickly that doors and walls need not operate under real-life dynamics. The roof of the venue is smokey and semi-transparent from the outside looking in, and is solid black and covered in stars from the inside looking out. One of the more covert meeting spaces is behind a sliding brick wall (courtesy of the builder, Jessie Jensen).
Left: recording studio ceiling/view of broadcast booth interior :: Right: broadcast booth/library, roof access at night
Agency/Engagement
The actual structure itself serves as a good calibrator to what would be real-life functionality of a similar space. The musical instruments (that haven't been installed yet) are playable, and located on stage and in the recording studio, where music can be recorded. The broadcast booth serves as a selector for KRTU programming. All of these functions, however, give the user a sense of agency and effect on the environment. The composition game awards those who 'mix' the proper tonal sequences together on all the instruments, and provides the most recent successful compositions via the broadcast booth's interface. Furthermore, we are pretty much giving the space to the online community, thus users can schedule their own impromptu performances. All of these factors provide a good draw both for single users coming to visit the space when there is no particular event occuring, as well as planting the seeds for a growing base of virtual community involvement.
Interior of venue/lounge area:: Left: view from bar :: Right: view from stage
Participation/Collaboration/User-Created Content
These sandbox brands of virtual worlds depend on their users to propel them into development. User-created-content is all-important in a world where a single development house couldn't possibly fuel the consumption rates of the denizens of the virtual world. KRTU-SL aims to draw in and retain visitors, even if no particular events are occuring. Two of the fundamental draws for users to visit and stay are collaboration and participation. These are promoted through the music composition game, as well as remote collaborative performance between musicians.
Tele(presence)
Presence can extend beyond the boundaries of the virtual world, and resultant effects constantly spill over into the real world. ‘Telepresence' is achieved, to varying degrees, when a user remotely affects another real space elsewhere in the real world. Fully achieved telepresence immerses the user completely within a remote environment that his or her body is not physically occupying. Musicians who wish to pour their talents into the virtual world are given the facilities to do so with environments such as those in Second Life. The KRTU complex is not the first space to offer a venue for virtual performance. Artists perform regularly, and some even enjoy celebrity in the virtual world. The artist whose avatar acts as a medium between his/her real-world performance is given a very real opportunity to achieve telepresence through their effect on spaces and people throughout the world simultaneously.
The KRTU-SL complex as of Jan. 1 '06 (mural by Omar Rodriguez)
 SL singer/songwriter virtual performer Frogg Marlowe and Jay-Cat playing to a crowded virtual venue |
The big plans for the next few months are plenty of blended reality events. Once the KRTU-SL structure is fully operational, for example, we will be organizing a debut show, featuring performances from jazz outfits and musicians from around the world. We will design avatars for the performers that will act as the conveyance of theperformers stage presence, and a live audio stream will feed into the KRTU-SL venue, for the audience to enjoy. Beyond that, we are arranging shows within the next month that will involve live performers at local (real-life) venues whose life audio/video will stream into venues in Second-Life, allowing virtual patrons to enjoy the same show that the local venue audience is. Simultaneously, we will be projecting the virtual environment of Second Life on a screen in the real venue, and allowing the audience to interact with the environment around the virtual venue and performance.
Blended reality events of this magnitude and style are a fairly new breed, and as technological capacity increases, our ability to implement such a show on a grander scale increases. We will be effectively blending the two realities by taking live audio and video from real life into second life, and taking the environment and interactivity of second life into the real world. We will be working in collaboration with two main entities for these shows: KRTU for the Jazz performers, and Limelight Music+Drinks for all else (Rock/Electronic/Hip Hop largely). A number of these shows are being arranged for the forthcoming spring as well, though the first will be the performances of Jeremy Works (AKA Frogg Marlowe in SL) and Peter Greenstone (AKA Melvin Took in SL). Frogg is a virtual world performer based out of Oregon, and regularly plays to sold-out crowds in venues all over Second Life multiple days in a week. He's been featured on MTV's You Hear it First, and has been quoted in Rolling Stone, and he has a wealth of experiencing in blended-reality performance. We will be arranging the blended reality event locally at the Limelight venue, and upon its success, we plan to bring local bands into the virtual performance realm.
| VV |
KRTU-SL Video
(click to download .wmv)
A short tour of the KRTU-SL virtual complex as of Jan. 1 '06. Follows the structure through the Studio (recording, live performance, sequencing composition game), Broadcast Booth (selectable KRTU programming elements, request submissions, show information), & Venue (live performance, social space). Note that the venue and studio's roofs are phantom, meaning avatars can pass through them without impedence. The design follows a conscious effort toward non-redundance and embracing full mobility, which includes flying.