Goal

Collection fragments of my imagination mixed with the reality.
This project show how I see and experience the world. The bigger picture is great but for me it is about the small details that spark my imagniation.

Enjoy, explore and be curios about everything.

The project starts from playing it single and coming across traces from other players. By this I mean that players also make content. After the first setup I want the experience to grow to multi-player. Meaning that players will need each to solve, play pieces of the experience.

Just like exploring a pebble beach a player could make a memory box with trinkets found during exploration.

There is no one main story just one thing leading to another.

The network is something that keeps growing. Its an organic system that hardly has any restricted rules to obey.

Metaphor possibility:
Maze Wallpaper

Can start anywhere and stop anywhere. Can go back where you started or just keep wondering a round. The maze can grow larger.

Pebble Beach


Wondering around the beach with no end in sight. Looking for pebbles you would want to have. Or perhaps finds something completely different.

Decisions to make

Game or selfportrait
Game with a vision of a selfportrait
Selfportrait with game elements

Shop or mechanics
The shop is the main experience
The mechanics (network) the main experience

Important to note is even if the experience of the network is the heart beat of the project I still feel that the shop is an important part. That means I have to create more a relationship between the two.

The common thread
Should there be a common thread that connects to the shop?
Should be this be somthing like secret fragements that people will come across when browsing through the network?
Or
Should the the secret of the shop be in pieces? These pieces are then rewards a player gets from the puzzles he/she solves.

Network framework
Prezi style
Wiki style
Different HTML pages


To make a few examples to try out I need a small part of the network.




Next is to sort the fragments

Objects	Locked	Fragments
Fox Tail	Lost Tail	Fox
Raven Skull	Stealing Feathers	Raven
Locket	Time Capsule	Shiny Collection
-	-	Feather Collection

Objects get a profile page with a secret which can be in any form (video, picture, text)

Locked means that the player needs to do something (puzzle solving and such). So far I have 3 different kind of locked fragments. I already sort the locked fragments to the different puzzle solving. This way I have for each an example.

Puzzles	Request	Search
Time Capsule	Stealing Feathers	Lost Tail
Color code text	Communicate to fictional character	Photgraph with something missing (go to the location)
Text is about time travel, future?	See the stealing on security cam	A manual how to get a fox tail
Online, time short	email/chat, real letter, 3 days	as long as it takes to get to location, picture print/download

The rest of the fragments can be anything I whish. Blogs, small flash games, pictures, videos, text, anything really.

Assignment - #4

I want to find an awnser to the following question "What am I trying to tell/show to others?"

The first instinctive reaction is that I want to show and let others experience my network.There are 2 questions that follows:
What is my network?
What do I mean by experience the network?

This project is in many ways an self portrait. The network represents the chaos and the order of thoughts that evetually leads to a creative idea. It is a way for me to show (I think) how my brain works. It is not only just to show others the proces, it is also a way for me to understand myself beter.

The more you explore and get involved with the experience the more immersive it becomes.


The experience in (rough) steps:
- Discovery of the shop
- Curiosity about the total vibe of the shop
- Curiosity about the objects
- Starting to interact with the objects
- Using the tags in the network
- Exploring the network
- Going to places (real and/or virtual)
- Solving puzzles (The deeper you go the more puzzle like the fragemnts of the network become)

- Becoming part of the network
Here by I mean either getting really involved with what ever communication lines i make or something along the lines of donating objects (with or without story) to the shop.

This methode does not have a complete story. The best way I kan describe it is reading pieces of a diary. Though you might not know everything, you get an impression of who that person is and what he or she might be involved with.

Assignment - #2

The next thing is having both the cube idea and the shop idea next to each other and compare them.

Things that ideas share are as follows:
- Physical contact, like the objects for sale and the interaction with the cube. I want to create a bond with the expereince not only with the mind but alos by using senses of the body.
- Fragments; pieces of a story.
- Network; Fragments that are linked to each other


- Puzzles; Some fragments need to be "unlocked"

This is in article decoded by using a color for each letter. Decifer the the article and you can read it.

- Exploring the network. By taking a route through the network it feels like getting pieces of a story.



Here is a list that is comparing the ideas to each other:

Assignment - #1

The assignment is to visualize and describe in words the Cube idea as much as possible.

Yes, this is what I want:
- Cubes set in a public space
- Several Cubes
- Inside space represent a (visualization) piece of the big picture
- Cubes are made out many doors and objects
- Outside is like a puzzel, by exploring and putting elements together the door will open to the inside.


Possibilities:
- Different sizes from small boxes to average rooms.
- Digital cubes (online, cd, etc.)


a cube in a public space - utrecht train station

Depending on the message how the room is filled. Perhaps it is room of a character, location, event or about an object.


just as inspiration

Assignments

I got a bit stuck in not exactliy knowing how to get to the next step. After talking to my teacher I have made a few assignments to get me going. The main thing I still need to figure out is why choose this form and what I am trying tell with it.

Assignment #1
I had done a small brainstorm previously about other ways expressing the idea. There was a small idea which I will for now call the Cube Idea.

The assignment is to visualize and describe in words the Cube idea as much as possible.

Assignment #2
The next thing is having both the cube idea and the shop idea next to each other and compare them. This also would be good not only to write down but also to visualize.

Assignment #3
Instead to figure out before hand how the mechanics should work I am going to collect a few objects and play around how I would connect them to each other.

Assignment #4
I want to find an awnser to the following question "What am I trying to tell/show to others?" The first instinctive reaction is that I want to show and experience my network.

There are 2 questions that follows:
What is my network?
What do I mean by experience the network?


With all the assingments it is good to show what I want, what I don't and what it might be. So lets get started.

Concept - Research Process

Next to the project itself I want to show the research and how I have used the research. I was thinking to use a mind map as a platform.

As I was looking at different mind maps I had an idea I might want to do for the final presentation. I have fantasy about actually making a paper map, like road maps. This map will help the reader go through the pieces of information. Right now the pieces of information would be small video presentations, which probable would be hosted on youtube.

This idea came to me when I was looking at different diagrams (previous post) and the map of a city-game called “The Jejune Institute”

Presentation - The Idea

Concept - First Draft

1 (Werk)Titel:
Curiosity Shop

2 Project omschrijving:
(Omschrijf in een paar regels wat het project inhoud)
Er is een magisch winkeltje met vele vreemde objecten. Alle objecten hebben hun eigen verhaal maar als je er iets beter naar kijkt ontdek je dat alles toch wel verbonden is met elkaar. Dit is een Rabbit Hole dat de speler leid naar een groter verhaal en avontuur.

3 Doel van het project:
(Wat wil je met je project bereiken)
Door verschillende vormen van nieuwsgierigheid te kweken hoop ik de spelers tot een tocht te leiden dat onder ander het gevoel van ontdekking creëert. Ik wil dit wel graag doen binnen de midden mensen herkennen, iets dat al onderdeel is van hun dagelijkse leven.

4 Doelgroep:
(voor wie maak je het?)
De doelgroep is op dit moment moeilijk te beschrijven. Al speel ik in op shoppers met het winkeltje idee, het zijn wel de soort mensen die van aparte dingen houden. Het is misschien een onderdeel van de onderzoek om te pijlen wat voor publiek er op af gaat.

5 Werkwijze en techniek voor uitvoering:
(Hoe ga je het doen en welke techniek zet je daar voor in)
Een belangrijk element is mij nog niet duidelijk en dat is het verhaal. Wanneer ik het verhaal heb kan ik hier uit weten wat voor soort puzzels en uitdagingen ik zou moeten maken.

6 Presentatievorm:
(Welke vorm heeft het uiteindelijke project voor je beoogde publiek en hoe ga je het op je examen laten zien)
Bij de presentatie wil ik het idee kleinschalig na bootsen en de onderzoek proces laten zien.

7 Leerdoelen
(Welke leerdoelen heb je voor ogen met betrekking op je project)
Belangrijk voor mij is om achter mijn concept te staan en er compleet voor gaan. Niet onzeker zijn over mijn eigen meningen. Een andere punt is het onderzoek op een bepaalde manier te laten zien en wat er verwerkt is in het project zelf.