About the Project

Seymour Deeply is the MFA thesis project of interactivity designer, Michael Annetta.  The project is an immersive interactive storybook using stereoscopic 3D combined with Microsoft’s Kinect for gestural interfacing.  The story of Seymour is a retelling and continuation of the Jack and the Beanstalk fable, but from Seymour’s point of view.

My Role

As producer, I oversaw the entire production of the game.  My main task was to keep all of the components of the game in motion to make sure that Michael’s vision was achieved.  I managed a team of 9 programmers in developing a Kinect interface in 3D space that facilitated an immersive experience for the player.

Full Credits

LEAD DESIGNER/DIRECTOR
Michael Annetta

PRODUCER
Konstantin Brazhnik

GAMEPLAY/LEVEL DESIGNERS
Jimmy Gorham | Nathan Burba | Patrick Meegan

 KINECT PROGRAMMERS
Che-Wei Chang | Ke ” Winters” Lu | Ran Zhai | Chao Zhang | Andres Ramirez

GAMEPLAY/LEVEL PROGRAMMERS
Ryo Chibo | Talgat Duisenov | Madhulika (Ayesha) Mazumdar

3D PROGRAMMERS
Ino Mantaring | Chao Zhang | Ke “Winters” Lu

 ANIMATOR
Willie Hoffman

 3D ARTIST
Borja Gonzalez

GRAPHIC NOVEL ARTIST
Miss Tak

COMPOSER AND SOUND DESIGNER
Matt Soule

VOICE ACTOR
Kevin Fabian

Description

NEVERMIND is Erin Reynold‘s Graduate Interactive Media Thesis Project at the USC School of Cinematic Arts.  It is a psychological horror puzzle game that utilizes a heart rate sensor to make your own stress level a crucial part of the game play mechanic.  You play as a “Neuroprober” who dives into the minds of patients with PTSD and helps them uncover the truth that their mind has repressed for many years.  Only after confronting these hidden realities can the patients begin to feel in control of their own lives.  The only catch is that you must learn to keep your calm amidst the horrors you see or the patients’ minds reject your presence.

My Role

As a producer on NEVERMIND, I brought my film production skills to the table.  Since NEVERMIND is a psychological horror game, both Erin and I knew that the soundscape was going to be an absolutely crucial element.  We were fortunate enough to recruit three extremely talented sound designers and composers from the USC Thornton School of Music to carefully sculpt the audio experience of the game.  Dustin Painter, Derek Baird, and Jeff Tinsley toiled for a year on ever little detail of the NEVERMIND experience.

I also brought my fundraising skills to the table by running a mini-fundraising campaign on IndieGoGo to pull together some finishing funds for the game.  These funds allowed us to put the finishing touches on the game in Spring 2012.

Finally, my biggest contribution to the project was perhaps organizing and running the playtesting sessions.  Over the course of one year, we conducted 3 playtests for NEVERMIND.  I was able to bring both my scientific and documentary backgrounds to the table as I set up the playtest environment, created the quantitative and qualitative playtest questionnaires, and conducted in person pre- and post- gameplay questionnaires with the players.

Furthermore, I was the team’s official cinematographer.  I filmed and conducted the interviews for the NEVERMIND Behind-the-scenes videos.

I must say, I was blown away. Check out some of these examples below.

div#ThreeDeePlayground p.test {
font-size: 30px;
color: #fff;
font-weight: bold;
text-shadow: 0 1px 0 #ccc,
               0 2px 0 #c9c9c9,
               0 3px 0 #bbb,
               0 4px 0 #b9b9b9,
               0 5px 0 #aaa,
               0 6px 1px rgba(0,0,0,.1),
               0 0 5px rgba(0,0,0,.1),
               0 1px 3px rgba(0,0,0,.3),
               0 3px 5px rgba(0,0,0,.2),
               0 5px 10px rgba(0,0,0,.25),
               0 10px 10px rgba(0,0,0,.2),
               0 20px 20px rgba(0,0,0,.15);
}

div#ThreeDeePlayground p.transitiontest {
position:relative;
color: #a4da9a;
font-size: 40px;
font-weight: bold;
-webkit-transition: .2s all linear;
-moz-transition: .2s all linear;
-o-transition: .2s all linear;
}
div#ThreeDeePlayground p.transitiontest:hover {
bottom: 4px;
text-shadow: 0 1px 0 #ccc,
               0 2px 0 #c9c9c9,
               0 3px 0 #bbb,
               0 4px 0 #b9b9b9,
               0 5px 0 #aaa,
               0 6px 1px rgba(0,0,0,.1),
               0 0 5px rgba(0,0,0,.1),
               0 1px 3px rgba(0,0,0,.3),
               0 3px 5px rgba(0,0,0,.2),
               0 5px 10px rgba(0,0,0,.25),
               0 10px 10px rgba(0,0,0,.2),
               0 20px 20px rgba(0,0,0,.15);
}

div#ThreeDeePlayground span.risingBoxes {
display: inline-block;
height: 20px;
background: #eee;
-webkit-transition: .2s all linear;
-moz-transition: .2s all linear;
-o-transition: .2s all linear;
margin: 1px;
position: relative;
padding: 5px 10px;
}
div#ThreeDeePlayground span.risingBoxes:hover {
bottom: 5px;
box-shadow: 0 1px 0 #ccc,
               0 2px 0 #c9c9c9,
               0 3px 0 #bbb,
               0 4px 0 #b9b9b9,
               0 5px 0 #aaa,
               0 6px 1px rgba(0,0,0,.1),
               0 0 5px rgba(0,0,0,.1),
               0 1px 3px rgba(0,0,0,.3),
               0 3px 5px rgba(0,0,0,.2),
               0 5px 10px rgba(0,0,0,.25),
               0 10px 10px rgba(0,0,0,.2),
               0 20px 20px rgba(0,0,0,.15);
-webkit-box-shadow: 0 1px 0 #ccc,
               0 2px 0 #c9c9c9,
               0 3px 0 #bbb,
               0 4px 0 #b9b9b9,
               0 5px 0 #aaa,
               0 6px 1px rgba(0,0,0,.1),
               0 0 5px rgba(0,0,0,.1),
               0 1px 3px rgba(0,0,0,.3),
               0 3px 5px rgba(0,0,0,.2),
               0 5px 10px rgba(0,0,0,.25),
               0 10px 10px rgba(0,0,0,.2),
               0 20px 20px rgba(0,0,0,.15);
-moz-box-shadow: 0 1px 0 #ccc,
               0 2px 0 #c9c9c9,
               0 3px 0 #bbb,
               0 4px 0 #b9b9b9,
               0 5px 0 #aaa,
               0 6px 1px rgba(0,0,0,.1),
               0 0 5px rgba(0,0,0,.1),
               0 1px 3px rgba(0,0,0,.3),
               0 3px 5px rgba(0,0,0,.2),
               0 5px 10px rgba(0,0,0,.25),
               0 10px 10px rgba(0,0,0,.2),
               0 20px 20px rgba(0,0,0,.15);
}

Fun stuff, huh? I can’t believe it’s just CSS!!!

All Motion Graphics designed and animated by Konstantin Brazhnik

Description

NEVERMIND is Erin Reynold‘s Graduate Interactive Media Thesis Project at the USC School of Cinematic Arts.  It is a psychological horror puzzle game that utilizes a heart rate sensor to make your own stress level a crucial part of the game play mechanic.  You play as a “Neuroprober” who dives into the minds of patients with PTSD and helps them uncover the truth that their mind has repressed for many years.  Only after confronting these hidden realities can the patients begin to feel in control of their own lives.  The only catch is that you must learn to keep your calm amidst the horrors you see or the patients’ minds reject your presence.

My Role

As a producer on NEVERMIND, I brought my film production skills to the table.  Since NEVERMIND is a psychological horror game, both Erin and I knew that the soundscape was going to be an absolutely crucial element.  We were fortunate enough to recruit three extremely talented sound designers and composers from the USC Thornton School of Music to carefully sculpt the audio experience of the game.  Dustin Painter, Derek Baird, and Jeff Tinsley toiled for a year on ever little detail of the NEVERMIND experience.

I also brought my fundraising skills to the table by running a mini-fundraising campaign on IndieGoGo to pull together some finishing funds for the game.  These funds allowed us to put the finishing touches on the game in Spring 2012.

Finally, my biggest contribution to the project was perhaps organizing and running the playtesting sessions.  Over the course of one year, we conducted 3 playtests for NEVERMIND.  I was able to bring both my scientific and documentary backgrounds to the table as I set up the playtest environment, created the quantitative and qualitative playtest questionnaires, and conducted in person pre- and post- gameplay questionnaires with the players.

Furthermore, I was the team’s official cinematographer.  I filmed and conducted the interviews for the NEVERMIND Behind-the-scenes videos.

This was a presentation for Jeremy Gibson’s Game Design Workshop class of Fall 2011 at USC School of Cinematic Arts. We were assigned to come up with a downloadable content expansion that we could pitch in 5 minutes. Our presentation took a little inspiration from imagery in the news media.

URL:  http://www.mydoorstepdinner.com/

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