Will MacRae

The Temple of the Dreamer 01 For Jurying Consideration

The Temple of the Dreamer is a VR experience designed for the Oculus Quest 2 in Unreal Engine 5. In it, the player explores a lurid, fantasy world; completing 4 shrine locations to access the chamber of Luap the Great Dreamer to save this world.

“The Temple of the Dreamer (TTOTD) is a narrative VR pilgrimage set in a colourful fantasy world designed to evoke a dream-like sensation and a feeling of divinity. This prototype (and a completed sample of TTODD) consists of a game level, character models and assets designed using Blender and Unreal Engine playable on the Oculus Quest 2. TTOTD's main themes are dreams, magic, mystery, divinity, and the intersection between collective and individual imagination. Players, assuming the perspective of a pilgrim, traverse the Great Dreamer’s temple, the shrines of four primeval deities to gain their blessings, and then return Luap to sleep to save this world from annihilation. Luap dreams this world into existence. TTOTD uses its setting to explore how dreams act as a bridge between our imaginations, the waking world, and a near-death state. By harnessing the immersive capabilities of VR, TTOTD is designed to induce a feeling of magical dreaminess and explore mental states and moods that can be VR-elicited. The Temple identifies imagery and archetypes that inform our collective imagination in world mythology and religion, seeking to emulate their divine quality. Each of TTOTD's deities is inspired by reoccurring figures in world mythology. Redek, the Sun Father, is sourced from Zeus, Odin, and Ra in the tradition of paternal lords of the sky and sun. Yen, the Faen Moon, is inspired by Zorya Polunochnaya, the Fae Folk, Nyx, and Hecate are symbols of the feminine mystical night and magic hidden from sight. Yalleh, the Lost Sheep, is a darkly magical trickster-deity in the vein of Loki, Lucifer, or Baphomet. Una the Primordial Ocean is the natural and maternal progenitor of life styled after Gaia, Tiamat, and Cybele. The archetypes and concepts recur repeatedly in mythology, exemplifying a shared quality that resonates across time and culture. By embodying mythologically visual, tonal, and thematic qualities in TTOTD ‘s environment and character design, enhanced to a greater feeling of realism through VR, TTOTD attempts to activate the sacred in us.Stylistically TTOTD is a merging of a young boy’s imagination with a focus on colour and wonder, designs from a wide range of mythology, and a concealed, sinister sense of danger and the bizarre. This third influence on the game’s style reflects the deeper, hidden nature of the story, which can be discovered by unraveling the game’s secrets. Lowbrow pop surrealism, specifically the paintings Ron English, served as a source for many of the visual references. This prototype includes a sample level and four of the deity’s 3D modelled and showcased. The environment chosen was Redek, the Sun Father’s pyramid on the clouds. Greyboxing of the environment and asset design was completed in Blender, and the level was assembled, textured, and populated with foliage and atmospheric effects in Unreal Engine 5. The character concept art was completed in photoshop. The character models were sculpted, retologized, UV unwrapped, texture painted, and rigged in Blender. Redek’s level takes approximately 2 minutes to complete and will be playable on the Oculus Quest 2.”