Faculty of Arts & Science

Digital Futures

Madelaine Fischer-Bernhut

Echoes of the Tides VR

It is sunrise and you are a beachcomber collecting washed ashore objects on the beach. To others, the objects may be trash, but to you, they are artifacts that hold memories that tell the story of both human use and human environmental encroachment. Still, these memories can only be seen after puzzling together artifacts that hold a connection to each other, can you unlock them all?The player begins on a beach at sunrise, a pail in hand. As they stroll they collect objects; these objects, called artifacts, contain imprints of memories. Memories of their use and where they came from that can be explored by combining different artifacts together. These combinations then spawn gateways to worlds that reflect these memories. One, an underwater realm where the effects of these objects are spawned based on human impact on the ocean. The other, a beach during the daytime, where remnants of human activity strewn about and the echoes of the past mix with the sound of the waves.

“This project was created with Nik Szafranek and Jin "Annie" Zhang. My role included: Project Management, Unity Development, Level Design, Animation, VFX, Audio, UI Assets and Implementation, Shaders, VR Setup, and Troubleshooting.”