Arx: Meta
Arx:Meta was a virtual reality theatre concept created as part of the 2020 5th Wall Forum incubator program. It combined immersive theatre and classic gameplay elements. Arx is a world native to the metaverse, where audiences can experience stories with a significant level of agency, interacting with live actors within a story framework.
For this project, my role was:
- World designer and builder
- Narrative designer
- Developed narrative beats and story arcs for performers
- Asset implementation in the VRChat world, working with 3D artists
- Maintained project and production documentation
- Supported sessions for actors to develop performance techniques in VR.
Notes on Design:
Designing an immersive stage environment came with challenges; merging performance requirements of Quest 2 content with the look and feel of a densely populated city is a balancing act. I chose to create labryinthine city streets that are clearly delineated into city factions and two ways of life. This was an effort to leverage the environment to tell the story of a city divided. By giving the audience a sense of conflict and stakes from the world around them, as a designer I hope this freed time for the performers to engage more deeply with the audience through the story beats.
The challenge for our team was to integrate the live, emergent elements of performance with the constraints of VR in a way that felt organic for the audience. Our experiments during and after the incubator explored VR performance tools and performance techniques.
The video above illustrates the virtual world of Arx on VRChat. Additional contributions by Trudy Wohlleben and Mary Ellis (3D artists).
The documentation below demonstrates VR actors rehearsing narrative beats in an earlier version of the concept world.
