"Mason": An Adventure Platforming Game for the Visualization Studio

"Mason" is an action-adventure video game demo made by NC State alumnus RJ Washington and adapted specifically for the Visualization Studio at the D. H. Hill Jr Library. In this 360-dregree adaption of Mason, users are surrounded by the game environment, with the titular character remaining in the center of the screen as the world moves around the player.

A GIF showing the title screen for Mason and the Elegy of Time. Fireflies move across the screen beneath stylized text showing the game's title.
A wireframe flow chart shows the major plot points and user interactions for Mason and the Elegy of Time. A compendium of assets used by the designer is included at the bottom of the page.
Character art and 'run cycle' keyframes for Mason, the player character in Mason and the Elegy of Time. Mason is wearing a yellow poncho, has blue hair and a white tunic in the most completed image.
The world map for Mason and the Elegy of Time is shown in several levels of detail, including a collision map, in-process art, and the final map.

Overview

"Mason and the Elegy of Time" is a video game proof-of-concept that NC State alumnus RJ Washington (BA, Art & Design '22) developed as a project within his undergraduate curriculum. It was made in the Unity game engine, with all assets, music, and animations being created by RJ.

"Mason and the Elegy of Time" is a video game proof of concept that I developed in ADN 460 (Creative Technology Studio II) under instructor Justin Johnson. The story is about a boy who ventures beyond the walls of the village for the first time to save it from a malevolent threat that's consumed the rest of the world. The game is a 2D side-scroller made in Unity with a unique mechanic that would allow the player to manipulate time to solve puzzles. Though I didn’t get to finish everything I planned, I’m happy I can introduce you to Mason!"

In the summer of 2022, RJ worked to adapt this project to the unique presentation dynamics of the Visualization Studio and its 360-degree audio/visual projection environment.

How We Did It

RJ Washington was able to adapt the artwork and gameplay for "Mason and the Elegy of Time" without manually adapting the media assets or player controls from his traditional "flat-screen" demo. This was possible because, even though the Visualization Studio is an immersive space with a wraparound 360-degree display, it still supports two-dimensional gameplay. Accommodations for these kinds of adaptations are built into the Visualization Studio Software Development Kit for the Unity game engine.

Using that VisSDK toolkit, RJ replaced Unity's primary default 2D camera (designed for monitors and other flat screens) with the VisSDK's custom 2D Camera. This adapted the display so that Unity could support the 14:1 aspect ratio of the Visualization Studio's 360-degree screen.

RJ then polished the controls to suit the increased resolution and frame rate, added a few new animations to take advantage of those affordances, and completed a round of play-testing with Libraries coworkers serving as the testers. Play-testing is an essential form of quality control that ensures that the game is legible and satisfying to audiences who are less familiar with the product than its developers are.
 

Results

While this game (and the Visualization Studio as a whole) is a 'you have to see it to believe it' experience, we do have some exciting gameplay snippets to share from our play-testing:

Results

Team