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Life ReSounding

Posted on by Susie

Our game Life Resounding has been released in Beta state! You can access it through the links below if you’re interested, we would love to hear your thoughts.

Life (Re)Sounding is a short game/interactive 5 track music album created using Unreal 5 and the MetaMidiToolkit.  It is designed to raise awareness of how hard it is to exist as a neurodivergent person in a neurotypical world, by encouraging players to engage with slices of life of a neurodivergent person thrust into a world that was built for neurotypical people. 

If you’re interested in finding out more about our game, you can watch the video below:

Recently my colleague George and I were lucky enough to speak to Channel 10 News about the work we are doing on Life Resounding.

The game is currently in Beta state meaning there might still be some bugs or issues that need to be ironed out. We would love if you could help us find them! If you like you can play the game for free on itch.io: https://likeglassgames.itch.io/life-resounding

Unreal Fest Gold Coast ’24!

Posted on by Susie

In late May I got to escape the freezing cold Adelaide weather and head to the sunny Gold Coast for Epic Games’ Unreal Fest 2024! This was my first ever Unreal Fest and what a great event it was! I got to meet with some amazing people from Unreal’s worldwide education team, and connect with, and gain insights from some awesome educators using Unreal engine across Australia and even the world!

As seasoned Unreal Fest veterans, the wonderful Jason and Cam from Flinders Uni were there to introduce me to everyone (thank you both!) and it was a joy to represent the SA Unreal Engine education scene with them! 😀 Here’s a pic of me and Cam at one of the education sessions:

As well as a bunch of really interesting talks and panels, there was an education roundtable where we were able to talk about the strengths and challenges of using Unreal in education and share our insights with each other. We also got to hear all about the changes to the wonderful academic partnership program, and all the ways the program helps ensure that what we are sharing with our students is industry ready, valuable skills! I’m so proud and excited that UniSA is a part of the education partnership program!

The best part of all was that I got this gorgeous koala pin!

Thanks so much for hosting such a great event to the Epic Games Unreal Engine Team and I hope to attend Unreal Fest in 2025!

Graphic Horizons Comics Symposium

Posted on by Susie

On the 14th of September I was lucky enough to speak at the Graphic Horizons Comics Symposium. I was able to share some the work I carried out with David Blaiklock from UniSA around our Augmented Reality Comic project. We spoke about our project ‘Alice’, a digital comic incorporating an augmented reality application that depicts a deepening father/daughter relationship whilst on an Australian road trip. In merging the comics format with augmented reality, this comic facilitates deep engagement leveraging the multiple narrative perspectives & multisensory experiences typical of the comics form. However, extending it beyond its physical surface and primary story into multifaceted times and settings through AR, which the reader/viewer is able to choose, involves the reader/viewer even further in generating the narrative order and content. For example, not only is the reader/viewer is able to discover multiple hidden perspectives by seeing 360 degree imagery from the point-of-view of the character and alternate events, handwritten notes on maps, hear recordings of voices and sound and view video in response to their own physical interactions with the comic, they are also able to manipulate these through elements of game play. This paper will introduce this recent intermedial Australian comic to the audience and explain how and why we took the approach to the comics form that they did to tell this story.

The symposium was a really great opportunity to connect with people from the comics space in a friendly and inspiring setting. I saw some really great presentations and it was so nice to explore a new academic area – comic people seem great! 🙂 Thanks so much to those who organised and took part in the symposium, and for being so supportive and welcoming!

Digital Futures Initiative – APRA/AMCOS

Posted on by Susie

I’m lucky to be a part of a research team led by Dr Sam Whiting and with John Oestmann exploring the potential of automation for composers and musicians in games music, with funding support from the Digital Futures Initiative. The $20,000 grant is provided in partnership by music rights management organisation APRA AMCOS and the Australia Council for the Arts.

Project overview:

In today’s world of new frontiers in automation and generative AI, artists are left wondering whether this automation is their friend or foe. Musical automation has the potential to make significant contributions in empowering composers and musicians – but the question relates to “how?”. While much of the current discussion has been on generative AI in design and text-based communication, musical automation contains a huge amount of potential, with most of the R&D in this area having been developed by the film industry. Musical automation in games, however, could make a significant contribution in empowering composers and musicians.

This project will produce a video game in which all audio is generated live, from scratch, by a human-designed digital synthesis system. This audio will change and adapt, based on the actions of the human playing the game. The design framework, developments, and critical reflections will be shared freely to empower other composers who are excited to create in this unfolding space, and contemporary industry research will provide important context for the creative project.

You can read more about the project here: https://www.apraamcos.com.au/about-us/news-and-events/digital-futures-initiative-recipients-2023

School Showcase: Unreal Engine Short Film Challenge

Posted on by Susie

I’m so proud of our UniSA Games/Film students who have this week been showcased on ArtStation for their work on the Unreal Short Film Challenge where they created Wally Wallace and the Magic Case!

It was a pleasure to work with them and see this film grow throughout the development process! Thank you to Unreal Australia for the opportunity and thank you Artstation for acknowledging the hard work our students put into their project, and for showcasing us alongside the other amazing universities who took part in the challenge!

You can read the article and watch all the student films here: https://magazine.artstation.com/2023/03/school-showcase-unreal-engine-short-film-challenge-australia-new-zealand/

Article: Creating screen stories with game engines: challenges and opportunities for students and researchers working collaboratively across disciplines

Posted on by Susie

An article I co-wrote with Associate Professor Kath Dooley exploring cross collaboration has been published in the journal Media Practice and Education. Of particular interest to me in this area is game designers and screen professionals working together in virtual production contexts.

Abstract:
In recent years, the increased take up of game engines in the context of emerging and traditional screen media production has fostered innovation across formats. Game engines present an opportunity to author immersive projects that draw upon the expertise of experience designers, game developers, screenwriters and other creative practitioners; however, questions arise as to the ways that individuals from different backgrounds might work together effectively on these projects given the varying ‘poetics’ of their fields. This term, used by Ian MacDonald in the context of screenwriting practice, refers to ‘the rationalisation of a mode, or a paradigm, of practice; a collection of perceived norms that make sense together, for those involved in developing a screen idea, in that time and place’ (2013, 3). This article explores the development of two screen works created using Unreal Engine, so as to outline the challenges for multidisciplinary teamwork in this area. This article will argue that the successful realisation of these projects called for the development of common ground around this new mode of practice, one fostered through a sharing of boundary objects (Star and Griesemer 1989), expertise and through listening to participant concerns.

Check out the full article here!

Adelaide Gaol comes alive thanks to new augmented reality app

Posted on by Susie

Final year UniSA Creative Games Design & Production students and UniSA STEM Games & Entertainment Design students teamed up to work on an exciting game with Adelaide Gaol.

Using Unreal engine, the team worked to create an AR game that utilised the physical site of the gaol to engage visitors in the history of the gaol. An AR game was created that allows players to travel around the gaol site whilst exploring the story of William Kither (an inmate from the 1930’s), and explore how he was able to escape.

Using Metahumans, students were able to create a digital version of Kither based on old photographs and descriptions provided in the newspaper when news of his escape broke in the 30’s.

You can read a full media release about the project here.

Epic Games and UniSA team up for Unreal Academic Partnership

Posted on by Susie

I am super excited to announce that UniSA has been selected by Epic as the first University in Australia to be named as an Unreal Engine Academic Partner! The partnership program ensures that students at UniSA will have access to industry-leading skills development in Unreal Engine.

‘UniSA’s selection (in the program) is a testament to our courses, our teaching staff and the high-quality work of our students,’ Emery said. ‘It means that the courses we teach using Unreal Engine are led by experienced teaching staff and we have facilities and resources to support our students’ future success in this growing and in-demand area. This means UniSA students will be graduating with relevant skills that are in high demand across a variety of industries.’

Games Hub

Unreal Engine is used across games development, film and TV, architecture and simulation industries and skills and I’m looking forward to seeing our partnership grow!