Liahna Brown is ready to evade some Zlorps.
As the March 15 registration deadline for the 2021 Virtual Expo looms, keyboards are clacking and neurons are firing all over campus as Ohio University students prepare for the opportunity to showcase their research and creative projects.
Everyone—graduate, undergraduate, medical, online and regional students—is invited to participate.
The projects vary. For English or dance students, it’s a chance to share their creative endeavors with a larger audience. Biology and engineering students are crunching data and testing hypotheses. Education and business students are prepping posters or editing videos. Students from all majors are hard at work, especially if they’re submitting a video by March 15. Those who’ve decided to participate in the social posting part of Expo have more time to polish their projects. They just need to sign up by March 15 if they want an Expo t-shirt. Postdocs are also encouraged to participate in this option.
And in the GRID lab on a quiet corner of campus, communications students provide a sneak peek of what it’s like with just one weekend between now and the registration deadline. Well, maybe it’s not so quiet…because Zlorps are chasing students around the spaceship, and a small woodland spirit is guiding others through momentous decisions about protecting nature.
The Walkable VR Alien Project
In this walkable virtual reality game, the player must escape an intergalactic party spaceship which belongs to the Zlorp, an alien colony that is obsessed with having a good time. To escape the aliens, the player has to stealth around the ship using the shadows and random objects to conceal themselves from the partying Zlorps. Along the way the player must solve puzzles to advance to different portions of the ship and finally escape. This game is meant to be entertaining, humorous, and overall a pleasant lighthearted experience.
Q: What part of your project has been harder than climbing up Jeff Hill?
“I will admit the toughest part about this project has been that VR technology is not exactly easy to work with, a lot of times there are errors that must be corrected before one can even begin to use the technology. VR overall is innovative and exciting because it allows for people to experience things they have never experienced before; however, trouble shooting an error dealing with VR takes way longer than walking up Jeff Hill,” says Liahna Brown.
Q. What’s the coolest thing about your project made possible by the GRID lab?
“The wooden course is the coolest thing the GRID lab has given us. It is exciting and new when you first use a VR headset, but that freshness goes away after a while. What this project hopes to do is bring back that exciting new feeling to the player. A new medium where you can touch the alien spaceship and interact with a VR game physically,” says Sam Kreimer.
The Blue Forest team takes a group photo.
The Blue Forest Game Project
Blue forest is a side scrolling platform game that follows the adventures of a small woodland spirit who has been brought into the world to protect its forest from mankind, who seeks to harvest its natural resources. As the game progresses, the player must decide whether to defend nature from the threat of humanity or adapt to the situation at hand. The team behind Blue Forest hopes to give the player an idea of the world they have built while leaving the player to also ponder critical questions such as the morality of nature as well as humanities’ effect on the environment.
Q. Are you feeling under control, finishing touches and pressure?
“Personally, I feel like the entire process of game development is based on adapting to any situation whilst maintaining project goals and being in some control. Overall, I would say that my team and I are in control and confident about our progress and are excited to put our finishing touches on Blue Forest before showing it off.” says Brown.
Owen Freshour at work on the Blue Forest Game.
Q. How have you overcome COVID issues to work on a group project?
“I’ll say that communication has been absolutely key in working on the project remotely. We’ve set milestone plans, and deadlines for each of us to fulfill to keep on schedule. In smaller teams, we’ve had many meetings outside of the capstone class as well for topics such as animation, narrative, coding, engine, and sound. Although we haven’t been able to meet in-person, we’ve been able to meet a decent amount online, working around our individual schedules, to make the game as best as it can be!” says Owen Freshour.
“We’re all very excited for the Expo, and we can’t wait to see what other students will be contributing!” Freshour adds.
Akbar Sultanov shows hand-tracking function.
Virtual Reality and Machine Learning Hand Tracking Feature
Graduate student Akbar Sultanov is working on an open source virtual reality quiz with a hand tracking feature demonstrating the best features of web virtual reality.
What part of your project has been harder than climbing up Jeff Hill?
Adapting a machine learning model (hand tracking) to a virtual reality space was the most difficult part for me as am I still learn machine learning related concepts and web coding.
What’s the coolest thing about your project made possible by the GRID lab?
Accessibility. The project will be accessible through mobile phones, tablets, PCs (non-VR experience), mobile powered VR devices (Google Cardboard), Oculus. In addition, it will allow any one to add questions and answers in any language to the VR quiz or generate own one. For this purpose Google Spreadsheet will be used.
Innovation. So far hand tracking feature has had a limited use. In addition, most hand tracking experiences are made available by high-end devices like Oculus, Magic Leap, etc. This project will demonstrate that even ordinary devices (i.e. mobile phones) are capable to offer hand tracking features in virtual reality. Thus, users will be able to use their hands as controllers inside of the game. In addition, it will be possible to use the quiz for entertainment purposes (i.e. non-VR version) in the public by allowing to play the gave with hand gestures (though, this feature will be implemented later).
Akbar Sultanov working on code
How is this Expo project fitting in with your graduate work?
Through this project I am testing several ideas, which will become part of my thesis project. These are machine learning, accessibility, openness.
Are you feeling under control, with just finishing touches left? Or are you feeling like it’s the fourth quarter and the pressure’s on?
I feel that I will complete my project on time. And the idea that the final project will be evaluated and tested soon makes me work even harder.
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