University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

“Mystical” VR: an experimental VR experience exploring concepts and symbolism of ancient Andean worldview based on the symbol ""La Chakana""

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“Mystical” VR: an experimental VR experience exploring concepts and symbolism of ancient Andean worldview based on the symbol ""La Chakana""

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Content “MYSTICAL” VR
AN EXPERIMENTAL VR EXPERIENCE EXPLORING CONCEPTS AND SYMBOLISM
OF ANCIENT ANDEAN WORLDVIEW BASED ON THE SYMBOL "LA CHAKANA"
by
David Guevara Rosillo
A Thesis Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC SCHOOL OF CINEMATIC ARTS
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
MASTER OF FINE ARTS
(Interactive Media)
May 2021
Copyright 2021 David Guevara Rosillo
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Dedication

This thesis is dedicated to the memory of my lovely Aunt Teresa Guevara; the best
professor I ever had Jeff Watson; my everlasting VR/AR colleague Ralston Louie and all the
living spirits of the Pachamama (Mother Earth).

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my thesis chair Martzi Campos and faculty advisor in directed
research Margaret Moser, for their unconditional guidance and thoughtful advice and expertise
across the production process of this thesis.
A big thank you to my faculty advisor Professor of Anthropology Thomas Ward for
believing in the core of this unique thesis project and to my industry advisor composer Kazimir
Boyle.
To my MFA cohort IMGD 2021 and the USC IMGD faculty and academic staff who
took the time to help and comment critically on my work, especially Andreas Kratky, Laird
Malamed, Jane Pinckard, Carl Schnurr and Gini Benson.
To my wonderful animation professor Jordan Halsey who always spent time to show me
his magic hat full of awesome tricks in procedural animation.
To photographer and graphic designer Johnathan Terreros, whose daily work as a unique
documentary photographer inside the indigenous community of the Andes of Ecuador has been a
big inspiration for the conceptualization and making of “Mystical” VR”.
And of course, I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to my talented and
international team. Without your enthusiasm and dedication nothing would be possible.
Engineers: Lujia Wang, Mathias Voelcker, Michelle Wong, Melissa Ahn and Anna Szymanski.
Composers: German Espino, Emmanuel Segarra Concept Art: Johnathan Terreros
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To the Shriram family, all my blessings and words of appreciation cannot be enough.
Without their support through the “Shriram Family Graduate Student Support Fund” this MFA
program and my emerging career could not be reachable at all.
And finally, to my main and unconditional supporter and cheerleader of everything I
intend to do, the one who believes in me even sometimes when I don’t, the one who encouraged
me to be the best version of myself, my patient and lovely wife, Katherine Guevara.

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Table of Contents

Dedication ....................................................................................................................................... ii
Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ iii
List of Figures ................................................................................................................................ vi
Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... vii

Chapter 1: Process, Materials, and Methods ................................................................................... 1
Single-player Non-narrative Experimental VR Experience ........................................................ 1
“La Chakana” as Symbolic Game Structure ............................................................................... 2
Design Decisions & Other Challenges ........................................................................................ 7
Musical Compositions and Sound Effect Selection .................................................................... 9

Chapter 2: Prior Art Resources and References ........................................................................... 12
“Pachay Photography” .............................................................................................................. 12
Samskara 360 Immersive Exhibition ........................................................................................ 14
“Ayahuasca VR” ....................................................................................................................... 16
“Tripp VR” ................................................................................................................................ 17

Chapter 3: Exhibition/Final Piece ................................................................................................. 19
5-10-Minute Experience Walkthrough...................................................................................... 19
Incorporating Playtesting Feedback .......................................................................................... 24

Chapter 4: Reflection .................................................................................................................... 26
Display ...................................................................................................................................... 26
Future Development: Adding Portals and EEG ........................................................................ 28
Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 30

Works Cited .................................................................................................................................. 32

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List of Figures

Figure 1: “La Chakana de los pares principales” Source: (Amaru, 2013) ...................................... 1
Figure 2: “Mystical” Paper prototype for CTIN 542 class ............................................................. 2
Figure 3: Mystical “The Main Lobby" draft sketch ........................................................................ 2
Figure 4: “Mystical” Concept Art: Main Lobby by J. Terreros ...................................................... 3
Figure 5: “Mystical” Concept Art: Portals by J. Terreros .............................................................. 4
Figure 6: El génesis andino en el Pacha. Representación de la idea de génesis de Joan de
Santa Cruz Pachacuti Yamqui (1613)
Source: Milla Villena (1983 [1613]: 232); y Milla Euribe (1990:10) ............................................ 4
Figure 7: Inka Symbolic Map Source: John B. Carlson, National Geographic, March 1990 ........ 5
Figure 8: Luis E. Valcarcel, Etnohistoria del Peru Antiguo; UNMSM-1967 ................................. 6
Figure 9: “Mystical” Concept Art: Uku Pacha by J. Terreros ........................................................ 7
Figure 10: “Pachay Art Photography”
Source: https://www.facebook.com/jonithoterreros/photos/ ........................................................ 12
Figure 11: “Samskara” Source: https://samskara.pro/ ................................................................. 14
Figure 12: “Ayahuasca VR”
Source: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1212940/Ayahuasca/ ............................................. 16
Figure 13: “Tripp VR”
Source: https://www.tripp.com/subscription/get-tripp-now/ ........................................................ 17
Figure 14: “Mystical” Gameplay Screenshots .............................................................................. 23
Figure 15: From concept art to 3D by David Guevara ................................................................. 23
Figure 16: “Mystical” Playtesting sessions with family members and
remotely sessions through Zoom .................................................................................................. 24
Figure 17: “Mystical” Concept Art: Sacred Animals by J. Terreros ............................................ 28

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Abstract
“Mystical” is an experimental non-narrative Virtual Reality (VR) experience for Oculus
Rift inspired by an ancient symbol from the Andean civilizations including the Inca Empire,
which existed throughout South America, called “La Chakana” the Andean Cross (Tello, 2015).
“Mystical” is not an archeological documentary piece nor does it have a religious intent
(“La Chakana” is a non-religious symbol). Instead, it is an experimental art piece which seeks to
answer a simple question “Can people be inspired to learn through an experiential and immersive
point of view (POV) VR experience some concepts of the ancient symbol “La Chakana”? This
sacred calendar-like symbol represents what the Andean civilizations believed about the whole
universe. It helped to decipher their surroundings and the purpose of human life on planet Earth.
This symbol includes the four cardinal directions (north, south, east, west) and the natural
elements (water, wind, fire, earth).
I became deeply interested to incorporate in an experimental VR experience the nature
elements and other meaningful cultural elements inspired directly by this ancient symbol because
this symbol is a big part of my identity as an Ecuadorian. By doing so, I hope to provide a
compelling world where players can be exposed to and awaken their curiosity about the symbol
and the magical concepts behind it which are also strongly connected with Mother Nature or
“Pachamama”.
“Mystical” as a unique project allows me to give voice to the stories of my overlooked
indigenous Andean ancestors and help preserve their cultural heritage so that their talents,
beauty, wisdom and philosophy of life can be recognized. I feel deeply the creativity of the
Andean civilizations flowing through and inspiring me.

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Chapter 1: Process, Materials, and Methods

Single-player Non-narrative Experimental VR Experience

“Mystical” is an experimental non-narrative VR experience for Oculus Rift inspired by
an ancient symbol called “La Chakana” from Andean civilizations which existed throughout
South America. This sacred calendar-like symbol represents what the Andean civilizations
believed about the whole universe (Amaru, 2013).

Figure 1: “La Chakana de los pares principales” Source: (Amaru, 2013)

It helped to decipher their surroundings and the purpose of human life on planet Earth.
This symbol includes the four cardinal directions (north, south, east, west) (Amaru, 2013) and
the natural elements (water, wind, fire, earth). “Mystical”, as an experimental VR experience, is
intended to be played inside a museum or contemporary art gallery. Its mission seeks to answer
the question “Can people be inspired to learn through an experiential VR experience some
concepts of the ancient symbol “La Chakana” representing the “Mystical” Andean worldview?”
2

“Mystical” is an exploration game in which the player explores a space arranged around
cardinal directions in form of portals. The player begins in the main lobby (See Figure 3) and
discovers the exploration is about learning the meanings of “La Chakana” symbol. The world
invites the player to explore by going through the four cardinal portals. In each portal, the player
continues the exploration in symbols. The player collects cultural items such as corn cobs and
kernels that help them to activate other portals. By finishing one portal, once all collectibles
have been acquired, the player can enter the next one. In the “South Portal”, the player finds the
theme, the sacred animal, and hopefully ends the portal exploration with a curiosity to learn more
about the portal just completed.
“La Chakana” as Symbolic Game Structure

Figure 2: “Mystical” Paper prototype for CTIN 542 class
Figure 3: Mystical “The Main Lobby” draft sketch
“La Chakana” is a richly complex ancient Andean symbol which describes the
multilayered worldview of the Andean people, their beliefs, and their values of life and the
universe. It is difficult to know everything about this symbol which was and is still used across
Andean cultures; most is known from its uses in Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia and Colombia. This VR
experience is a personal interpretation of La Chakana which is comprised of the four cardinal
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directions, North, South, East, and West, and the four elements, Water, Fire, Air, and Earth,
aligned to sacred animals, Snake, Condor, Puma, and Hummingbird.

Figure 4: “Mystical” Concept Art: Main Lobby by J. Terreros
The symbolic elements of La Chakana inspired the game design specifically as seen in
the main lobby and four portals. The main lobby has a starry night sky in conjunction with the
sun because it represents the two deities Inti (Sun) and Mama Killa (Moon) which also continues
the theme of duality present throughout the symbols of the experience. The main lobby also
contains the presence of mountains made out of embedded heads which represent the “Apus” or
the spirits of the mountains because the indigenous believe the mountains are inhabited by the
wisdom of the ancestors, so faces of elders appear on the mountains. Pots or ceramic vases are
used to show the entrance to each portal because these items are profusely used for daily life in
Andean indigenous cultures such as storage for water, grains, and even the dead for burial.

4

Figure 5: “Mystical” Concept Art: Portals by J. Terreros
Starting in the main lobby, the player is first introduced to the symbols representing the
portals. The light blue wave symbol shows the portal representing Water. The green circular
symbol shaped like a mountain represents the Earth portal. The orange flame symbol depicts the
Fire portal. Finally, the three white swirls represent the air of the wind for the Air portal. Each
symbol for the portals is made up of the circular geometric line drawing which is common to the
handicrafts of the ancient Andean cultures such as on their pottery and fabric.

Figure 6: El génesis andino en el Pacha. Representación de la idea de génesis de Joan de Santa Cruz Pachacuti Yamqui (1613)
Source: Milla Villena (1983 [1613]: 232); y Milla Euribe (1990: 10)
5

Figure 7: Inka Symbolic Map Source: John B. Carlson, National Geographic, March 1990
The Snake lives in the underworld called Uku Pacha “See Figure 5” in the indigenous
Quichua/Quechua language. The Condor lives in the spiritual ether of the heavens called Hanan
Pacha and can see everything from the highest point of the sky. The Puma lives in the present
reality of the world, the world of the Now, called Kay Pacha but also can contemplate the other
two worlds without accessing them. The Hummingbird is sometimes present as the messenger
of the Condor but lives in the Kay Pacha.

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Figure 8: Luis E. Valcarcel, Etnohistoria del Perú Antiguo; UNMSM-1967
In “Mystical”, the is represented by both the Snake and the element “Earth”. As the
player explores the “South Portal”, they feel as if they are traveling underneath the ground with
rocks, tunnels, and caves. The skulls and mummies show the player this is the underworld where
death is present but at the same time, the player understands that death and life are a cycle. The
intention of the “South Portal” experience is to expose the player with the concept of duality of
death and life. In order to achieve that, the player experiences the process of harvesting maize
and planting maize with seeds. At the end, the snake meets the character Aya Huma who is the
main character of the harvesting celebration. This unique, complex character also has two faces
representing good and evil, another mark of duality. Aya Huma is the guardian of Pachamama
or Mother Earth, the main guide of “Inti Raymi”, the celebration of the sun and the harvesting.
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Figure 9: “Mystical” Concept Art : Uku Pacha by J. Terreros

Design Decisions & Other Challenges

The main design idea is to create an experiential VR experience that promotes a curiosity
of learning more about the Andean culture after the VR experience is finished. Ideally, to
achieve this, “Mystical” would be contained as part of a multidisciplinary and multimedia
museum exhibition or installation that would be supported with text-based educational media
such as signs, brochures, and posters that would provide the more traditional lecture-style
learning component and context needed to support the experience (see Chapter 4 for more about
the planned Display). From the beginning, VR was selected because it is the medium that best
triggers emotions and feelings with a well-recognized benefit of potential engagement through
complete immersion.
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Within the experience itself, one of the major design challenges of “Mystical” as an
interactive experience is to create a meaningful path of interactions for the player by following
the symbols as a level map. For this, the worldbuilding needs to be based on “La Chakana’s”
geometrical structure respecting the four directions. It is tough to design because each interaction
needs to be derived directly from the symbol and at the same time needs to maintain the general
organic and intuitive flow for the player during the gameplay. In order to maintain player’s
interest and avoid potential disorientation through the gameplay, the player needs to be guided
where to go but without the need to pause and be lectured about the Andean culture or the
symbolism at each step.
In addition to the cultural components, there are also technical components to the
experience design. While interpreting the symbol into gameplay components, the design also
had to incorporate the design language of VR and to function at a technical level in such a way
as to allow the player to experience the power of the symbol. One of these VR technical
components that “Mystical” uses is the “VR Rig System” which allows the player to teleport,
navigate and interact with all game objects in the entire scene.
“Mystical” also uses the “VR Interaction Framework” package that is more aligned for a
first-person shooter game. Although this design idea originally sounded contradictory because
the core of “Mystical” is non-violent, the repurposing of the “VR Rig System” functions
effectively provides the features needed for the grabbing collectibles experience. It also provides
a “Legacy XR” standard pointer teleportation, a time warp function, and was compatible with the
version of Unity the team was using (Unity 2019.4.10 LTS) for the Oculus Rift & Rift S head
mount display. The team used a VR pointer standardized teleportation with a snap rotation for
navigation so the player could explore and go through portals in a comfortable way.
9

The player also uses a collectible UI radial menu so they can store the cultural artifacts as
collectibles such as instruments, seeds and corncobs and the educational information of each
item. This type of radial UI menu is also a shooter inventory mechanic usually used for storing
weapons and ammo. In the Snake portal, the player uses the gaze controller for controlling the
snake character. The snake character needs to collide with interactable objects in order to spawn
the collectibles which the player needs to grab and store inside the UI for later use.
Last, but very important to becoming a better designer and producer in the future is the
challenge of the recruiting process, a process that seemed would never end. This factor definitely
directly affected the sense of the general project’s scope at the time of choosing and committing
to a tangible game mechanic implementation. The “Mystical” team was comprised of two
engineers with a beginner-level of experience in VR and later the incorporation of three new
members also with no experience in VR or C#. However, they could successfully transfer their
knowledge from other programming languages. Although their enthusiasm and excitement were
greatly appreciated and celebrated, the team’s progress was very slow. Additionally, part of the
slow progress was the lack of proper technical equipment such as headsets, and VR-ready
computers. It feels like access to VR development is still exclusive and restrictive for minority
groups who may not be privileged to afford the equipment that’s required; this fact was more
evident especially during the era of the pandemic. However, despite challenges to access and
lack of prior experience, VR was still the best medium for the project and the designer’s passion.

Musical Compositions and Sound Effect Selection

An international team of composers from Mexico and Puerto Rico, overseen by award-
winning composer and professor of Music Kazimir Boyle, were selected to create the music for
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“Mystical” due to their experience with the necessary corresponding indigenous instruments
such as native wood flutes, pan flutes and rattles that provide the unique soundscape for the
experience. The call of the pan flute is a recurrent theme throughout Mystical and typical of
Andean culture to this day. The player encounters music four times during their experience—in
the main lobby, while traveling to the “South Portal”, once inside the “South Portal” representing
the snake, and when the Aya Huma character makes his entrance.
Music in the main lobby calls the player to a quest. Andean folkloric music here is
purely instrumental. Normally, when Andean music is performed, one can hear several
instruments and also the incorporation of lyrics. Instead, “Mystical” uses purely instrumental
music, which is a more universal language and doesn’t provide the impediment that words or
lyrics might have (Boyle, 2021). Because there are a lot of pauses in the instrumental style
music, it provides the player with time to get oriented and inspired. The flute takes a break for
seconds of silence in between segments providing the player moments of reflection and time to
process. This style was inspired by Jorge Alfano, an Argentinean composer who uses purely
instrumental Andean music for evoking spirituality.
Inside the main lobby, in order to teach the player how to use the radial menu by
dropping and pulling out items like the corncobs and seed kernels, a conch shell appears. The
sound is a ceremonial sound whose purpose is to awake and call the “Apus” the ancestors from
the mountains. In ancient times, the conch shell was not only used for ceremonial purposes but
also to communicate with each other at large distance while messengers were standing on top of
the mountains. Also, it served as a warning call instrument for potential danger.
Music while entering the “South Portal” conveys a sense of menacing and mystery
because the player is entering the underworld. The tones are low and vibrating with the pan flute
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(Boyle, 2021). Deep drums reflect a ceremonial atmosphere as well as a human heartbeat. As
the player exits the tunnel gaze tutorial and prepare to enter the portal, the music switches to a
sweet and light melody from the flute which invites the player for a relaxing journey.
Music once inside the “South Portal” incorporates sounds associated with a snake and the
maize. Rattle sounds are used to make the associated with the snake. Since the maize is dying
and has to be harvested and replanted to prevent this, the sound effects represent crushing dry
leaves and then windchimes to represent the magic of the rebirth or growing of the corn.
Music that announces the grand entrance of Aya Huma as a guardian deity of the Pacha
Mama reflects the strong and imposing character that he is. Because Aya Huma has two faces
the music also gives the sense of duality. One face is evil and the other good so for that reason
the music expresses a sense of contrast. There’s a sense of action with deep-voiced primal male
human chanting.

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Chapter 2: Prior Art Resources and References
Overall, a review of prior art indicates “Mystical” incorporates elements of a graphical
exploration of non-religious spirituality as seen in “Ayahuasca VR”, “Pachay Photography”,
“Samskara”, and “Tripp VR”. Therefore, “Mystical” is situated within a group of prior art that
invites the player/viewer on a magical journey, the majority of which occur in a relaxing,
calming setting. Below is an overview of each individual prior artwork.
“Pachay Photography”

Figure 10: “Pachay Art Photography” Source: https://www.facebook.com/jonithoterreros/photos/
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“Pachay Art Photography”, by Ecuadorian artist and photographer Johnathan Terreros, is
a collection of digital art compositions that portray the daily life and the magical worldview of
the Andean indigenous community in Otavalo, Ecuador (my homeland). The artist is part of the
movement called Andean Surrealism in the South America region and a member of the Otavalo
artisan community.
The inspiration for “Mystical’s” “worldbuilding content comes from Pachay Art
Photography. “Mystical” is a unique project that allows me to give voice to the stories of my
overlooked indigenous Andean ancestors and help preserve their cultural heritage through new
media (Delfin, 2009) so that their talents, beauty, wisdom and philosophy of life can be
recognized. I feel deeply the creativity of the Andean civilizations flowing through and inspiring
me when I reference Pachay Art Photography. As a result, “Mystical’s” worldbuilding is
inspired by Pachay Art Photography as conceptual art.
However, the photorealism of this artwork would not be applicable to “ M y sti c al”
because of limited budget and human resources, so the imagery should be simpler. The simpler
art style also helps the performance inside the VR application because of the memory and
technical imitations of heavy graphics.
Johnathan Terreros, founder and owner of “Pachay” photography, was a big influence for
the design and conceptualization of the “Mystical” VR experience. His success has spread
around the world with his photo digital compositions whose primary subject is to portray the
beauty of the indigenous communities in Ecuador. Because of this, he has been invited to several
national and international festivals and artistic conferences and has been covered by art
magazines, for example The “Feria Agroecológica Reinicia y Rediseña Nuestro Mundo” in
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Quito, Ecuador, Diners Club Ecuador magazine, exhibition for the Shenyang’s Institute of
Technology in China, “Memoria del Ande” International Digital Art Photography Online
Webinar in Cusco, Peru.
Samskara 360 Immersive Exhibition

Figure 11: “Samskara” Source: https://samskara.pro/
Samskara is an immersive multi art exhibition that takes place inside of four, large, geo-
dome structures and presented at Wisdome LA beginning in May 2019 to the present, and has
expanded worldwide due to its success. Since 2017, it has been presented in Russia, Ukraine, the
USA and even online at Burning Man 2020. It was created by the visual effect’s artist Android
Jones inspired by his many years of work on themes surrounding the mix of a cosmic spirituality
and the use of technology (Rue, August 1, 2018). It includes a vast use of technology such as
15

apps, projections walls, projection mapping, and different kinds of virtual reality demos. The
strength of this exhibition is to masterfully carry the different perspectives of new realities which
where viewers describe these as pure and naturally beautiful. The use of multiple layers in
compositions and the use of play with their scales with fractals and kaleidoscopes, transfers the
feeling of the presence of a pure sacred energy (Berry, February 7, 2020).
Spiritual worldbuilding (Wagner, 2015) is the primary similarity with “Mystical”. As a
viewer, acknowledging and linking these exhibition attributes is important because “Mystical”
also seeks to generate an experience where the pure energy and magic is embedded in the virtual
worldbuilding. Also, it is important to analyze “Samskara” because it represents another
alternative of an art exhibition outside the traditional frame of a museum or gallery environment.
This means “Mystical” could have the same potential to be offered in geo-domes or other non-
traditional places for example.
Nonetheless, there are non-applicable elements such as the heavy use of fractals and
humanoid characters. In addition to that, the graphics for “Mystical” need to be simpler in order
to adapt them in a VR Realtime render environment.

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“Ayahuasca VR”

Figure 12: “Ayahuasca VR” Source: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1212940/Ayahuasca/
“Ayahuasca Kosmik Journey” (aka “Ayahuasca VR”), which debuted at the Tribeca Film
Festival in 2019, is a VR experience led by an indigenous Peruvian traditional healer in the
Amazon rainforest exploring the realms of medicinal plants including psychedelics and was
directed by the Dutch French director Jan Kounen. Such VR experiences are often compared to
psychedelic experiences (Glowacki, 2020).
This project is linked to “Mystical” because it delves into a sense of non-religious
spirituality and the possibility of an alternative reality which is directly enhanced by the
immersion of the virtual reality media and its sensorial affordances such as audiovisuals and
haptics. In addition to that, during the out-of-body experience, it uses the presence of two sacred
17

animals: the hummingbird and the snake. These sacred animals relate closely to “Mystical”
because these elements are a big part of the worldview meaning of the ancient symbol “La
Chakana”.
However, there are elements that are non-applicable to “Mystical” such as the heavy use
of psychedelics visuals and the limited interactions with game objects during the player’s
journey.

“Tripp VR”

Figure 13: “Tripp VR” Source: https://www.tripp.com/subscription/get-tripp-now/
“Tripp VR” is a meditation mindfulness experience for Oculus Rift, Quest and mobile
phones (Android & Apple). Since December 2019, Tripp VR is available through the Oculus
Store under a monthly or yearly subscription. The successful Tripp VR was awarded Best
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Meditation App by Men’s Health and VR Fitness Insider in 2020 (Clair, 2020). It helps the
player to enhance their relaxation and increase their level of focus while going through a visual
journey. What makes “Tripp VR” very compelling is that it uses simple audio-visual stimuli
along a fractal tunnel in conjunction with minimalistic targeted interactions.
Game mechanics is the primary similarity with “Mystical”. Regarding its relation to
“Mystical”, how Tripp VR expresses worldbuilding attributes such as pure nature, sacred energy
and positivity are similar. Also, like “Mystical”, Tripp VR affords the player with the ability to
collide objects along the journey which gamifies the experience.
Of course, there are many non-applicable elements to “Mystical” in this VR app, such as,
having a guided voice for meditation and customizable meditation goals are not related to the
purpose of “Mystical”. Even if meditation is certainly not the goal of “Mystical”, analyzing
Tripp VR’s mechanic can still benefit the game design particularly the interactions with the gaze
control.

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Chapter 3: Exhibition/Final Piece

As the last chapter mentioned, “Mystical” uses a symbol as the game’s structure. The art
design choices are related to artifacts from the Andean culture and also gears instrumental
Andean music in order to evoke the feeling of intrigue and quest. That being said, the following
provides a deep dive into the game itself through a 5-10-minute walkthrough.
5-10-Minute Experience Walkthrough

In a night sky with shining stars, the player can see the game title “Mystical” and under
the title there’s a start button. The player activates the start button with their gaze. The player
descends from the celestial sky to the Earth. From the distance, the player is able to see a 3D
object formed by an array of translucid and overlapping cubes. This array of objects resembles
the 3D symbol of “La Chakana”. It looks like a “cross” or a group of “Tetris” pieces put
together. An instrumental music introduces accompanies the player while he translates to the
ground.
Upon landing on the ground, music stops, and the player sees the group of cubes
disappear slowly, but it looks like some line marks remained on the ground. These line marks
look like a flat version (2D) of the previous 3D object of the “La Chakana” symbol that just
faded out. Surrounded by mountains, the light of a sparkling moon, and the light of the sun on
the opposite horizon, the player is in the center and standing in the middle of the “La Chakana”
symbol. The ability to use hands starts for the first time. These hands look like ceremonial rattle
instruments. As the player moves and shakes the rattles, four icons appear which represent the
four portals (Air, Water, Fire, Earth). After the four icons appear, the players’ rattles convert to
human hands.
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The player uses their hands to grab the icons of the four elements representing the four
portals. With each grabbed icon a portal pot that looks like a large clay vase emerges from the
ground (each one has a closed door). A UI panel appears. This info panel teaches the player how
to use a radial menu for storing cultural collectibles. Three conch shells appear after the UI
panel disappears. The player collects the three conch shells with the radial menu as the UI
instructs them to do.
After successfully collecting the conch shells, then three fixed tele-pods appear. Inside
each tele-pod there’s a spinning translucid conch shell. The player needs to pull out from the
radial menu the conch shells and match them and snap them together. By these actions the three
mountains with embedded human faces of ancestors start to awaken and intonate a conch shell
sound while looking into the sky “See Chapter 1, Music Composition and Sound Effects
Selection”.
A bigger tele-pod appears in the middle of the symbol. After reaching the center where
the snap fixed tele-pod is, it triggers the door to crumble and to open the “South Portal”. A snake
logo appears on the ground in front of the “South Portal”. This logo guides the player towards
the portal pot. A hiss noise as from a snake is heard along with the appearance of this logo.
After reaching the “South Portal” tele-pod, another snake symbol appears and the player
teleports to another world scene. The journey begins (transition to another scene). Inside, there
is colorful red smoke and the player travels through a reddish rock cave covered with exposed
tree roots. The music sets a mysterious mood (see Chapter 1, Music Composition and Sound
Effects Selection). The player’s forward movement stops. The player’s movements are
constrained, no longer able to teleport or use the snap rotation. The player can only use their
21

hands and HMD gaze as a controller inside this new world. An ovoid luminous shape object
appears in front of the player in the middle of the screen.
Music stops. The player waits for few seconds until the pointer gaze appears in front of
the screen. The pointer gaze helps the player to aim the ovoid shaped object. As the player
successfully targets their gaze against the ovoid object for at least 3 seconds continuously, the
object now becomes controllable by their gaze. Four spheres appear in each corner
corresponding to the boundaries of the gaze area. The player needs to hit these new sphere
objects one by one. A drum sound plays when the player hits each object and they disappear one
by one. After this task is completed, the ovoid object disappears, and a snake animal appears.
The player now controls the snake’s trajectory with their gaze within the same boundary
limits used when the player was hitting the spheres. The music starts again. The player’s
movement starts through this kind of cosmic tunnel. While the player moves forward, they
discover between floating rocks at their sides some mummy skull imagery in a fetal position
inside broken ceramic pots as customary in indigenous funeral practices. The skulls turn to face
the player when the player is nearby.
At the end of the tunnel the player can see some sort of a circular particle dandelion
visual effect which is completely synched with the drums and the flutes. It is relaxing music (see
Chapter 1, Music Composition and Sound Effects Selection). Suddenly, floating rocks with
wilted maize plants approach the player. When the player hits the maize with the snake it spawns
rotating floating corncobs. The player is able to reach them and grab them remotely with their
own hands. Those corncobs can be stored inside the player’s radial menu for later use. The
corncobs stored will become seeds like corn kernels inside the radial menu after 10 seconds.
22

The dandelion effect disappears. The music changes. The player discovers in front of
them a giant translucid and colorful head which is the Aya Huma. It looks like a giant mask.
This two-faced character introduces himself dramatically to the player. His hair moves like
tentacles made out of snakes. Aya Huma rotates his two faces, exposes his tongue and opens his
mouth to spawn little floating rocks. These rocks have a little hole in the center and approach the
player slowly. The player needs to pull out from the radial menu the corn kernel seeds and snap
those seeds inside these rocks. When the player successfully snaps the corn kernel seeds inside
these rocks, they return to their position near the Aya Huma character. Little by little these rocks
sprout a corn seedling which grows until it’s a mature corn plant.
The Aya Huma character starts to settle down and become less translucid. The player’s
movement stops. Aya Huma opens his wide mouth. The snake is now free. The player can no
longer control the snake with their gaze. The snake enters Aya Huma’s mouth and incorporates
itself into the character’s hair on his scalp as if forming another tentacle. A luminous beam
crosses to fade the world. Now the player is back in the main lobby in front of the “South
Portal”. The radial menu is populated now with an Aya Huma mask icon. The journey
continues. When more portals are built out, the player will have the option to continue to the
23

next portal of their choice (see Chapter 4, Adding Portals).

Figure 14: “Mystical” Gameplay Screenshots

Figure 15: From concept art to 3D by David Guevara
24

Incorporating Playtesting Feedback

As previously mentioned, the process of game design and development for “Mystical”
has been a very slow experience. This particular fact directly affected the playtesting process and
the ability to respond with fast solutions and potential iterations for the gameplay. However, the
resilience of the “Mystical” team should be celebrated for facing these technical limitations that
came with the development of VR, especially during the pandemic and considering the lack of
access to VR equipment. Finding play testers with the right equipment also proved challenging.
As a result, the “Mystical” team focused mostly on the usability of the remote grabbing
collectibles in conjunction with the UI radial menu. Because this is the main mechanic of the
experience it was important to prioritize playtesting this element. This simple mechanic needed
to be intuitive and comfortable enough across the whole experience.

Figure 16: “Mystical” Playtesting sessions with family members and remotely sessions through Zoom

From playtesting with friends, family, and classmates, the theme that emerged was that
they needed to be taught with instructions what buttons they need to press in order to use the
radial menu. In addition to that, they need to know that they can pull out the items from the
radial menu whenever they want and use the objects during the experience. As a result of this
25

feedback, the team needed to implement a UI that explained the controller buttons to activate the
radial menu. This served both purposes of storing and pulling out the objects. It was
implemented using a UI panel with a picture of the controller showing the buttons highlighted
and an image of the radial menu with descriptive text. This tutorial occurs when the player is
still in the main lobby because this represents the introduction of the experience and they are
ready to go before they get into a portal. In addition to that, in order to gain contextual reference
inside the “Mystical” experience, each collectible displays a UI text with the name of the cultural
object to give a clue about the functionality of each object. At the beginning, the team was
reluctant to implement the UI panel with instructions because of the desire to keep tutorials
organic or less artificial and without lecturing. However, learning this functionality at the
beginning allows the player to become accustomed sooner so by the time they get to the portal
they can enjoy it rather than thinking about what to do.
Another crucial aspect of playtesting relates to the question of whether players end their
experience curious to learn more about Andean culture and to guess what concept they might
have learned during the experience. The hope was that inside the snake portal the takeaway
would be that they learned about the cycle of life, of death and rebirth, which is part of the
concept of duality. Play testers mentioned that they understood the part about death and the
origin of life by planting seeds (corn kernels). They found it surprising to see corn growing live.
The majority wanted to have more game play because the experience was too short. This is
understood to mean that they were indeed curious to learn more, had questions about their
interactions with the concepts of “La Chakana”, and desired answers to those questions.

26

Chapter 4: Reflection

Display

Current Display: “Mystical” will be displayed at USC Games Game Expo May 2021.
Due to the pandemic, this event will be livestreamed online through Twitch with an open chat for
the participants. So, the best way to present will be for the Mystical team to show a 30-second
trailer loop, a 1-minute of clean gameplay walkthrough, and finally, a 4-minute “behind the
scenes” video of the development process of the project and some comments and insights from
the “Mystical” team members. The gameplay walkthrough portion will show two level worlds to
demo the main lobby with the four directional portals and the Snake Portal. Because “Mystical”
is a VR experience that needs Head Mounted Display such as Oculus Rift, Rift S or Quest 2
(with the link cable) and also requires a VR-ready computer, the accessibility will be limited.
For that reason, the demo build will be available starting one week before the event through the
“Mystical” website.
Post-pandemic display: Upon reopening of the USC campus when it becomes possible
to make an installation there, the plan for live display will be held at a sound stage with several
booths separated by black curtains. To attract attention to the “Mystical” booth, a support staff
member dressed as “Aya Huma” will be performing traditional dance outside. Upon arriving in
the “Mystical” booth, the players will be greeted by another support staff member also in
character, wearing the “Aya Huma” mask. This staff member will instruct players to sign up for
a timeslot to return for the experience and show them how to wear the headset. Players are asked
to return ten minutes before their timeslot. The walls of the booth will display “Pachay” art,
instruments, and educational text the player can review during the ten minutes while waiting for
27

their turn in the experience. Each player will have fifteen minutes to enjoy the experience.
Finally, at the end of the experience, the player will be given a symbolic corn kernel and a
postcard of “Pachay” art with the information for “Mystical” on the back.
Larger-scale display: Just as the “Mystical” team itself was international and stronger
because of it, with team members representing China, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Ecuador, and
the United States, the reach of “Mystical” will also be international and provide a universal
learning experience that crosses languages and cultures. My international collaborating partners
would help me market and host a “Mystical” installation in a learning space. For example, the
Museo Antropológico de Artes Contemporáneas (MAAC) in Guayaquil, Ecuador is potentially
interested in hosting an installation as part of their pre-Colombian collection and independent art
exhibitions. Also, there is a possibility of collaboration with the USC Anthropology department
through thesis advisor professor Thomas Ward and USC La Casa Latinx Student Association. At
these installations, such as at the MAAC, as the plater lines up before entering the experience,
they will view panels of text and art describing key elements such as the symbolism of corn and
the character Aya Huma. There will be several stations operating simultaneously (depends on
museum capacity) to allow more than one player to access the experience and make sure the wait
in line is not too long. There will need to be a time limit of 25 minutes to allow the next players
in line to have a turn, and the museum will need to provide trained assistants to help people in
and out of the equipment, clean the equipment between players, and provide support. The
museum could also provide a pager system so the player can return to the experience a few
minutes before their timeslot. When players exit the experience, they again will walk by panels
of text and art describing key elements of the experience and ways to access more information if
they are interested, including resources available for purchase in the gift shop. The exit line will
28

end with players in the gift shop where related items will be on display such as posters of
Pachay’s artwork, corn cob jewelry, and the colorful handmade knitted mask of the Aya Huma
imported from Ecuador and Peru where they are commonly sold.
Future Development: Adding Portals and EEG

Figure 17: “Mystical” Concept Art: Sacred Animals by J. Terreros
“Mystical” can easily be an expandable project because its core is based on a
multilayered and complex ancient symbol “La Chakana” which contains deep concepts and
meanings that can be interpreted in several different ways. For future development, it would be
easily expanded by focusing on finishing the other three portals. As the “South Portal”, all the
portals explore a concept and share the similar main goal of the player encountering a sacred
animal in each portal and helping the animal to find the exit.
To build out the North Portal (North / Air / Condor / Hanan Pacha) representing the
concept of unity, the world will show the Condor living surrounded by the beautiful Andes
mountains. The player needs to control the condor’s flight through puffy ring clouds. For the
29

East Portal (East / Fire / Puma / Kay Pacha) representing the concept of knowledge, the puma
lives in two different landscapes: the caves and the mountains. The player controls the puma’s
jumps between these two worlds. The key is to avoid falling into the hot lava from the caves or
the sharp valleys from the mountains. For the West Portal (West / Water / Hummingbird)
representing the concept of reciprocity, the hummingbird lives between waterfalls and
wildflowers. The hummingbird needs to extract the nectar of the flowers and distribute the
energy across all the elements of the world.
In addition to finishing the other three portals, it would also be possible to incorporate an
input device such as EEG (Electro Encephalogram) to the “Mystical” experience as another great
possibility in the future, especially now that these devices are getting more and more comfortable
to use, affordable and accessible for developers. At the beginning of the thesis project, I was
experimenting with the use of an open source EGG called Open BCI, but as many other things
during the pandemic, my access to that particular equipment was lost. I would like to keep
experimenting with it.
Describing the EEG experience in more detail, the player would wear the EEG device on
their head in companion with the HMD (head mount display/VR headset) and hold controls, one
in each hand. The player would put this on before the experience starts and wear it until the end.
The experience will happen in a confined, safe space where the player cannot injure themselves
while playing and ensuring they don’t trip over the wires that plug the EEG into the headset and
the headset into the computer. The EEG device will detect the electric activity of certain regions
of the player’s cortex in order to gather brainwave data. This brainwave data allows the
experience designer to infer whether the player is alert, focused, relaxed, or asleep. When the
30

sensor data is gathered in real time, it allows the game designer to iterate the game play in synch
with player by modifying the graphics and sounds so they react.
The reason why EEG could be added is to control the sync of the Andean music and the
visuals according to the brainwaves of each player. It would also be possible for the player to
use their mind instead of their hands to grab the objects. This means each experience, or every
time a player participates in the experience, will be totally different due to their level of focus
and attention and level of calm being different each time. This makes “Mystical” very
individualized and responsive creating the most unique experience possible and provoking the
player to want to play repeatedly.
Conclusion

“Mystical” is a single-player experimental non-narrative Virtual Reality (VR) experience
for Oculus Rift inspired by an ancient symbol called “La Chakana” from the Andean
civilizations representing their worldview. This symbol also represents a big part of my identity
as an Ecuadorian. “Mystical” allows me to give voice to the stories of my overlooked
indigenous Andean ancestors and help preserve their cultural heritage through new media so that
their talents, beauty, wisdom and philosophy of life can be recognized.
There exist both technical and cultural elements to the design. From the beginning, VR
was selected because it is the medium that best triggers emotions and feelings with a well-
recognized benefit of potential engagement through complete immersion. For example,
“Mystical” uses a VR pointer standardized teleportation with a snap rotation for navigation so
the player can explore and go through portals in a comfortable way. The player also uses a
collectible UI radial menu so they can store the cultural artifacts as collectibles such as
31

instruments, seeds and corncobs and the educational information of each item. Cultural elements
were represented using artistic references inspired by a photographer living in a modern-day
Andean indigenous community. Effective symbolic representations of culture contained within
“La Chakana” include mountain ancestors “Apus”, snake “Amaru”, corn, and the “Aya Huma”
deity. Of these, the “Aya Huma” deity is the most powerful display of culture as the guardian of
Mother Earth “Pacha Mama” and provides a culminating experience for the player to understand
the deity’s mask and resulting cultural celebration harvest dance “Inti Raymi” once the portal is
completed.
Finally, as an experimental art piece, “Mystical” seeks to answer: “Can people be
inspired to learn through an experiential and immersive POV VR experience some concepts of
the ancient symbol “La Chakana”? Indeed, during playtesting players report feeling deeply
curious, having questions about their interactions with the concepts of “La Chakana”, and
desiring answers to those questions. Intended to be played inside a museum or contemporary art
gallery, “Mystical” would be contained as part of a multidisciplinary and multimedia exhibition
or installation that would be supported with text-based educational media such as signs,
brochures, and posters that would provide the more traditional lecture-style learning component
and context needed to support the experience and answer players’ curiosity to learn more. The
“Mystical” team looks forward to using its demo to raise funds so it can expand by building out
the other portals and eventually installing the experience at the Anthropological Museum of
Contemporary Art in Guayaquil, Ecuador to start.

32

Works Cited
Amaru, J. Q. “Inka Pachaqaway- Cosmovisión andina” Lima: ICP Institución Cultural
Pachayachachiq, (2013)
Boyle, K. “Personal communication from industry advisor: email regarding musical style”,
(2021)
Berry, G. “Android Jones, Psychedelics and the Dawn of the Visionary Arts Movement
[Interview].” EDM.com - The Latest Electronic Dance Music News, Reviews & Artists.
EDM.com - The Latest Electronic Dance Music News, Reviews & Artists, (February 4,
2020) https://edm.com/interviews/android-jones-psychedelics-visionary-arts
Clair, Josh St. “12 VR Games That Make Actual Reality Suck A Little Less.” Men's Health,
(2020) Retrieved from: https://www.menshealth.com/technology-gear/a30679971/best-vr-
games/
Delfín, M., Zegarra, M. “Electronic Art in Peru: The Discovery of an Invisible Territory in the
Country of the Incas”. (2009, 293-301) Retrieved from:
https://doi.org/10.1080/09528820902954929
Glowacki, D.R., et al. “Isness: Using Multi-Person VR to Design Peak Mystical -Type
Experiences Comparable to Psychedelics”. CHI '20: Proceedings of the 2020 CHI
Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (2020, 1–14) Retrieved from:
https://doi.org/10.1145/3313831.3376649
Rue, B. “Hacking the Droid: An Interview with Android Jones.” Compose Yourself Magazine,
(2018) Retrieved from: https://composeyourselfmagazine.com/2017/02/hacking-droid-
interview-android-jones/
Tello, R. “The Andean cross as representation motif” Plastic Arts Faculty, Central University of
Ecuador,(2015)
Valcarcel, L. “Etnohistoria del Perú Antiguo”, UNMSM, (1967)
Villena, M; Euribe, M. “El génesis andino en el Pacha. Representación de la idea de génesis de
Joan de Santa Cruz Pachacuti Yamqui” (1983 [1613]: 232); (1990:10)
Wagner, R. "Playing with Religion in Digital Games” Editors Campbell, H., Price, G. Chapter 3
“The Importance of Playing in Earnest” Indiana University Press. (2014) Retrieved from:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt16gz5dh.13

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Asset Metadata

Creator Guevara Rosillo, David Ricardo (author)

Core Title “Mystical” VR: an experimental VR experience exploring concepts and symbolism of ancient Andean worldview based on the symbol ""La Chakana""

School School of Cinematic Arts

Degree Master of Fine Arts

Degree Program Interactive Media

Publication Date 04/23/2021

Defense Date 04/14/2021

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag Andean worldview,Anthropology,Experimental and Molecular Pathology,Games,Interactive Media,La Chakana,OAI-PMH Harvest,symbol,symbolism,virtual reality,VR

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Campos, Martzi (committee chair), Bilson, Danny (committee member), Boyle, Kazimir (committee member), Fullerton, Tracy (committee member), Lemarchand, Richard (committee member), Ward, Thomas (committee member)

Creator Email guevara.r.david@gmail.com,guevarar@usc.edu

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c89-449089

Unique identifier UC11668448

Identifier etd-GuevaraRos-9516.pdf (filename),usctheses-c89-449089 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-GuevaraRos-9516.pdf

Dmrecord 449089

Document Type Thesis

Rights Guevara Rosillo, David Ricardo

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the a...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA