University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

Ascension: a look into context-dependent memory development in virtual worlds

(USC Thesis Other)

Ascension: a look into context-dependent memory development in virtual worlds

PDF

Download a page range

Download transcript

Copy asset link

Request this asset

Transcript (if available)

Content

University of Southern California
School of Cinematic Arts
Interactive Media and Game Division

Ascension: A Look into Context-Dependent Memory Development in Virtual Worlds

By Mari Kyle

A Thesis submitted to the School of Cinematic Arts in partial fulfillment of the requirements for
graduation with a Masters of Fine Arts Degree

Degree Awarded May 2019
1

Acknowledgments

For Roger, for telling me ever since I was a child that I could be anything I wanted to be.
For Yukiko, who gave everything she had and more to support me.
For Richard, for all of the unconditional love in the world.

To Crystal, for making me happy, always.
Kira, my partner in crime.

Naomi, thank you for everything .

Tsuneko and Naoki, for loving me and teaching me to be strong.

To my mentors Maureen McHugh and John Orlando who always believed in me.

To my thesis advisors Laird Malamed, Guy Wilday, Alex Schwartz for their time and ideas.

To Amanda Klein, Anil Kurian, Dennis Wixon, Jeff Watson, Carl Schnurr, and Jane Pinckard for their
help and inspiration.

Lastly, the Space Shuttle Ascension VR Team - Cory McKnight, Malone Lumarda, Meha Magesh, Joshua
Fickes, Aaron Phillips, Michael Ritchie Rodriguez, Justin Camden, Raghav Ravi Prakash, Antriksh Bali,
Anthony Sabatino, Samuel Ostroff, Carys Gooi, Gwen Lofman, Nick Solari, Sydney Lang, Yvette Lopez.
Thank you for breathing life into this project.

To the USC IMGD Class of 2019, I can’t wait for our futures.

2

Acknowledgments 1
Abstract 3
Introduction 4
State of the Literature 6
Study-specific terminology 8
Prior Research and Art 10
Experimental Prototyping and Projects 22
Goal 26
Methodology 29
Narrative 30
Characters 35
Game Design 42
Level progression 42
Mechanics 44
Spatial Level Layout 47
Educational Value 48
Testing Retention 51
Future Applications of Research 53
Conclusion 57
Appendices 59
Appendix A: Exterior environment/Physical location (seating, etc.) 59
Appendix B: Audio Cues - Interactive Score 61
Appendix C: Visual Cues - Lighting 63
Appendix D: Playtest Questionnaire 69
Figures 74
Bibliography 75

3
Abstract
Ascension: A Look into Context-Dependent Memory Development in Virtual Worlds
centers around the cognitive development of players of the virtual reality experience Space
Shuttle Ascension. Space Shuttle Ascension is a mystery/science fiction virtual reality experience
where players are tasked with manipulating time, speaking to witnesses, and solving a mystery of
what causes the fictional space shuttle to crash. Throughout this experience, players will be able
to utilize two core mechanisms: a responsive speech recognition system and the ability to interact
with the environment. The thesis goals are to build an immersive VR experience that promotes
engagement with the narrative while also facilitating education in entertainment media and to
implement a method of context-dependent memory reinforcement in a virtual world. The
experience goals are that players will have an intimate, private space to critique science and
society in a fictional circumstance; players will feel as though the game world is readily
responsive to their input; and lastly that players will feel a sense of discovery, intrigue,
responsibility, and gravity. The projected outcome is that players who investigate the mystery in
Ascension, with the help of audio, haptic, and visual cues, can improve their memory retention
rates of information they obtain in the virtual experience. This paper details the game and
narrative design of this experience and explains how the experience was created with a
reinforcement of memory development in virtual environments as its foundation.

Keywords: Virtual Reality, Memory Development, Cognition, Interactive Media, Game Design
4
Introduction
As video games and explorable virtual worlds become progressively more realistic, the
state in which we, as a digital society, form our memories changes. Memories no longer have to
be formed in uncontrolled scenarios and environments and later dramatized upon recall. They
can be designed to make you remember and associate knowledge with a very specific design
goal in mind. In this paper, cases are made for the argument that the effectivity of memory recall
is dependent on the environment in which the memory was encoded and is most heavily
influenced by sensory cues, association of the environment to the desires of the individual, and
the psychological needs even within a digital environment within virtual reality experience.
While this applies to real-world instances of memory encoding, this paper will delve into
memory encoding in virtual spaces.
With the potential of virtual reality (VR) technology, developers and designers of
immersive environments have the capability to directly control all aspects of their digital world
including ambient sounds, character attributes, and repetition in environment details. The virtual
world aspects, if manipulated precisely, could produce outcomes on memory recall that excel
further than the conclusions of real-world context-dependent memory tests. Fully virtual worlds
allow designers to directly control audio cues and visual cues as well as potentially haptic and
olfactory cues and, if added and tested in a format which allows for each individual cue to be
tested for successful memory encoding and recall, we can ascertain which context cues could
prove most powerful in facilitating memory retention and in what way they can be balanced, to
avoid overstimulating viewers while still successfully encoding. Furthermore, in digital worlds,
5
designers can influence underlying themes in which the memory is encoded such as the desires
and psychological necessities of the viewer to further enhance any empathetic connection that
may facilitate memory encoding as well as allow for better retention based on similar emotional
recall states. The effects of mood on memory retention are discussed in Smith and Vela’s 2001
study and point to the strength of mood and emotions of the study participant over memory
1
recall.
In order to better understand the field of memory development and and cognitive
enhancement in virtual worlds, a modular virtual reality experience that is designed with these
goals in mind must be created and tested. Thus, the Space Shuttle Ascension VR Experience is
the gaming experience through which these ideas can be tested, as every aspect of the
experience, as will be detailed in later sections of this paper, has been designed for the purpose
of understanding the effects of digital environments on memory.

1
Smith, Steven M., Vela, Edward. “Environmental context-dependent memory: A review and meta-analysis”.
Psychonomic Bulletin and Review. 8 (2). (2001) 203 - 220.
6
State of the Literature
Before discussing the Space Shuttle Ascension VR experience that was designed and
produced as a result of this research, there are many innovations and discussions in the
interactive media and cognitive science industry that should be reviewed. With the expansion of
available technologies in the field of interactive media, cognitive development in virtual worlds
has become an unavoidable topic. As previously touched on, everything in virtual worlds,
specifically those that are immersive, can influence the mind of the player within them as will be
discussed throughout this paper. The virtual worlds appeal to the player’s senses through visual,
haptic, audial, or emotional stimuli and consequentially, each of these senses inform the building
of the player’s memory within the experiences.
The idea that memory development is influenced heavily by the sensory cues provided by
the surrounding environment during the memory encoding stages is not new and has been an
often-discussed topic in cognitive development in real, physical spaces in many research studies
prior to this paper. The discussions and findings of these studies are quickly detailed below in the
Prior Research section. However, it is important to keep in mind that the differences between the
research studies I will discuss in the Prior Research section are based strictly on studies
conducted in physical, real-life environments and not virtual environments with digitally
produced sensory cues.
While there are plenty of studies about the development of memory in physical
environments and the effects of real-life sensory cues on this development, there are few studies
on the topic of memory development in virtual worlds in comparison. These studies that
7
specifically discuss memory in virtual worlds (and even more specifically, virtual reality) will be
reviewed in detail in the prior research section as well. Most interesting in these more recent
studies is the recurring theme of their focus on spatialized memory development and navigation
through a digital landscape for the purpose of memory retention. This trend is a clear evolution
of ideas regarding the “Method of Loci” and thus differ somewhat from the idea of context
2
dependent memory development, though they are similar in some details.
Other studies address the use of virtual reality as a tool for mental health treatment and
development such as Skip Rizzo’s work in the field of virtual reality rehabilitation and therapy.
3
However, since these studies are limited in their complete, focused attention on memory
development, they do not relate as closely to this research.

2
“The Method of Loci is an ancient mnemonic strategy used to enhance serial recall. Traditionally, the MOL is
carried out by imagining navigating a familiar environment and “placing” the to-be-remembered items in specific
locations.” Legge, Madan, Ng, Caplan P. 380
3
Rizzo, Albert “Skip”, and Gerard Jounghyun Kim. "A SWOT Analysis of the Field of Virtual Reality
Rehabilitation and Therapy." Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments 14, no. 2 (April 2005): 119-46.
doi:10.1162/1054746053967094.
8
Study-specific terminology
Before diving into the Prior Research section, it is a necessity to understand certain terms
within the study of memory in order to better understand the concepts that will be discussed and
illustrated. All of the following terminology is as described in Smith and Vela’s 2001 study that
will be discussed further in depth below.

- “Memory encoding is the beginning state of the memory formation when the memory is
being solidified into the mind of the person who is forming the memory.

- Memory recall is the act of remembering the memory and its specific details at a time
significantly later than the regional memory encoding.

- Memory retention is the capability of holding the memory in mind for later accessibility
or for memory recall.

- Context-dependent memory is memory that is developed in relation to different
contextual cues of the encoding environment.”
4

Ultimately, each of these terms will be discussed throughout the paper in the context of
producing context-dependent memory in immersive virtual worlds. For the purpose of this
4
Smith, Vela. 2001. P. 203 - 220
9
research, all encoding will take place within the virtual reality environment of the Space Shuttle
Ascension gaming experience. The recall will be in reference to the sessions of informal or
formal testing and interviewing that occur after the player has played the Space Shuttle
Ascension game and when they are trying to remember the information the learned within it.

10
Prior Research and Art
One of the most comprehensive research papers in the field of context-dependent
memory development was Smith and Vela’s 2001 paper “Environmental Context-Dependent
Memory: A Review and Meta-Analysis”. This paper provides an overview of memory
development that is reliant or assisted by environmental cues that are present during both
encoding stages and recall stages. The authors go on to analyze prior works to either affirm or
challenge their perspectives on topics such as mood and its effect on memory or olfactory stimuli
and its effect on memory retention as well as others.
Within the paper, the authors discussed research that showed that subjects, when being
tested on memory, improved recall “when subjects averted their gaze from their immediate
experimental surroundings, a “remembering behavior” that facilitates disengagement from one’s
environment” that points to the idea that memory recall is heavily influenced by testing
5
environment. Furthermore, they noted that “instructions to mentally reinstate the learning
environment should reliably improve memory for subjects tested in unfamiliar contexts.” this
6
somewhat supports the aforementioned research on the method of loci and the building of a
mental spatial environment in which aspects of the encoding environment are present.
As previously mentioned, another interesting topic that was discussed in the Smith and
Vela work was the impact of moods and emotions on memory retention and recall. The pair state
that “The idea is that moods are hypothesized to be associated with memories, and that moods
5
Smith, Vela. 2001. P. 203 - 220
6
Ibid, P. 203 - 220.
11
can later cue those associated memories.” This topic heavily influenced the narrative design of
7
the Space Shuttle Ascension experience and pushed the writers on the development team to build
the characters within the experience to be humans the player can empathize with. Furthermore, it
was the justification for the technical artists on the project to assure that the game has a
cinematic quality. The goal of creating this modular emphasis on emotion was to perhaps later
test if creating a more “emotional” experience in fact enhanced the memory retention rates or
instead created a situation where the mood of the player outshined the encoded memory.
8
While Smith and Vela’s work greatly contributed to the literature review for this research, the
studies discussed within the work were exclusively conducted on physical situations. This brings
to question how the recreation of these studies would differ in results within a digital
environment rather than a real one. Whether being able to directly alter the aspects of the
environment as an author of a digital world allows for more controlled memory retention is an
interesting research question that will require further, more robust testing to ascertain.
In regards to prior art, there are many non-VR games that exhibit different sensory cues
for the purpose of memory encoding already. For each sensory cue (visual, auditory, and haptic)
I will review a game or a research project that showcases it and delve further into how these were
implemented and how they were successful. Afterwards, I will discuss how all of these cues are
integrated into a successfully memorable gaming experience and address what these memory
manipulations mean for interactivity in general.
9
The first of the sensory cues I will discuss are visual cues. Visual cues have perhaps the
7
Ibid, P. 214.
8
Ibid, P203 - 220. See “mood suppressing and shifting” within the papers Mood Mediation Hypothesis section.
9
Specifically for gamers.
12
most easily formed connection to empathetic memory formation and can come in many forms in
memory encoding and recall. These forms include imagery of location, texture, color shifts,
artistic stylization, characters, interface-based buttons and flashes and more. While visual
stimuli can help with spatial memory and sometimes procedural memory, we see in Luck and
Vogels “The capacity of visual working memory for features and conjunctions" that they are
10
often stronger when associated with integrated cue memory encoding and recall. The paper
states “the capacity of visual working memory must be understood in terms of integrated objects
rather than individual features” in response to the results of their tests, showing that participants
who were only tested on the color of four objects rather than the direction, spatial order, shape,
in addition to color were less likely to be successful in memory recall. An integrated encoding of
sensory cues allowed for a more comprehensive memory retention.
Understanding the success of an integrated memory encoding environment, we can
introduce our next sensory cue, the auditory cue. An orchestrated cue that could be used to
direct attention or to masterfully sway the empathetic connection of the viewer, the auditory cue
is instrumental in the success of an immersive experience. Auditory cues, in the context of
memory development, can come in the form of environmental sounds, music scores and
soundtracks, character voices, or Interface-based recognitive sounds. The use of subtle auditory
cues in coordination with visual, haptic, and olfactory cues can work to increase the sense of
presence in the virtual space. This is proven in Dinh, Walker, Hodges, Song, and Koyabashi’s
paper “Evaluating the importance of multi-sensory input on memory and the sense of presence
10
Luck, Steven J., and Edward K. Vogel. “The Capacity of Visual Working Memory for Features and
Conjunctions.” Nature , vol. 390, no. 6657, 1997, pp. 279–281., doi:10.1038/36846.
13
in virtual environments” in which the researchers gathered a group of 322 participants and ran
11
them through a virtual space using a combination of environment cues. The paper states
“Results strongly indicate that increasing the modalities of sensory input in a virtual
environment can increase both the sense of presence and memory for objects in the
environment” and specifically lists that while better visual cues did not necessarily lead to better
memory, the combination of auditory, haptic, visual, and olfactory cues greatly affected the
results of the research. Furthermore, in “A note on the effect of rhythm on memory,” Adams
12
studies “the effect of trochaic, iambic, dactylic, anapestic, amphibrachic forms of rhythm and
non rhythmic series on the memory of numbers.” and found that melody notably did help in
memory recall, but was influenced also subtle aspects of auditory cues such as rhythm.
This subtle aspect brings us to our next sensory cue, haptic cues. Haptic cues can vary
widely in their delivery from subtle changes to jolting differences. Haptic cues can come in the
form of temperature changes, texture manipulation, element changes, touches and grabs from
interactive characters, weight, wind, and much more. This cue holds what is perhaps one of the
most famous real-world examples of these sensory cue tests, “Context-Dependent memory in
two natural environments: On land and underwater” by Godden and Baddeley. The text
13
describes the study as the following: “In a free recall experiment, divers learnt lists of words in
two natural environments: on dry land and underwater, and recalled the words in either the
environment of original learning, or in the alternative environment. Lists learnt underwater
11
H. Q. Dinh, N. Walker, L. F. Hodges, Chang Song and A. Kobayashi, "Evaluating the importance of
multi-sensory input on memory and the sense of presence in virtual environments," Proceedings IEEE Virtual
Reality (Cat. No. 99CB36316), Houston, TX, 1999, pp. 222-228. doi: 10.1109/VR.1999.756955
12
Adams, Henry Foster. “A note on the effect of rhythm on memory.” Psychological Review, Vol 22(4), Jul 1915,
289-298. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/h0075190
13
Godden, Duncan R., and Alan D. Baddeley. "Context-dependent memory in two natural environments: On land
and underwater." British Journal of psychology 66.3 (1975): 325-331.
14
were best recalled underwater, and vice versa. A subsequent experiment shows that the
disruption of moving from one environment to the other was unlikely to be responsible for
context-dependent memory.” While this study runs most heavily in vein with the dissection of
haptic cues, you can still infer from the text that the immersive, virtual experience will show
similar results and will use the same tactic of combining haptic, visual, and auditory cues.
The instatement of sensory cues are perhaps the fundamental level of environment
manipulation for the purpose of memory encoding in a virtual spaces. To further progress our
dissection of memory encoding in digital worlds, we will turn to analyze the psychological
influences of memory encoded in context-manipulated digital environments.
The first of these psychological influences to be discussed is the influence of desire on
memory. There are historically few real-world research experiments designed with the purpose
of understanding the effect of desire on memory and far fewer digital-world experiments that
test for the effect of desire specifically as it relates to a narrative and a set of objective-based
goals. My hypothesis, as will be discussed further in the goals section, is that memory
encoding, when aided by the narrative to produce objectives for the viewer to pursue or to
produce desires within the viewer, will be exponentially more successful during memory
retention and recall than it would be without the additional environment manipulation. As
previously mentioned, the technology available for the creation of fully immersive virtual
worlds allows for designers to manipulate every aspect of the environment including (but not
limited to) the narrative of the experience. To “blue-sky” the perfect immersive experience
designed for memory encoding, the experience could gather data on the viewer in the form of
heat maps, understanding what the viewer is most attracted to within the virtual world and
15
amplifying it for the purpose of increasing the viewer’s drive to fulfill their desire and, in
doing so, allowing them to retain memory in a way that is pleasurable to them. A comparable
14
example of this from contemporary interactive media could be the Assassin’s Creed video
15
game series. Since the dawn of the age of video games, players have delighted in exploring the
forbidden areas of a map and “breaking” the game, pushing the experience past what the
designer intended in order to satiate their own curiosities.

Fig. 1 - Assassin’s Creed II - Example of viewpoint synchronizing.

The designers of Assassin’s Creed effectively capitalized on this desire. They created
overshadowing and awe-inspiring structures that rarely fall short of goading the player into
climbing them. While the player attempts to conquer the structure, the game artfully shows the
14
This “blue-sky” research proposal has been excluded from the “Future Applications of Research” section because
it will likely use a different fundamental framework for testing than the Space Shuttle Ascension project.
15
Desilets, Patrice. Plourde, Patrick. Beland, Maxime. Masters, Steven. Palmieri, Olivier. “Assassin’s Creed.”
Ubisoft. Game Loft. Blue Byte. Gree, Inc. 2007
16
player the historical accuracy of the game, revealing intricate details as the player become
intertwined with the building and its past. The climax, in this example, comes when the player
reaches the highest point of the building. At this point, the player can commence a viewing
sequence in which the character surveys the surrounding location, updating his “map” or their
understanding of the city around him. In this way, the game designers are able to show the
viewer a snapshot in time of the historical city in which the story takes place. This melds
together the sounds of the markets, the wide expanse of the city, the narrative of the lone
explorer, and the compulsive desire of the gamer to make the world presented to them their
own; all of which has been catered to by the game designers.
This, however, is not the only form of desire that could be produced from the
manipulation of context cues in digital environments. Another example is the desire to do the
things in virtual spaces that would be impossible or condemning in the real world. A video game
series strongly showcasing this is the Bioshock series. This games allows the player the option
16
to perform deeds that have been condemned within the game-world, all the while making it clear
the “good” or just choices from the “evil” or unjust choices. The memory encoding is capitalized
here at the very end of the game. Even if the game is completed, if the player has chosen to
indulge in the more questionable options made available to them, the game begins an end-game
sequence in which the player is morbidly attacked and engulfed in a horde of the very creatures
that the player earlier disadvantaged with their choices. This game sequence embeds the player’s
desire to make disruptive choices as a consequence into a harrowing memory in which the player
is punished.
16
Levine, Ken. “Bioshock” 2007. 2k Games. Feral Interactive.
17
The effect of desire in memory encoding is that of a stronger empathetic connection to
the memory which allows for it to be more easily accessed in the retention and recall state. When
combined with desire, the effect of integrated sensory cues can be amplified or manipulated to
further support the desired effect. For example, the visual cue of the looming building combined
with the player desire to explore created for a pleasurable memory encoding environment for the
player in Assassin’s Creed . In Bioshock , the auditory cue of the characters clamoring over and
inevitably killing the main character as a consequence for the disruptive choices made by the
player encode a negative emotion into the player with the “evil” choices should they choose to
play the game again.
The final manipulatable environmental or narrative influence this paper will analyze is
the influence of the real-life psychological needs and necessities of the viewer as they are
integrated into virtual worlds. There are fundamental things that players need from the
interactive media they pursue and needs that are developed by frequent players of interactive
media that can be taken advantage of in the encoding of memory. In this next portion, both of
these types of needs will be addressed.
The first type of necessity that designers can address when building their digital
environment and fictional narrative is that intrinsic psychological necessities such as the need for
support and love or perhaps the need to succeed. Ultimately, the need can be simplified into the
need to feel an empathic connection with an entity. When a player is influenced by the digital
world narrative or environment to focus on memory retention in order to fulfill a much broader
necessity, it becomes a priority for the player to memorize the information presented before them
and to be able to recall the information easily in the case that the narrative demands accessible
18
information from the player. The interactive media piece that works as an example in this case is
The Last of Us . The game designers of Last of Us have capitalized on the human necessity to
17
feel needed in the narrative between Ellie and Joel, the two main characters of the central plot of
the game. In the narrative, both Ellie and Joel are dependent in some ways on each other. This
dependency is extended to the player who, throughout the course of this game, begins to form
bonds with both characters.

Fig. 2 - The Last Of Us - Characters Ellie and Joel bonding over an emotional moment.

Finally, when the game comes to a climax and the life of the virtual character Ellie is put
to risk, the player, now in the role of the person Ellie must remember all of the intricate tricks
and techniques they have learned throughout the course of the game to complete the most
difficult portion of the game as it requires stealth tactics, competent fighting techniques, and a
meticulous knowledge of the game mechanics. This game was wildly successful because of the
empathetic connection that players were able to form with the characters and thus became one of
the most memorable gaming experiences of all time receiving a record amount of awards
18
17
“The Last of Us.” 2016. http://www.thelastofus.playstation.com/index.html
18
Ibid.
19
within the gaming or interactive media industry.
On the other side of the discussion of necessity is the necessity that is born within
frequent players of video games and cultivated by classic video game tropes. There are
expectancies that frequent players build as they power through one universe to the next. These
include: a sense of control, a set of rules and guidelines, an objective, and a basic repeatable
interaction. These basic video game aspects have become almost intrinsic as expectations to the
player and as such, it isn’t difficult to build on these as a game designer. Adding complexity to
these aspects is intuitive to the seasoned gamer, thus, memory retention of these fundamentals
becomes more and more successful. However, there are interesting cases in which these rules
are wildly abstracted. The following paragraph will explore the effect of the abstraction of these
fundamental aspects of video games on memory.
In contemporary game-making, there have been more explorations into abstractions of
classic game tropes in games such as Saints Row 4 , Dys4ia , Begscape , and many more.
19 20 21
These unique perspectives on the video game platform allow for a rich video game experience
and a more diverse game industry. However, there is one example of a game that works as a
very psychologically manipulative exploration into the classic game structure. This game is
Loved by Alex Ocias. In Loved the user is first prompted with the question “Are you a man or
22
a woman” and upon selection of either, the game automatically begins the character as the
opposite of the selection. It thus begins the game by essentially stripping the user of agency.
After this begins, the user is instructed by the game to complete various tasks, all the while
19
“Saints Row IV” Https://Www.saintsrow.com/Age? , Volition, 20 Aug. 2013.
20
Anthropy, Anna. “Dys4ia” March, 2012. http://www.gamesforchange.org/game/dys4ia/
21
Porpentine. “Begscape.” 2014. http://aliendovecote.com/uploads/twine/begscape.html
22
Ocias, Alex. “Loved.” 2010
20
being reassured that they are a “good boy/girl.” However, the requests of the game become more
and more violent as the game progressively begins to ask the user to hurt their virtual character
in some way and lashes out at the player should they disobey.

Fig. 3 - Loved - An example of an abusive command and the visual style of Loved by Alex Ocias.

This combined with the minimalist visual and auditory cues enhances the heavy impact
of the psychological manipulation on memory. Players will find that the visual and auditory
aspects of the game are forgettable while the way “the game made (them) feel” is most
memorable. The stark contrast of the game to the hundreds of other interactive experiences that
share the platform make for the deep impact of the message. The message, as it later becomes
more apparent, is that of abusive relationships and the impact of them on the victims of such
relationships. The design of this interactive media ultimately became imperative for the success
of the design goals and further reinforced the memory association with the game of how it feels
to be in a situation involving abuse. The strength of this invocation of emotion and formation of
21
memory is perhaps exclusive to digital media and worlds because of the fact that the separation
between the real world and the digital one allows for user to live vicariously through the
characters while not actually experiencing the full memory of the interactive experience
personally. To feel vividly is to richen the life experience and thus, we see a billion-dollar movie
industry, a prolific video game industry, and the unyielding industry of written books constantly
springing forward with each individual piece of media containing it’s own entire virtual world.
We gain, from these stories and worlds, experience and knowledge that we would have
otherwise never known. Additionally, we feel emotions that we would have gone our entire life
without feeling. The capability of a story to spark it’s viewer with an empathetic connection
ultimately dictates its popularity or success. While it can be debated whether virtual memories
of traumatic experiences can have the same weight as real-world experiences or not, it is
important that the viewer does not experience this first-hand but rather through the lens of the
game designer in exactly and precisely the way the game designer intended in a controlled
virtual environment.

22
Experimental Prototyping and Projects
In addition to academic literature, prior research has been gathered in the form of
prototyping mechanics and creating different digital experiences with environmental game play.
The first of these prototypes was Metro , a short game created by myself, Kelsey Rice, and
Catharine Jones. Metro was a desktop game driven by narrative in which the player character is a
young woman trying to uncover her past on her ride home on a lonely subway line. Each stop on
the train is exactly the same as before but as the player uncovers more about the character, the
environment around them changes and the little details of the characters life start bleeding into
the world around them. The players navigated the space using the Space, W, A, S, and D keys
and a computer mouse, in a traditional desktop game navigational format.

Fig. 4 - Metro - The opening sequence of Metro, a desktop narrative-driven exploration game.

23
Through this short project,data was gathered on what players did and did not notice in
their environment when there were changes and repetition. Players in this prototype were
encourage to explore the scene in order to reveal more date, which is similar in structure to
studies done on virtual worlds and spatial memory recall. In this prototype when tested, I
observed that changes in visual cues were more easily noticed when than others, although this
was not quantified or measured, since the prototype went through an informal playtest for study
purposes. These changes often occurred in the form of 3D objects shifting in position, mutating,
or disappearing and 2D Textures changing in color or material, disappearing, or switching to
entirely new images.

The second of these experimental projects was the Feast of Fools , built with Sheng
Raymond Liao. The Feast of Fools is a virtual reality game in which the player is seated at a
dinner table with five other virtual characters. The player takes on the role of the heir of a large
family estate and, with the help of the chairmen of the families company, is tasked with the
decision of what to do with the money from the estate. Each of the chairmen (the five characters
around the table) has a pitch which they will present to the player over a series of rounds. In the
first round, the chairmen pitch their project in a short sentence. In the second round, they give
further details about their pitch. In the last round they reveal more information and the player
votes on which pitch they are interested in funding. As the rounds progress players learn more
about the chairmen’s personal motivations and learn that the pitches aren’t entirely what they
seem and some things can only be judged after users gather more data. At the end of the game
the player sees newspaper headlines detailing the repercussions of all of the players choices.
24

Fig. 5 - The Feast of Fools - A screen shot from The Feast of Fools where one of the other characters is “pitching”
their idea and delivering narrative.

This project worked to hone an understanding of decision making in virtual environments
when faced with consequences. The experience was narrative heavy and required the users
complete attention. Even when faced with an influx of information, all of which was vital to the
narrative, players retained this information and were able to recall it later when tested. The
hypothesis that was gathered from this experiment was that players were able to retain the
information easily because:

25
a) Information was delivered in rounds, meaning players had time to encode the memory
and place it into a context before they were given more information. They were able to actively
engage with the information by comparing and contrasting the information they were given and
weighing the emotional consequences.
b) Information was associated with stakes meaning the impacts of the player’s decisions
(decisions that were made on the basis of this information) were immediately visible in the
world. This made players listen more attentively and actively work on trying to understand the
information given to them, since they knew that not doing so would elicit consequences from the
game.
Because players were able to retain the information so well in this experience, the ending
sequence where the players were shown news clippings that showcased the results of these
decisions was all the more emotionally powerful. Furthermore, this experience revealed that
narrative-heavy gameplay was acceptable for players as long as the narrative was delivered in a
way that was cohesive with the game play mechanics and timed in a way that did not add any
further stress to force memorization on the player. Because the core gameplay mechanic was
designed for the narrative delivery method and vice versa, the game flow was not interrupted by
the long periods of narrative delivery in the form of dialogue but rather aided by it.

Both of these projects and the lessons learned during development of them aided in the
game design of the Space Shuttle Ascension project. After the completion of these two main
projects, a series of rapidly-produced prototypes were created that tested mechanics and tools
such as the gaze-based mechanic, the lighting-presets (discussed later in Appendix C.), and
26
dialogue progression pacing. While these helped in the design of the final project, they were
mostly created for proof-of-concept pieces and shown in informal playtest settings.
Goal
The thesis goals of this research are to build an immersive VR experience that promotes
engagement with the narrative while also facilitating education in entertainment media and to
implement a method of context-dependent memory reinforcement in a virtual world. Utilizing
the complete control that is available for a game developer to have over the virtual experience
they are creating, the virtual reality game Space Shuttle Ascension seeks to use visual, aural, and
emotional cues to help players build recallable memory of the information given in the game
experience. The goal is that players will learn about the characters and about the real-life process
of space exploration while feeling connected to the characters, each of whom showcases
attributes that will teach the player more about the different cultures, societal structures, and
problems that are faced by similar people in the real-world around them, outside of the
experience. These intricacies will be discussed in more detail in the Characters section of this
paper but some of the character traits exhibited include mental illnesses (a majority of the
characters suffers from anxiety, major depression, or post-traumatic stress disorder) of which the
characters will showcase clear traits. This goal for this emotional aspect of the narrative is that
players will walk away not only knowing more about science but also about people, learning
how these illnesses manifest themselves in everyday people and how different people maintain
them or ignore them. These characters will also come from differing socio-economic
27
backgrounds, which the players can engage with and learn more about through speaking with the
characters.
The experience goals are that players will have an intimate, private space to critique
science and society in a fictional circumstance; players will feel as though the game world is
readily responsive to their input; and lastly that players will feel a sense of discovery, intrigue,
responsibility, and gravity. The idea of this experience being a safe-haven for players to have
engaging and challenging conversations with virtual characters is the foundation of the game
design. The situation, as previously described in the Narrative section is tense and the
experience, from the beginning, burdens the player with responsibility. The characters are all
dramatic and nuanced and have opinions that might contradict or challenge those of the player.
The environment is not one that will be familiar to the average player and likely, the user will
feel displaced and strange in this unfamiliar setting. Because of all of these aspects of the
experience, it was important to the designers that the game play and the narrative worked
towards making the user feel as safe as possible as they explore the experience, venture to feel
new emotions, and learn new things. This safe haven was created by giving the user privacy in
the physical world by putting up barriers in between the player and the rest of the environment in
which they play in. This barrier (at times in the form of dark black curtains and at others in the
form of separate rooms) allowed the player to get privacy within their experience as well as help
the speech recognition input by providing a quieter location with muffled sound. The reason this
goal was such an important part of the experience is because in our early playtests, we
discovered that most players felt nervous or shy at the idea of speaking aloud in a gaming
experience. They were worried how they would be perceived from the outside and if they would
28
look silly to observers. By giving them this physical barrier, we found it easier to draw out
speech from the player in order to build an emotional connection between the player and the
world.
23
The projected outcome is that players who investigate the mystery in Ascension, with the
help of audio, haptic, and visual cues, can improve their memory retention rates of information
obtained in virtual experiences. While these cues have been designed and implemented within
and throughout the experience, as will be discussed in the Future Applications of Research
section, the scope of this research does not extend to a formal testing to quantify if these cues did
or did not contribute to the improvement the memory retention rates of players.

23
To read further about the specifics of the physical setting of testing, see Appendix A-2.
29
Methodology
In order to better understand cognitive development in virtual worlds specifically with
memory retention and recall, a virtual reality game was created for the fulfillment of this
research and masters thesis titled Space Shuttle Ascension. Space Shuttle (SS) Ascension is an
investigative VR experience that promotes engagement with science within a narrative where the
player manipulates time and interviews characters using a speech recognition system powered by
IBM Watson to find out why a space shuttle crashes and perhaps, prevent the crash with their
newly discovered information.
SS Ascension contains audio, haptic, and visual cues within specific parts of the game
24 25
in hopes to facilitate retention and recall of memories encoded throughout the playing of this
experience. The game also has a narrative that works to create an empathetic connection between
the players and the characters so that the stakes for memory encoding are higher and so that the
memory encoding is supported by a shift in mood for the player. This is done in the hopes that
when there are bigger consequences at stake with memory retention, the player will retain
information more frequently and accurately. In the following sections, I will explain how the
narrative, characters, game design, and spatial level layout of the experience contributes to
memory retention as well as what parts of the game contribute to the overall educational value of
the experience and how.
24
Read more about these cues in the Appendices A, B, and C.
25
Detailed below in the Game/Level Design section of this paper.
30
The framework detailed in the following sections is modular, meaning each aspect of it
can be changed, enhanced, edited, or taken away for the purpose of testing.
Narrative
This VR experience is designed to promote engagement with STEAM (Science,
Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics); thus, the narrative is derived from a situation
that is otherworldly enough to grab the attention of gamers, but also realistic enough for those
players to walk away feeling like they learned something, whether it be factual information or
something about themselves. Space Shuttle Ascension is set on a doomed space exploration
vessel in a not-too-distant future, mirroring the tragedies of real-life space exploration missions.
The player is prompted to find out what went wrong and solve the mystery of what caused this
tragic crash so that the same mistakes are not made on future space exploration flights.
The direct description of the game to its audiences is: “Play as a scientist as you and your
guide Maxwell navigate through a reconstruction of the historical crash of the Space Shuttle
Ascension that has baffled scientists and altered the future to come through a virtual reality
simulation. With the help of the doomed astronauts and the disgraced astrophysicists, you can
understand and critique how the impacts of science and society played parts in this tragic event.
Unravel the clues and speak to the dead in this dark, twisted tale of scientific vindication.” As the
player navigates through the mystery, they will discover the cause of the crash is not just one
singular dysfunctional part but rather the culmination of little failures that ultimately led to the
Ascension Disaster. Simply finding the one faulty part of the shuttle does not solve the problems
surrounding its launch.
31

Ultimately, the player will uncover that Maxwell was in fact the engineer who along with
Stephen Hobb, the shuttle’s on-board engineer, was pushed to approve the faulty technology on
the ship that resulted in the tragic crash of the shuttle. In order to understand the tragedy and, in
part, to suffer through it endlessly in order to deal with his guilt from his role in the tragedy,
Maxwell has rebuilt the experience gathering data recorded from the shuttle’s onboard artificial
intelligence, Houston. The experience is thus constructed from the data he gathered from the trip
leading up to the point of the crash. The player takes on the role of Faraday, an outside
consultant on the matter, whom Maxwell has brought in to the simulation in hopes that she could
help him understand what went wrong. His end goal is to prevent similar situations from
happening in the future and to bring closure for himself and the family of the crew.
Space Shuttle Ascension begins with the player on a launch pad, standing in front of a
towering space shuttle at early dawn. A loud intercom booms across the space and asks the user
to countdown, signaling that they are ready for the experience to begin. This action works to
introduce the viewer to the core mechanic within the first 10 seconds. Shortly after, the player
26
is approached by as masked stranger who we find out is called Maxwell. Maxwell covers his
face with a mask which players will later discover is attributed to his deep shame in his
involvement in the accident that lead his closest friends to their tragic deaths. Maxwell gives the
command for the player to say the words “Lift Off” and this the experience begins with the
player controlling the fates of the crew within.
26
A brilliant suggestion from my thesis advisor Alex Schwartz, who used a similar narrative point in his
ground-breaking VR experience, Job Simulator. On this method, Alex states “this subtle interaction helps the player
to settle in to the experience and allows them to grow accustomed to navigating through the space as they first enter
it.”
32
This introductory portion was imperative to the success of the project. We needed players
to understand, right from the beginning, several things:
1) Their voices and actions changed the game.
2) They were responsible for sending the astronauts on their journey.
Making the user complicit in the tragedy along with Maxwell raises the stakes and helps
the user to feel invested in the experience. Even though the experience is within a simulation,
they feel every bit as responsible as Maxwell here and hopefully, they will take it upon
themselves to help understand the crew aboard.
After the visual of the shuttle launching, the user is transported to the cockpit of the
descent spacecraft. Here, they meet the characters (detailed below in the Characters section) and
are able to get acclimated to the environment that they will spend a majority of the game within.
We call this portion the tutorial. Here, Maxwell explains what the player can do within the space
and detailed the interactable objects within the space. You can read more about this tutorial
below in the Game and Level Design sections.
Soon after the tutorial, the player is thrust into the crash scene of the experience. Within
this crash scene the characters will discuss the cause of the incident. This can help the player
begin asking the right questions when they begin their investigation but the player can also find
out organically through their interactions with the characters in the investigative stage.
Commander Liu Wei, in this section, will verbally attack Stephen Hobbs, citing his paranoia,
deteriorating sanity, and failed marriage as causes of his miscalculations on the shuttle landing
code for Mars as well as his oversight on the parachute that was supposed to slow the crew’s
33
descent into Mars. She also blames him for other faults but these two failures are the actual cause
of the tragedy.
When the screen cuts to black, the player can say the words “Take me back” and return to
the ship, just minutes before the descent and chaos in hopes to change the fate of the crew. After
they return to this state, the investigation begins.
The exact game flow and game play of the investigation sequence is detailed in the Game
Design section. Throughout this sequence players will learn about the events leading up to the
shuttle launch both in the preparation of the launch and in the personal life of the crew. The core
narrative dialogue that the user must hear in this sequence describes the following situation:
Stephen Hobb, JPL Ascension Lead Engineer and his colleague Eisen Maxwell,
project co-lead engineer, have spent the entirety of their time in preparation for the
shuttle checking each others mistakes and building a relationship with each other with
trust in each others judgment as a foundation. They worked day and night, leading a team
of scientists and engineers to assure that the ship would function according to plan
especially since Stephen was to accompany the crew on to the shuttle itself. This was an
important mission for the future of space exploration and there was no one who knew the
ship better than Stephen, the man who helped build and design it. Thus, he signed up to
accompany the crew while Eisen, his second-in-command, vowed to do what he could to
keep them safe from the Earth. Stephen’s decision to accompany the crew put a strain on
his relationship and eventually, as the launch date grew closer, Stephen’s wife, Dr.
Candace Ross left him, citing his neglect and the prioritization of his career over his
marriage to be the reason. Distraught, Stephen threw himself into his work. He began to
34
cut corners in his assessments and calculations. Eisen struggled to clean up his mistakes
in his wake, trusting that his colleague would be able to know when to stop. As the launch
date grew closer Stephen’s mistakes grew larger and eventually, Eisen could no longer
accept them and asked that the launch date be postponed. However, because the launch
was such a major event for society and was fueled by politicians promising to build a
colony on Mars for humans, his warnings were ignored. Three days out from the launch,
as Stephen and Eisen worked feverishly to make the shuttle passable on the final check,
the men skip inspection of the parachutes that were meant to slow the descent. In every
other test shuttle they worked and if felt like a waste of their very limited time. The crew
launch and, after stopping by the ISS, went on to the Ares Space Station, positioned right
outside of Mars. The simulation begins after they leave this station and begin the last leg
of their journey, the Mars descent.
With all of this information obtained through dialogue with character and inspections of
audio logs and objects, players can make a statement to Maxwell about what they believe went
wrong on the ship. If they are correct, as the experience comes to a close, they will see a
newscast detailing a new space exploration flight to Mars. One that succeeds.
The player exits the experience knowing their investigation and the conclusion that have
arisen from it have saved the lives of others who will make the same trip in the near future.
Ultimately, by understanding the problems surrounding the original tragedy, they’ve prevented
similar mistakes from happening in the future.

35
Characters
Faraday, The Player Character

Fig. 6 - Space Shuttle Ascension - A still of the character Faraday examining a photograph.

The player character is an investigator who exists out of the time of the shuttle crash.
This investigators name is Faraday and in the narrative, Faraday was brought into this simulation
by Maxwell in order to try to solve the mystery of the ships failures. While the player seldom
hears the character speak or sees the character in her entirety, we created a body for the character
so that the player could be more completely immersed in the experience and thus feel more
physically present as the spatial exploration of the virtual world came into play. Faraday is a Mid
20’s Japanese American Female physicist/investigator. The fact that she is a gendered and
non-ethnically ambiguous character might affect the immersion of the experience and thus the
effects of a inhabiting the body of a character that is unlike yourself on the process of memory
development could be analyzed in a future study (see Future Applications.)
36
Maxwell, The Narrative Guide

Fig. 7 - Space Shuttle Ascension - A still of the character Maxwell on the launch pad.

Maxwell is the player characters’ conversation partner and guide throughout Ascension.
He pushes the player to think past the constraints of the everyday and explore thoughts that
challenge notions of normalcy. He responds to players and helps them to understand the virtual
world so that they can take their learnings into the real world. Maxwell is a Mid 30’s
Japanese-American Male Aeronautical Engineer and close friend of the Engineer on board the
shuttle, Stephen Hobbs. He dons a mask to hide his face, as he is too ashamed to have caused the
accident that ended the lives of all of his closest friends. He dedicated his life to understanding
the incident and has recruited another great mind (the player character Faraday) in order to better
understand what happened as he relives the worst moment of his life in perpetuity.
37
Commander Liu Wei

Fig. 8 - Space Shuttle Ascension - A still of the character Liu Wei in the Shuttle.

Commander Liu Wei - Commander Liu Wei is a Taiwanese Mid-30s Pilot and
Aeronautical Engineer with NASA. She suffers from anxiety but pushes past it to lead the crew.
Throughout the experience, her anxiety and paranoia about the descent to the surface of mars
will be heightened. She will begin to throw around accusations, try to find solutions, and become
agitated. However, if the player dives deeper into conversations with her, they will find that her
anxiety is driven by a tremendous pressure she feels in regards to her need to feel successful and
worthy in her life and in the eyes of those around her. She’s an excellent leader and although she
has issues with some of the crew, she wants to do right by them and make sure they all come out
of here alive, if possible. Back on Earth, she leaves behind her spouse, a mathematician at
NASA. Though saddened in her departure, her spouse understand the lengths that Liu Wei went
to in order to be a commander on a space exploration mission and refuses to interfere with her
reaching her dream. She also leaves behind her older brother and sister, who both inspired her to
be who she is today.
38
Stephen Hobb, Engineer

Fig. 9 - Space Shuttle Ascension - A still of the character Stephen Hobb in the Shuttle.

Stephen Hobb is the lead engineer on board as well as one of the mechanical engineers
that lead the team that designed parts of the shuttle. He and his wife Dr. Candace Ross have
recently divorced and in his sorrow, he, along with Maxwell, rush-approved faulty equipment
before the launch. The divorce came after years and years of Stephen’s blind dedication to his
work but was decided after Stephen made his decision to join the Space Shuttle Ascension crew
and leave Earth. He became obsessive with his quest into outer space and neglected Candace,
who wanted more humanity from her partner than Stephen could provide. With Candace gone,
the family that he leaves behind on earth is his Sister and her son, whom he cared for deeply. As
the shuttle gets closer to Mars, he becomes increasingly paranoid and upset and as the shuttle
crashes, he becomes impossible to reason with, his guilt poisoning his mind. This leads to him
disagreeing with Liu Wei often. His personal interests outside of astrophysics and engineering lie
in African American history, particularly the period of the Harlem Renaissance. Growing up in
Brooklyn, he felt a strong connection to his neighborhood and hopes that in being one of the first
humans on Mars, he could make his hometown proud.
39
Dani Kilian, Biologist and Botanist

Fig. 10 - Space Shuttle Ascension - A still of the character Dani Kilian in the Shuttle.

Danielle “Dani” Kilian is the agriculturalist and botanist of the crew sent with the task of
exploring agricultural options on mars. She has difficulty socialising with others and often
disagrees with other members of the crew. If the player inquires about her personal life, they will
discover that she grew up on a farm in rural midwestern America. Her conservative family made
her feel alienated and alone as she struggled to deal with her sexuality and build relationships
with others. She identifies as a Lesbian but has difficulty feeling intimately connected with other
human beings and thus, was eager to sign up for the Mars exploration journey. Throughout the
experience, the player can hear her family, particularly her brother. Though they disagree on
much and often are at odds on their beliefs, on their last call together, they seem to accept each
others differences and her brother extends an invitation for her to meet his children, her nieces
and nephews. Because Dani’s voluntary separation from her family she has never received an
invitation of this nature and she begins to feel, for the first time in a long time, that there are
people who care for her on Earth though she had to leave Earth to feel this.
40
Fr. Thomas Sani MD, Shuttle Medical Supervisor

Fig. 11 - Space Shuttle Ascension - A still of the character Thomas Sani in the Shuttle.

Fr. Thomas Sani MD. - Father Thomas is a Native American Jesuit Priest and
Astronomer who is serving as the Medical supervisor to the crew. Having paid for his medical
schooling through religious programs, he has come along on the journey in hopes of better
understanding mankind’s role in the universe and ascertaining his beliefs in the intersection of
science and religion. Thomas is a Navajo resident of Arizona who was raised by his father after
his mother left him at an early age. His family was of lower-socioeconomic status when he was a
child and now, in his adulthood he has taken a vow of poverty. His father supported and believed
in him as a child and put him into catholic educational programs in order to better his chances of
receiving scholarships to a notable catholic institution. Thomas was admitted and since has
received B.S., M.S., M.Div, Ph.D., and M.D. from various educational institutions all through
religious scholarships. He attributes his success in life to the Catholic church and longs to help
the church in the same way the church helped him. Thus he strives to make sense of religion in
his scientific world through space exploration.
41
Houston, Shuttle On Board Artificial Intelligence

Fig. 12 - Space Shuttle Ascension - A still of the character Houston in the Shuttle.

Houston is the name of the artificial intelligence powering the space shuttle. For the
purpose of collecting data for future flights, Houston records video and audio of all
communications coming in and out of the ship as well as all communications that take place
within it. Houston is a powerful tool that the player can turn to for help and for functionality
throughout the experience. While Houston has no strong personality, it was programmed as an
ode to Stephen and Maxwell’s NASA Mentor, Camila García, who was born in Houston, Texas.
The AI speaks using Camila’s voice, helping Stephen to calm down at various points of the trip
when he is overcome by anxiety.
Players can ask Houston to open or close audio logs, open diagrams and schematics from
the shuttle, or to show newscasts or pictures as well as many other things. Throughout the
investigative sequence, both Houston and Maxwell are available for the player to speak to at any
time.
42
Game Design
Although this experience is not as traditionally goal-oriented as the average game, it still consists
of a basic level progression , core game loop , and game flow. Each of these is broken up into
27 28
phases and analyzed in the following section.
Level progression
- Introduction - Player will see the title sequence and hear voice over prompting the
character to speak, thus introducing the core mechanic as well as the guiding
character, Maxwell.
- Episode Intro - Player will be transported to the Ascension space shuttle, frozen
with the crew sitting in their seats, witnessing the disintegration of the shuttle.
Maxwell will prompt the player to find out what happened as well as introduce
the player to the other mechanics. Houston, the ship AI will show the player a
diagram of the ship, in which currently, is entirely outlined in red.
- Investigation - Player can explore the environment and gather data as well as
interview the astronauts. As they ask questions and uncover important
information, parts of the aforementioned diagram will change from red to blue,
indicating that the user had completed an object of finding out about a part of the
ship that could have been faulty.

27
The “level” here are the different scenes within the game.
28
A core game loop is a repeatable sequence in the game that showcases the core mechanic, the feedback from that
mechanic, and the prompt to repeat the mechanic once more.
43
- Investigation End - Players will see that all parts on their diagram are now blue
EXCEPT for one, which remains red. This part (which, as discussed in the
narrative section is the parachute) is the part of the ship that caused the tragedy.
- End - Maxwell will ask the player what they believe caused the crash. A Correct
answer that mentions the parachute will result in the player leaving the experience
and hearing about a future mission that succeeded using the data that the player
discovered about the Ascension failure.
- End - Version 2 - If the player does not answer correctly, they will be shown a
newscast reporting another shuttle failure as the credits of the development team
roll by.

44
Mechanics
Object interaction - This involves pointing, clicking, dragging, and moving objects within
the environment. Players can, for example, turn objects belonging to the astronauts around in
their hand, looking for scratches or engravings that might make the object interesting to bring up
in discussion with the character. An example of this is the engineer Stephen Hobb’s polaroid
photograph. Players can pick up this photograph and turn it to observe it from all angles. On the
front is the picture of stephen and his ex-wife Dr. Candace Ross at a Halloween party. They are
dressed like engineers from a popular science fiction space-based television show. Below the
photo, scrawled on the white rim of the polaroid is “Halloween, 2019.” If the player turns the
photo, they can see that the inscription “Stephen and Candace, “Love long and prosper”” is
written on the back.

Fig. 13 - Space Shuttle Ascension - A photograph of Stephen and his ex-wife, Dr. Candace Ross.

45
When the player inquires Stephen about this object he will become secretive and defensive. After
several questions, he will reveal that he and his wife Candace, have recently divorced. While the
player can still discuss Candace without finding this photo, they can ask guided questions, now
knowing the photo exists. They can ask questions such as “Tell me about that Halloween in the
photo” or “Tell me about your life with Candace.” Stephen will reference the photo in his
responses. Actions similar to this can occur with all of the astronauts objects as well as some
objects that don’t belong to the player but are a part of the shuttle itself.
Voice interaction - Perhaps the most often used mechanic in the experience, voice
interaction is a necessity for the narrative progression. The experience uses IBM Watson’s
speech recognition tool in order to take in user voice output and transcribe it in to actions that
take place in the game. Players can speak to the characters such as the astronauts and Maxwell or
speak to the ships system onboard artificial intelligence, Houston, throughout the experience. An
example of an interaction can be seen in the script below:

46
Players are not provided a list of questions they can ask but are encouraged rather to ask
questions in very much so the same way they would carry a conversation in real life. If the player
stumbles and is in need of assistance, Maxwell is always close by and ready to help the player
with a few suggestions. For more information about the game design challenges of integrating
speech recognition in the Space Shuttle Ascension VR Experience, see the companion thesis
titled Ascension: An Analysis of Game Design for Speech Recognition System Usage and
Spatialized Audio for Virtual Reality written by Crystal Chan.
Gaze Based - The user can look in the direction of a gameobject in the virtual space
inside of their head mounted display in virtual reality and can interact with the object by looking
at it. The head mounted display shoots a ray out in the direction it is facing and when the ray
reaches an object that is marked as interactable with gaze, the object will perform an action.
Through this mechanic, players can interact with the interface of the space shuttle. With the gaze
interaction, shuttle displays will light up and come to life, characters will register the viewers
attention, audio logs will shift into the users gaze as well as a few other interactions. One of the
most common ways gaze will be used within the game is as a tool with another mechanic, Object
interaction.
When interacting with objects that are outside of the players reach, the player will utilize
both the gaze mechanic and the object manipulation mechanic. For example, when the player
wishes to look at Dani Kilian’s heirloom locket, the player can look at the object and the object
will begin to glow in response. If the player is interested in the object, they can then pull the
object closer to them using the Oculus touch controller and the trigger button on the controller.
This will allow users to inspect the object closer to their face so that they can see more intricate
47
details that would have been missed had the object been viewed exclusively from afar. We can
use this same mechanic to have interactable objects that might look more obscure glow so that
players know when an object is interactable rather than static.
Spatial Level Layout
In the initial scene, the player will be situated on a launch pad of a space shuttle on Earth
in the year 2034. The player will be seated at the bottom of the shuttle, seconds before the lift
off. In front of them and between the player and the shuttle is Maxwell who will introduce
himself and help the player begin the experience.
When the experience starting sequence is initiated, walls of the shuttle will come up from
around the player and the player will find themselves within the Cockpit. The player is located at
the center of the shuttle. They are seated on a pixelated chair, surrounded by the reconstructed
space shuttle cockpit on all sides. The astronauts surround them in the front and back left and
right corners of the room. Directly in front of the player sits Commander Liu Wei. To her left,
hanging on the side of the shuttle is a paper lantern she brought with her from her hometown. To
her right is Stephen Hobbs, the shuttle engineer. His Character objects surround him on the
dashboard of the cockpit and taped to the walls around him. To the immediate right of the player
is Maxwell. He is readily available to help the player whenever he is needed. Behind the player
to the right is Dani Kilian, the crew biologist and botanist. She holds her interactable objects
close to her, either on her arm rest of on her chair. Behind the player to the left is Father Thomas
Sani, M.D.. His objects are beneath his chair, reserved and tucked away to match Thomas’s calm
48
and poised personality. Between Dani and Thomas on the back wall is the door exiting the
cockpit and going to the rest of the shuttle.
The experience is seated and the player so the player can only move around in the space
of the seat, rather than within the shole cockpit. This will restrict the players exploration of space
but allow the player to focus on the characters instead of the objects, which is where our core
interaction lies.
Educational Value
With the California Science Center as one of our fact-checking partners throughout the
development of SS Ascension, a majority of the dialogue options that players have when
interacting with the characters reveal factual information. Commander Liu Wei will discuss the
ships trajectory and the plan of descent with the character as well as her personal life, mental
health, and her history in Taiwan. Stephen Hobb will discuss the ship and its parts as well as the
code that powers the ship. He will also discuss the Harlem Renaissance and his personal life.
Dani Kilian will discuss agriculture on Mars and Earth as well as sediment conditions on Mars.
She can also discuss sexuality with the player. Father Thomas Sani M.D. can speak to the player
about medicine and health in space exploration as well as religion and Navajo traditions.
In addition to dialogue options, players can also learn information from objects in the
environments. Below are some examples of the in-game objects that correlate to real information
and technology. In addition to what they are (which will be described in more colloquial terms in
discussions with astronauts within the game) the descriptions below also detail the astronauts
emotional attachments to the objects.
49
- Fr. Thomas Sani’s Rosary - A Roman Catholic devotion consisting of meditation on
usually five sacred mysteries during recitation of five decades of Hail Marys of which
each begins with an Our Father and ends with a Gloria Patri. All his life, Thomas had
heard about "mission" - in church and Catholic school - but on the day of the Ascension's
launch, it came time to embark on another mission altogether. During his final
pre-departure conversation with his father, he received this rosary as a gift. A tool for
Catholic prayer, the gift had a practical use. Its high quality and beautiful design
conveyed to Thomas that his father was very proud of him. The use of turquoise stones as
the beads of the decades had a special meaning for Thomas. Turquoise is a sacred stone
in Navajo spirituality. It played an important role in the Navajo creation narrative, and
symbolizes happiness, luck, protection, and the very sky into which Thomas was about to
ascend.
- Fr. Thomas Sani’s Mass Kit - Mass Kits are an all-in-one portable set containing sacred
vessels and essential liturgical items needed for a Catholic priest to celebrate the Holy
Sacrifice of the Mass. Mass kits come stored inside a special carrying case and are
especially useful to priests for their private use, or when they are traveling away from
their home parish (such as in space). As a precondition to financing Fr. Sani’s
participation in the Ascension mission, the Roman Catholic Church requested that he
celebrate and record the first ever Mass on Mars. Common among traveling priests, this
kit, which Sani received directly from the Vatican, will allow him to do so.
- Fr. Thomas Sani’s Prayer Card - A prayer card to St. Joseph of Cupertino, O.F.M. Conv.,
an Italian Conventual Franciscan friar who is honored as a Christian mystic and saint. He
50
was said to have been remarkably unclever, but prone to miraculous levitation and
intense ecstatic visions that left him gaping. He is the patron saint of pilots, astronauts,
students, and the mentally handicapped. Even non-Catholics (like Jewish astronaut
Garrett Reisman) have taken prayer cards of the levitating saint to space for good luck.
Fr. Thomas carries his own, not so much for the patron of pilots and astronauts’ good
luck, but because in seminary he learned the little known fact that Joseph of Cupertino
was known among his peers for his incredible stupidity. This amuses him.
- Stephen Hobb’s Vintage Rent Party Card - On Saturday nights in mid-century Harlem,
the most raucous parties were frequently happening in private apartments, with admission
between 25 and 50 cents. The fee would go towards paying the often inflated rents
charged to black tenants working for low wages in Manhattan, with live music, drinks,
and dancing offered in exchange. Stephen is a scholar of the Harlem Renaissance and
29
this vintage rent party card is one of his most prized items.
- Commander Liu Wei’s Mini Sky Lantern - Liu Wei used to release sky lanterns into the
sky as a child with her siblings. Seeing those lanterns soar high into the night, not
knowing where they would go but dancing among the stars, was what kickstarted her
love for the unknown and space.
30
- Commander Liu Wei’s Family Name Stamp - It was a gift from her grandmother on her
1st birthday and is the only gift that was made specially for her, and also the last piece of
anything she has from her grandparents who have already passed away. (It is an art form
29
Rau, Dana Meachen. The Harlem Renaissance . Minneapolis, MN: Compass Point Books, 2006.
30
Zhiyuan, Zhang. "A Brief Account of Traditional Chinese Festival Customs." The Journal of Popular Culture 27,
no. 2 (1993): 13-24. doi:10.1111/j.0022-3840.1993.1354684.x.
51
that is dying in modern times so it holds a lot of significance as a tribute to her heritage.)

31
- Cosmic Origins Spectrograph - On board the ship is a Cosmic Origins Spectrograph
(COS) with a Far Ultraviolet (FUV) detector meant to see the faintest of traces of ultraviolet
emissions in space in order to gather data on the origins of the universe through light.
32
Testing Retention
While for the current research period data was only gathered in the form of informal
playtests conducted, the experience was design with the long-term goal that its effects on
memory retention could be tested through a formal study. The proposed study would be
conducted as detailed below:
In one group:
1) Players would experience the Space Shuttle Ascension virtual reality game in an
enclosed private space.
2) Player will be taken to a second space in which they will be given a questionnaire
similar to (but perhaps more nuanced and robust in subject matter and question
choice) the questionnaire in Appendix D.
3) Within this space, the lighting will be similar to that of the ship within the gaming
experience and speakers will play the same audio of the low rumble from the
31
Ibid.
32
Mcphate, Jason B., Oswald H. W. Siegmund, Geoffrey A. Gaines, John V. Vallerga, and Jeffrey S. Hull. "Cosmic
Origins Spectograph FUV Detector." Instrumentation for UV/EUV Astronomy and Solar Missions , 2000.
doi:10.1117/12.410539.
52
ships engine within the room. This will use a few cues to recreate the encoding
environment of the memory.

In a second group:
1) Players will experience the same version of the VR game in an enclosed private
space.
2) Player will be taken to a second space in which they will be given a questionnaire
similar to (but perhaps more nuanced and robust in subject matter and question
choice) the questionnaire in Appendix D.
3) The testing space will be entirely different from the encoding environment.
Within this version of the study, the researchers will be able to compare the difference in
result from the two groups to see if the context cues or lack thereof made a significant difference
in the memory retention rates at testing.
Another version of this proposed study would be similar to the first, but with more robust
testing conditions. Instead of a questionnaire, the player would be asked the testing questions one
by one, allowing the users to build the environmental cues on a case-by-case basis. For example,
on a question about Liu Wei, the lighting and audio could be changed to mirror the lighting and
audio settings on the ship that accompanied all player conversations with her as a character.

53
Future Applications of Research
Because of production and time restrictions, there are many possible avenues of this
research topic with this particular virtual reality experience that remain unexplored. Starting with
the research discussed in this paper, future applications include conducting formal testing,
building a more robust experience, and changing the experience to study different testing
conditions and their effects. Each of these will likely contribute to the conversation of memory
development in virtual worlds in an entirely different way however, since the development team
for the Space Shuttle Ascension VR experience were required to build the project within the
scope of a year, we’ve resigned to have them as suggestions for future work.
The first of these possible future applications that will be discussed is conducting formal
testing. This game was designed with a testing condition in mind that we were unable to execute.
The condition is that the environmental cues from the digital environment will be recreated in a
real-world setting for one group of players and for the other, the cues from the digital
environment will not be recreated. The players from both groups will be able to play through the
experience once and then take a quick memory test about the information received within the
experience. For the first group, the test will take place within the real-world setting where the
digital environment cues have been replicated in order to test whether using cues from the virtual
space in which the memory was encoded helps the user recall these memories later on command.
The second group will act as a control group and will take the same test but without the memory
reinforcement cues present at the time of testing. The hypothesis is that there will be a notable
increase in memory retention and recall rates for those for which the memory encoding cues
54
were reconstructed over those for which they were not. For our current, informal playtest
purposes, a general test was created in order to gauge memory retention. This test can be found
in Appendix D. For this proposed, more robust study, the questions should be more scientific in
nature and specific so that we can see retention on more granular details of the narrative.
Furthermore, this second test will not need to gauge playability and success of gameplay
mechanics as the test in Appendix D does, since those questions are already answered within this
paper.
Though the aforementioned testing condition is the setting the Space Shuttle Ascension
experience was designed for, there are other testing conditions that are applicable as well. For
example, those interested in testing for spatial understanding and spatial memory development in
virtual worlds can ask users more questions about the digital environment and ask the user to
rebuild the scene from the game using real-life, similar props. This can help researchers to look
at the characteristics of objects in the environments that are most memorable to the player and
get insight into how the player is comprehending the space around them in the virtual world and
how this comprehension relates to the real world. Another separate testing condition could
include hiring actors that look identical to the characters in the game and having them ask
questions about the narrative, mirroring the conversations the player had within the experience.
This explores the topic of how much memory is affected by interpersonal experiences and
relationships within a digital game and, since each character is vastly different and is located in
specific areas within the digital space, can bring forth questions about personalities and
characteristics affecting memory in regards to humans or can be tested with multiple actors
around the player, recreating exact scenarios from the game.
55
The second of the future possibilities that can be explored through this experience is the
possibility of expanding the experience further. This entails adding more objects, characters,
dialogue, gameplay, information, and environmental cues in order to make the experience more
detailed and allow for more nuanced testing. Developers who are interested in expanding this
research can add new locations, such as a scene within the NASA Jet Propulsion Labs (JPL)
Mission Control Center or within the JPL Mars Yard as well as other space exploration and
science-based locations. Telling the story from different geographical perspectives could allow
for interesting testing scenarios and for more engaging narrative possibilities. The mystery at the
heart of the game play could then expand and become more intricate as players will have to
traverse different locations in order to unfold the entire story and thus, the challenge of memory
retention and recall at a later time might with be more difficult. While this is a challenge for the
players, it is an interesting opportunity for researchers to ask for specific questions and to focus
on more specific research needs. The original game design document for Space Shuttle
Ascension had several of the possible additions detailed that were excluded from the final
experience for aforementioned production limitations. These additions included different
historical scenarios outside of space exploration such as the Salem witch trials or World War II.
It also included additional mechanics such as an ability to rewind and play animations of
characters and events in order to better understand the events that transpired within the
experience. However, the challenge that lead to the exclusion of these additions is that they
might detract from the memory encoding research, although they may add significantly to
gameplay enjoyability.
56
The last of the future applications to be discussed is the possibility of changing different
components within the experience that may affect the core user experience. One of these which
the development team of Space Shuttle Ascension struggled with was the identity of the player
character. For narrative and representation purposes, the player character of the experience is a
Japanese American woman. However, it was noted to the developers in early playtesting that this
may break immersion for players who can not relate to the character. For future applications,
there is an opportunity here to have the player character be a character whose gender and
ethnicity are ambiguous to the player themselves. Though the exact effect of this change on
immersion is something that we have only seen hints of in qualitative data gathered in informal
playtests, there may be changes in the studies because of this. Another major shift that could
impact the experience is making the platform of play a desktop computer, thus making the
experience something the user interacts with on a 2D screen rather than in a head-mounted
display in a virtual reality. This might detach the player even more from being fully immersed
but may have other effects, such as allowing users to focus more directly on a specific object or
allowing users to explore the space with a technology they may be better acquainted with. If the
desktop version strays too far from the original study, another platform could be the HTC Vive.
This will give the users different hand controllers to navigate the interaction with. It would also
open the conversation to allow user to walk around the space, instead of remain seated through
the experience. The use of room-scale virtual reality as a platform either through Oculus or Vive
or any other head mounted displays is a difference that the development team for the experience
is interested in exploring and will likely pursue first in the next steps of this experience.
57
Conclusion
The foundation of the Space Shuttle Ascension virtual reality experience is its goal to
promote engagement with and retention of concepts regarding science within entertainment
media. Because that goal was so clear from the prototyping and designing stages of production,
the development team was able to iterate on and approach challenges with a purpose. Every
decision within the design of the game was made with these principles in mind in very much so
the same way that future developers can design their games around the idea of promoting
memory retention in science-based gaming experiences. As discussed previously in the “Purpose
of the Study” section, game narratives, environments, interactions, objects, audio, and mechanics
can be designed wholly around the goal of helping users to learn things in virtual environments.
This paper discussed at length each intricate detail of the Space Shuttle Ascension experience in
order to showcase how each element of a game can be designed around this goal.
While the collection of more accurate and robust quantitative data through formal subject
testing has been held for future research applications, the groundwork of designing and
implementing methods of memory-reinforcement in every aspect of a gaming experience has
been described in this research. The success of this groundwork, however, is dependent on the
results of further testing. Future researchers and developers can use the framework of the Space
Shuttle Ascension VR experience in order to gather this data and ascertain the impacts of the
memory encoding environment on memory retention and recall. Moving forward with the
experience as a framework for further research, researchers can conduct formal testing, build a
more robust experience, and change the experience to study different testing conditions and their
58
effects. These future applications will require minimal dedication to development and
development resources and will likely be able to skip the editing of the development
Future researchers are also encouraged to review more information about the speech
recognition mechanic and its effect on player engagement through the companion research thesis
dissertation to this paper titled “Ascension: An Analysis of Game Design for Speech
Recognition System Usage and Spatialized Audio for Virtual Reality” by Crystal Chan.

59
Appendices
Appendix A: Exterior environment/Physical location (seating, etc.)
In order to keep sound from exterior environments out of the listening range of the
microphone that is used for the speech recognition system, the development team has designed
specifics of a location for the demonstration events for our experience.
The experience is a seated Oculus VR game that requires the Oculus head-mounted
display (HMD), a desktop computer and Monitor, and Oculus Touch controllers to play. The
experience utilizes the microphone built in to the Oculus HMD for the players voice to be picked
up by the game software and thus, requires a quiet environment for successful play. The solution
to this is to have an enclosed space for demonstration and testing purposes that is separated by
other people or crowds by some sort of barrier. This solution also helps build an intimate space
for the player so that they do not feel self conscious about their interactions within the VR
experience.
This space was created in different ways for different experiences but almost always
included a few basic objects to help with privacy and sound issues:
1) Think, heavy, black cloth - This cloth served multiple purposes including dampening
sound, obstructing view from those outside of the experience, and stopping infrared lights
or trackers from other virtual reality rigs from causing any issues with the HMD.

60
2) Styrofoam boards - These boards worked to provide a thick barrier between outside
sounds and voices to stop them from interfering with the experience.
3) A stationary swiveling chair - The seating for the experience had to allow for easy
rotation for the player while simultaneously restricting movement outside of the tracking
space of the Oculus HMD.
These three simple objects are the core needs of the game for a comfortable
demonstration and are the bare minimum required for the creation of a portable, cost-efficient
safe and intimate environment for the player to experience the Space Shuttle Ascension VR
experience within a demonstrative setting.

61
Appendix B: Audio Cues - Interactive Score
Each character, based on their histories, characteristics, or personalities, will has their
own personalized interactive score. This score will play softly when the player speaks to the
character and will change, based on the events that occur within the ship. Below are notes on
each score.
Commander Liu Wei - Lie Wei’s music tone is similar to the tone of the main theme for
the Space Shuttle Ascension game. It showcases brass instruments that convey a sense of bravery
and adventure. As the player speaks the Liu Wei, the orchestral music in the background will
feature more sharp trumpet notes to communicate Liu Wei’s underlying anxiety. Through her
audio logs, the background music will feature traditional Taiwanese instruments such as a
Lubuw. The Lubuw will slowly seep in to Liu Wei’s orchestral theme as the player uncovers
more and more audio logs. This blend of bold western instruments and deeply traditional
Taiwanese sounds is a carefully planned musical portrayal of Liu Wei in hopes that the distinct
sound would work to make the conversations had with Liu Wei the most memorable, since her
character one of two characters who delivers most of the core narrative dialogue.
Dr. Stephen Jeffrey Hobb - Stephen Hobb’s music is jazzy with hints of a sci-fi tone.
Inspired by his fascination with the Harlem Renaissance. His score begins with upbeat sounds of
rhythmic drums and saxophones yet slowly becomes unorganized. Although at first this
distortion is hard to listen for since it mimics the usual adventurous themes of improvised Jazz
play, it becomes a strange cacophony of sounds at Stephen’s psyche unravels further and further.
Towards the end of the experience, the soundtrack begins to showcase science-fiction inspired
62
undertones and highlights. In his Audio logs, a simple jazzy piano is heard in the background
with one note out of place at randomized intervals, mirroring his soundtrack within the ship.
Danielle Kilian - Dani Kilian’s score is more simple in terms of instrumentation than the
other characters aboard the ship. Her interactive score is comprised of acoustic guitars and piano
that strum quietly at first. However, as her narrative intensifies, her score becomes more
passionate, as if all of her personality and emotion was reserved for the latter end of the
investigation. There are no new sounds throughout her score in the way that there are in Liu
Wei’s and Stephen’s but there is a new found intensity in the guitar and piano as it progresses.
This mirrors her personality and her dialogue through the players conversations. In her audio log,
the players will hear a joyful acoustic guitar plucking along in the background.
Father Thomas Sani M.D - Thomas Sani’s score will sounds the most dated out of his
crew. Because so much of his personality is deeply rooted in traditions upheld by generations of
people, his score uses classic instruments such as an organ and a cello. Highlighting his theme
are rattles and flutes, in tune with traditional Navajo music. As his character develops, the navajo
instruments and the organ will begin to battle for the main theme, showcasing the duality of
Thomas’s personality. In his audio logs, a single cello can be heard in the background.

63
Appendix C: Visual Cues - Lighting
Each character within the experience with the exception of Maxwell has a lighting preset
that activates when the player enters into conversation with the character. These lights shine on
or around the character, sometimes back lighting them or rim lighting them for cinematic effect.
These presets generally feature 2 - 3 colors that are representative of the characters personality or
personal life. The goals behind these lighting presets are that:
1) Players will have a clear distinction between which players they are talking to and
when, since the color schemes are all distinct from each other.
2) These lighting presets can be replicated in real-life in the memory recall testing
settings when players are asked questions about these specific characters. These
lighting presets act as additional visual cues that the player could theoretically call
from when they are recalling their memory from the virtual experience.
3) The lighting presets will help the player focus on one part of the experience (the
character they are speaking with) rather than split their attention between other
objects or characters in the scene.
4) The lighting preset changes will be a visible example of the environment reacting
to the player. This will reinforce the idea that the player makes a difference within
the world as they are constantly receiving feedback in response to their
interactions with characters and objects within the experience.

64
In the following section, these lighting settings will be detailed with color palette examples as
well as visual imagery to help the artists of the experience associate the colors with different
influences from the characters life. While these lighting preset settings add much to the
cinematic aesthetic of the experience, they also serve the game design and thus, were not
perceived as distracting, as shown in the early playtests that were conducted. Furthermore, when
the characters lighting presets are activated, other lights in the space are dimmed. As previously
mentioned this effect makes it easier for players to focus on the character, rather than the space
around them.

65

Fig. 14 - Space Shuttle Ascension - The Lighting Presets palette for Liu Wei.

Commander Liu Wei’s color palette for lighting consists of contrasting dark pink and
bold greens to hint at her inner emotional turmoil and courage. We gathered inspiration for her
colors from the official logo of Kaohsiung, Taiwan, her hometown as well as a bamboo forest,
which Kaohsiung was born from. We wanted her to feel connected to her roots in her hometown
and country but also chose colors that showcased her bravery for pushing borders and breaking
glass ceilings as a woman in the field of space exploration.

66

Fig. 15 - Space Shuttle Ascension - The Lighting Presets palette for Stephen Hobb.

A proud enthusiast of the Harlem Renaissance, Dr. Hobb’s colors are drawn from the
cities that raised him. The colors consist of earthy tones that are brown and dark red, mirroring
the brick landscape of old Harlem buildings. The purple hues are present in the palette to add an
air of mystery to Stephen. Because Stephen holds so many secrets from the rest of the team and
is always paranoid about the possibilities of space, the purple was chosen as a way to add
intrigue to his character and unsettle the player slightly during their conversations with him.
67

Fig. 16 - Space Shuttle Ascension - The Lighting Presets palette for Dani Kilian.

Dani’s colors are drawn from her past farm life. The greens represent the grassy fields
she often wandered in as a child and the trees she peered at through her window in her childhood
home on a farm. The pinks in her color palette represent the Foxglove plant (which she also has
tattooed on her arm) as well as the Lesbian pride flag colors. The highlighting light blue in this
palette are representative of Dani’s personality, which streaks through her relationships like a
sharp lightning.
68

Fig. 17 - Space Shuttle Ascension - The Lighting Presets palette for Thomas Sani.

Dr. Thomas Sani draws his lighting presets from his family background in the Navajo tribe. The
darker reddish tones in his palette represent his strong passion for life, righteousness, and truth as
well as the landscape of Mars which to him, means an adventure into unknown frontiers. The
bluer tones reflect his scientific background and his work in medicine. A major inspiration for
his palette was the Navajo “Four Sacred Colors” tradition.
33
33
M’Closkey, Kathy. "Navajo Weaving as Sacred Metaphor." The Socialness of Things .
doi:10.1515/9783110882469.393.
69
Appendix D: Playtest Questionnaire

70

71

72

73

74
Figures
Fig. 1 - Assassin’s Creed II - Example of viewpoint synchronizing.
Image retrieved from: Port Forward as still from Assassin’s Creed II
https://portforward.com/games/walkthroughs/Assassins-Creed-II/Assassins-Creed-II-2336.htm

Fig. 2 - The Last Of Us - Characters Ellie and Joel bonding over an emotional moment.
Image retrieved from: Hardcore Gamer as still from The Last Of Us
https://www.hardcoregamer.com/2017/12/18/why-the-last-of-us-is-a-game-about-love/283643/

Fig. 3 - Loved - An example of an abusive command and the visual style of Loved by Alex Ocias. Image
retrieved from: Game Skinny as a still from Loved.
https://www.gameskinny.com/rxn2g/loved-review-a-game-about-a-twisted-love

Fig. 4 - Metro - The opening sequence of Metro, a desktop narrative-driven exploration game.

Fig. 5 - The Feast of Fools - A screen shot from The Feast of Fools where one of the other characters is
“pitching” their idea and delivering narrative.

Fig. 6 - Space Shuttle Ascension - A still of the character Faraday examining a photograph.

Fig. 7 - Space Shuttle Ascension - A still of the character Maxwell on the launch pad.

Fig. 8 - Space Shuttle Ascension - A still of the character Liu Wei in the Shuttle.

Fig. 9 - Space Shuttle Ascension - A still of the character Stephen Hobb in the Shuttle.

Fig. 10 - Space Shuttle Ascension - A still of the character Dani Kilian in the Shuttle.

Fig. 11 - Space Shuttle Ascension - A still of the character Thomas Sani in the Shuttle.

Fig. 12 - Space Shuttle Ascension - A still of the character Houston in the Shuttle.

Fig. 13 - Space Shuttle Ascension - A photograph of Stephen and his ex-wife, Dr. Candace Ross.

Fig. 14 - Space Shuttle Ascension - The Lighting Presets palette for Liu Wei.

Fig. 15 - Space Shuttle Ascension - The Lighting Presets palette for Stephen Hobb.

Fig. 16 - Space Shuttle Ascension - The Lighting Presets palette for Dani Kilian.

Fig. 17 - Space Shuttle Ascension - The Lighting Presets palette for Thomas Sani.

75
Bibliography
Adams, Henry Foster. “A note on the effect of rhythm on memory.” Psychological
Review, Vol 22(4), Jul 1915, 289-298. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/h0075190
Anthropy, Anna. “Dys4ia” March, 2012. http://www.gamesforchange.org/game/dys4ia/
Chan, Crystal. “Ascension: An Analysis of Game Design for Speech Recognition
System Usage and Spatialized Audio for Virtual Reality” University of Southern
California School of Cinematic Arts Interactive Media and Games MFA Thesis. 2019
Desilets, Patrice. Plourde, Patrick. Beland, Maxime. Masters, Steven. Palmieri, Olivier.
“Assassin’s Creed.” Ubisoft. Game Loft. Blue Byte. Gree, Inc. 2007
Godden, Duncan R., and Alan D. Baddeley. "Context-dependent memory in two natural
environments: On land and underwater." British Journal of psychology 66.3 (1975): 325-331.
H. Q. Dinh, N. Walker, L. F. Hodges, Chang Song and A. Kobayashi, "Evaluating the
importance of multi-sensory input on memory and the sense of presence in virtual
environments," Proceedings IEEE Virtual Reality (Cat. No. 99CB36316), Houston, TX, 1999,
pp. 222-228. doi: 10.1109/VR.1999.756955
Jones, Catharine, Kyle, Mari, Rice, Kelsey. “Metro” University of Southern California School
76
of Cinematic Arts Interactive Media and Games Division. 2016
Krokos, Eric; Plaisant, Catherine; Varshney, Amitabh (16 May 2018). "Virtual Memory
Palaces: Immersion Aids Recall". Virtual Reality : 1–15. doi: 10.1007/s10055-018-0346-3 .
Kyle, Mari, Liao, Sheng Raymond. “The Feast of Fools” University of Southern California
School of Cinematic Arts Interactive Media and Games Division. 2017
“The Last of Us.” 2016. http://www.thelastofus.playstation.com/index.html
Legge, Eric L.g., Christopher R. Madan, Enoch T. Ng, and Jeremy B. Caplan. "Building a
Memory Palace in Minutes: Equivalent Memory Performance Using Virtual versus Conventional
Environments with the Method of Loci." Acta Psychologica 141, no. 3 (November 2012):
380-90. doi:10.1016/j.actpsy.2012.09.002.
Levine, Ken. “Bioshock” 2007. 2k Games. Feral Interactive.
Luck, Steven J., and Edward K. Vogel. "The capacity of visual working memory for
features and conjunctions." Nature 390.6657 (1997): 279-281.
M’Closkey, Kathy. "Navajo Weaving as Sacred Metaphor." The Socialness of Things .
doi:10.1515/9783110882469.393.
Mcphate, Jason B., Oswald H. W. Siegmund, Geoffrey A. Gaines, John V. Vallerga, and
Jeffrey S. Hull. "Cosmic Origins Spectograph FUV Detector." Instrumentation for
77
UV/EUV Astronomy and Solar Missions , 2000. doi:10.1117/12.410539.
Naughty Dog. “Last of Us” 2013.
Ocias, Alex. “Loved.” 2010
O'Keefe, John; Nadel, Lynn (December 7, 1978). The Hippocampus as a Cognitive Map' .
Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0198572060.
Porpentine. “Begscape.” 2014. http://aliendovecote.com/uploads/twine/begscape.html
Rau, Dana Meachen. The Harlem Renaissance . Minneapolis, MN: Compass Point Books, 2006.
Rizzo, Albert “Skip”, and Gerard Jounghyun Kim. "A SWOT Analysis of the Field of Virtual
Reality Rehabilitation and Therapy." Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments 14, no.
2 (April 2005): 119-46. doi:10.1162/1054746053967094.
“Saints Row IV” Https://Www.saintsrow.com/Age? , Volition, 20 Aug. 2013.
Solari, Nicholas. “Character Objects for Father Thomas Sani, M.D.” Space Shuttle Ascension
Narrative Materials. 2018.
Smith, Steven M. "Environmental Context and Recognition Memory Reconsidered." Bulletin of
the Psychonomic Society 23, no. 3 (1985): 173-76. doi:10.3758/bf03329818.

78
Smith, Steven M., Vela, Edward. “Environmental context-dependent memory: A review and
meta-analysis”. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review. 8 (2). (2001) 203 - 220.

Zhiyuan, Zhang. "A Brief Account of Traditional Chinese Festival Customs." The Journal of
Popular Culture 27, no. 2 (1993): 13-24. doi:10.1111/j.0022-3840.1993.1354684.x.

Abstract (if available)

Linked assets

University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

Conceptually similar

PDF

Ascension: an analysis of game design for speech recognition system usage and spatialized audio for virtual reality

PDF

Morana: explore healing potential of virtual reality storytelling

PDF

One little change: exploring relationship abuse in a virtual reality narrative

PDF

BeachcomberVR: inspiring exploration: concepts in the production of a virtual reality game

PDF

Last Martelé: a virtual reality approach to analogic violin performance

PDF

The Death Mask: a study in interactive mystery

PDF

Developing a playful situational creator for mixed reality: design analysis on Neon City, a city building game

PDF

Kinesthesia: a multi-sensory gesture driven playground of the future

PDF

The Palimpsest project: producing a cultural shift to enable a systematic shift

PDF

Penrose Station: an exploration of presence, immersion, player identity, and the unsilent protagonist

PDF

The future of games and health: towards responsible interaction design

PDF

Light at the End of the Tunnels: level design and its relationship to a spectrum of fear

PDF

The real-time editing system for virtual production and animated interactive project in real-time rendering game engine

PDF

Cognitive science, belief, and interactive media as a distribution platform for experiences that enhance human development

PDF

Good Girl VR: straddling installation art, performance art, and identity politics with a virtual environment

PDF

Palimpsest: shifting the culture of computing

PDF

Fall from Grace: an experiment in understanding and challenging player beliefs through games

PDF

The Toymaker’s Bequest: a defense of narrative‐centric game design

PDF

Epidemic vectors: an action game about mosquito-transmitted disease prevention

PDF

FRKN WKND and video game mixtapes: developing talent and experience through video game mixtapes

Asset Metadata

Creator Kyle, Mari Michelle (author)

Core Title Ascension: a look into context-dependent memory development in virtual worlds

School School of Cinematic Arts

Degree Master of Fine Arts

Degree Program Interactive Media

Publication Date 04/30/2019

Defense Date 05/08/2019

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

Tag cognition,cognitive development,context-dependent memory,educational technology,edutech,game design,game development,Interactive Media,memory development,memory retention,mixed reality,OAI-PMH Harvest,Psychology,video games,virtual reality

Format application/pdf (imt)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Wixon, Dennis (committee chair), Fullerton, Tracy (committee member), Watson, Jeff (committee member)

Creator Email marimkyle@gmail.com,mkyle@usc.edu

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c89-160369

Unique identifier UC11660738

Identifier etd-KyleMariMi-7357.pdf (filename),usctheses-c89-160369 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-KyleMariMi-7357.pdf

Dmrecord 160369

Document Type Thesis

Format application/pdf (imt)

Rights Kyle, Mari Michelle

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