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Transference

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Transference

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Transference

Sunil Kalwani

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
SCHOOL OF CINEMATIC ARTS
INTERACTIVE MEDIA & GAMES
MASTER OF FINE ARTS
CTIN-594B: Master’s Thesis
Professor Andreas Kratky, Professor Jeff Watson, Professor Hao Li
December 2015

Table of Contents
Abstract………………..…………………………………………………………………1
1. Project Details…………………………...……………..……………………………2
2. Prior Art………………………………………..……………………………………10
3. Production…………………………………………………………………………..14
Works Cited……...…………………………………………………………………23

Kalwani 1

Sunil Kalwani
Professor Andreas Kratky, Professor Jeff Watson, Professor Hao Li
CTIN-594B: Master’s Thesis
1 April 2015

Abstract
Transference is a multimedia, single-user digital experience that explores
perspective in a multitude of ways. It’s a character-heavy narrative focused
deriving empathy through embodiment, both psychologically and literally across
its two platforms.
The two parts of the project serve to prove Trasnference’s ultimate goal: multiple,
individual viewpoints change the narrative interpretation of interpersonal
dynamics and relationships.
By viewing interpersonal relationships from both sides, we see how a single,
complex relationship can be viewed very differently from both people that copose
it. By focusing on how we, as individuals, see ourselves differently than how
others see us, and how both of those are different than how we think others see
Kalwani 2
us, Transference provides multiple points-of-view that have distinct subjective
lenses into layered, dynamic relationships. The thesis aims to induce emotional
conflict within players that mirrors the narrative conflict that player characters will
find themselves in.
In short, by seeing a story-world as one character, it can quickly become re-
contextualized in comparison to what we might have already seen of the world
through another character’s eyes. In essence, this helps prove that we, as
individuals only know what we know, and most other knowledge bases we have
to create our realities and relationships are assumptions and predictions based
on our previous knowledge about individuals we share bonds with.
1. Project Details
1.1 Synopsis
1.1.1 Back Story
One day, the feared and renowned swordsman Costa Stratos killed another
man. Karan Sommers, the 8-year old daughter of the deceased, witnessed her
father being cut down in cold blood and swore vengeance. But she knew, along
with everyone else, that no one could best the unmatched and much maligned
villain, Costa, in melee combat. So, in order to slay the man who killed her father,
Karan decided to become his pupil—after all, it was the only way to get good
enough to beat him and close enough to kill him.

Kalwani 3
She disguised herself as a boy and moved to the city that Costa lorded over,
Pakthos. Living above the city in his estate accessible only via an isthmus
southeast of Pakthos and snuggly nestled along a rocky coastline, Costa trained
only the best and brightest in the art of swordsmanship. There, Karan trained for
years, hoping a chance for revenge would come, but it never did. In fact, over
time Karan became one of Costa’s prized pupils. Her coolness in sparring was
revered by the other students, but that and her emotional distance stood in stark
contrast to her rival, Markos Stratos, the charismatic and ubiquitously loved
leader of Costa’s students and son of the man who killed Karan’s father. Markos
could match Karan in swordplay, and though each vied to be inarguably better
than the other, neither could ever best their counterpart.
Their shared time in the classroom and on the training grounds made them close
friends, and the hard-hearted Karan began to slowly open up to Markos,
someone she considered a great friend. By the time she was 17, Karan had
become accustomed to this new life and new home—here she was cared for,
she was well-respected and well-fed. She was happy.
This comfort shook her resolve—and the moment she recognized this fact, she
was no longer comfortable. She was starting to see Costa as a father figure, and
the people living on his estate as her family. In fact, she cared for Costa so
deeply that one could say she loved her father’s killer more than she ever did her
real father. Coming to this realization on her own, she knew she had to act
immediately; her sense of duty and responsibility—the vow she made to her
father killed in cold blood—had called her to action. Would the pact she made as
Kalwani 4
a child continue to fuel her actions and turn this homey environment into a hostile
one? Or could Karan let go of her past and accept her new life?
1.1.2 Gameplay Narrative

One day, Karan is training in the Great Hall and she strikes Markos, a downed
opponent. Costa dismisses her from training to allow her to cool down. She goes
to a large rock, outside the grounds, the place she has gone to remind of her of
her true identity since he’s lived in Pakthos.
She turns to it hoping for answers. What should she do in this situation? Avenge
her father like she’s always planned or deviate from her plan knowing how she
know feels. Should she trust her past or her present? At the rock, she
remembers life growing up with her father and how it’s helped shaped her new,
fake identity. She remembers the day Costa betrayed her father and allied with
the Anterlons. She ponders her choices since then, including her new identity.
She remembers some moments at the estate, from training with Costa, to slaying
his pet wolf, to destroying the locket he gave to Markos. These memories that
have helped define her are moments key to understanding what she should do
next.
Markos then finds her, worried that something is bothering her. In a moment of
vulnerability, she tells Markos everything. Who she is, why she’s here, her
insecurities with going through with it. Obviously, this rocks Markos and changes
his definition of his best friend. As a result, he goes to the river where his mother
recently drowned, to swim and contemplate what to do next. Should he tell his
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father? Should he do nothing? He knows he wants to intervene, but is unsure
how. Markos loves his father, but resents Costa for the death of Amelia, his
mother, and of course for living in his father’s shadow his entire life. He cares for
Karan, but does the family you choose trump the family you’re born into? He
hopes to figure out how to navigate this situation by turning to his mother for
guidance.
Before Markos retreats to the river, Costa happens to serendipitously hear the
entire conversation between Markos and Karan on a late night stroll. Thinking it
over, and knowing Karan’s true identity he returns home, to his canvas, with
easel in hand. He paints while thinking of what to do next. He remembers the day
that he killed Karan’s father and gives us his perspective of their relationship and
of why he did what he did. He also sheds light on his relationship with Amelia and
Markos and his regrets and doubts. He also talks about Karan and the Sommers
family and debates the best course of action. Should he let her get the revenge
she seeks? It would be a way to give her one final lesson.
1.2 Goals
 Empathy through Interactivity: Though controls and input don’t change,
the narrative meaning and mechanical timing of how the player interacts
with the tablet based experience changes from scene to scene and
character to character. Each mechanical system attempts to convey the
character’s current emotional state through interactivity.
Kalwani 6
 Juxtaposing Different Perspectives via Art Direction & Narrative
Composition: To emphasize how different characters see the world in
different ways, each one has been given a different element and narrative
theme. While the player isn’t aware of this, they are design decisions that
drastically help shape the perspective and lens a current character
provides. Through metaphor and abstraction, each character has color,
artistic stylization, and narrative delivery unique to who they are, their
personalities, and the emotions they feel. All of this is done to highlight
and accentuate the differences between character’s perspectives.
 Internal Player Conflict: As players learn more about each character and
their motivations, they understand why they’re all in conflict with each
other and how these conflicts will force players to make adverse decisions
that hurt characters they care about. As players understand the plot and
the anti-heroes attached to it, they will come into conflict as to who help
and why.
1.3 User Experience
Progression
At a high-level, Transference progresses similar to a ride at an amusement park.
Think of it as a modern, new media take on queue design. Players first wait “in
line” by playing a narrative-heavy tablet experience. Once they’re done, they are
then allowed to experience the “ride’ or the Virtual Reality Installation piece
where the project culminates.
Kalwani 7
On the tablet, the project is essentially an interactive Visual Novel. It progresses
linearly, as players get narrative context with cinematic, non-playable chapter
introductions that come before gameplay segments as each character. First,
users play as Karan, then as Markos, and finally as Costa. Once they have
completed these narrative segments, they advance to the VR Installation Piece.
The VR Installation Piece, or Mixed Reality Piece is what really helps differentiate
Transference. While this piece is much more nebulous in its narrative
progression, players have a tendency to circle the room in a clockwise manner.
While the interactive Visual Novel is a Director-driven narrative, the VR
Installation Piece is a Player-drive narrative. Each of the objects in the Motion
Tracked volume have meaning, and so the piece is focused more on
environmental storytelling and the joy of the experiential as opposed to more
standard methodologies of presenting narrative.
Systems
Transference can be broken down into two parts. The Interactive Visual Novel
(IVN) and the Mixed Reality Piece (MxR). While the mechanics are the same
regardless of the player you are in the MxR portion, they change slightly in
meaning in the IVN portion.
 IVN – Intro/Hub World: this is the “character obelisk.” A portion of the
experience where players learn about the world before jumping into the
first story, where they play as Karan. This uses a simple Point-and-Click
adventure mechanic. Players hop around, click on objects and learn more
Kalwani 8
about what they mean relative to the story at large. Things progress once
the appropriate character has been selected multiple times.
 IVN - Karan: All action in this system is centralized at the “Rock Hub.” This
is the place where Karan goes to think. Each part of the rock she chisels
will bring up a different memory, and each memory will lead to a different
small, interactive vignette. Each of these will be simple click on the right
part of the screen to advance the narrative moments. They will give us or
in some cases, change the context for who Karan is and parts of her past
as well.
 IVN - Markos: This section of the Interactive Visual Novel is a branching
narrative. Players “swish” their finger through water to reveal Markos’s
thoughts. Once revealed, the reset of the narrative feels like a Point-and-
Click-Adventure game, except that they will need to make a binary choice
between to options. Each choice branches into new narrative content that
was unavailable with the prior choice.
 IVN - Costa: Playing as Costa, players will be painting at their canvas.
With each touch of the tablet, they will pop to life a painting. Depending on
which part of the painting they interact with, they’ll be presented different
narrative information. In this sense, the system progresses in the form of a
recombinant narrative.
 MxR: The motion capture volume utilizes motion sensing cameras, similar
to green screen technology. Using this hardware, players navigate a
digital volume that has physical representations. There is no finality to the
Kalwani 9
narrative progression—players are just encouraged to explore and play in
this new medium and technological rarity to their heart’s content.

Kalwani 10
2. Prior Art

2.1 Rashomon – Akira Kurosawa (1950)

The seminal work for displaying how alternative perspectives and beliefs of
characters can demonstrably lead towards different interpretations of how an
event unfolded, Akira Kurosawa’s film fully realizes a concept that has been
studied by scholars and psychologists for decades. In what has since been
dubbed, The Rashomon Effect
1
, a set of characters each describe a death at a
trial, providing very different accounts of how other characters acted and how
events unfolded. There are undeniable truths to the story that are always the
same in each recounting two characters are married and they meet a wandering
traveler and the husband dies), but the motivations of characters are accentuated
by having extreme actions described in contradictory ways in order to best serve
the purposes of the current storyteller (and quite possibly fit in line with how they
perceived events to have unfolded).

Kalwani 11
This formula of having one event take place involving multiple agents in a scene
and then being recalled where an audience then sees the story being told from
the various agents in very different ways from each other has been duplicated
numerous times in both television and movie since then.

While Transference won’t tell multiple versions of the same event, it will be
focused principally on perspective switching and how different character
motivations and can cause intentional and unintentional misunderstandings of why
and how other characters acted.
2.2 Sleep No More
The famed Interactive Play in New York City is an exercise in Worldbuilding
where audience members can engage with a dynamic, physical space that uses
no dialog in its dramatized retelling of Macbeth. Pieces and objects of the world
allow participants to slowly craft their own narrative about the space; they are
allowed to come to their own narrative conclusions and interpretations as to what
narrative the diegetic environment is trying to convey. Transference also relies on
slowly piecing together a story exclusively through an environment in its Mixed
Reality component.
2.3 A Game of Thrones
Through A Game of Thrones, like the rest of Martin’s famed A Song of Ice and
Fire series uses multiple perspectives to give us unqiue angles on an
Kalwani 12
unquestionably truthful narrative in a large well-developed world, it deviates from
this conceit at times. No characters would argue with others about how events
unfolded, but when we read a chapter focused on the views of a character who is
less informed about events than others might be, we as the reader, are in turn
given less information and must make inferences and judgements based on our
prior knowledge. A great example of this is one of Bran Stark’s chapters. The
young boy sees two characters having sex, but it is up to us, as the reader, to
understand that these characters are Cersei and Jaime Lannister based on what
we know about the characters and the limited information Bran provides us. This
concept that imperfect knowledge creates misunderstanding and misconceived
perceptions between characters as a methodology creating discrepancies in
each subjective perspective’s narrative is a tool Transference frequently utilizes.
2.4 The Sound and the Fury

Using complex sentence structure, formatting that mirrors a narrator’s mental
state, and stream of consciousness as a methodology for storytelling, Faulkner
causes a drastic sense of confusion within readers. By doing so, they provide us
with an internal monologue of characters who have certain beliefs and
perceptions that accentuate their subjective viewpoints and in turn provide
Kalwani 13
unreliable narrators of events, forcing readers to constantly question the validity
of what they’re being told because they don’t trust the mental state and
perceptions of the character telling them the story. This juxtaposition in style and
delivery of perspectives as well as the confusion and ambiguity of narrative truth
is something Transference has attempted to duplicate though not to such an
extreme, since, the team still wanted to make the game digestible and enjoyable
by the majority of its players.
Kalwani 14
3. Production
3.1 Adjustments to Team Balance and Composition
When the project was initially proposed, the concept of having two what
essentially amounted to two separate thesis projects that were tied together by
being in the same narrative world and focusing on the same narrative characters
was just beginning to be formed. As a result, certain assumptions were made in
regards to production schedule that were grossly underestimated or in some
cases, overestimated. Nevertheless, while the beginning block schedule to help
estimate what to do ended up being by and large cast away as the year went out
it did help the team and myself understand what roles would need to be taken
care of and what assets would be needed.
At the start, things were going too fast and the timeline was coming up so quickly
that the project quickly became all about production and design was acting as a
bottleneck. Decisions were being made just to advance things and ironically, this
ended up slowing the process down. The team was too large and much of my
time went into overhead, despite the fact that we were unable to recruit any other
engineers, producers, designers, or sound teammates. Too many people with too
few hours had committed to working on the project, but not enough was getting
done. The team was huge in order to tackle such a difficult and ambitious project,
but total hours of commitment was lacking because things were pushing forward
without a focus on the overall vision to help remind everyone about our overall
purpose.
Kalwani 15
Instead of serving as a grand orchestrator, I shifted my role to pure designer,
producer, and engineer. The team became much slimmer in the second
semester, composed of a core group of 3 2D Artists, 2 3D Artists, a Sound
Designer, a Composer, a Production Designer, and myself. Interestingly, slowing
down and focusing less on people management made the completion of the
project more doable and made the design decisions have more meaning and
foresight.
3.2 Development Process of the Interactive Visual Novel
This part of the project first started with the concept of having a large number of
pages or panels—and each one would emulate an emotion with its form of touch-
based interaction. For example, to simulate frustration, a player would chisel
rapidly at a rock’s surface to spell out words that would get chipped into the rock.
This would lead to more of the narrative. The narrative would progress linearly in
this fashion. These series of prototypes were dubbed “Narrative Advancement”
prototypes and a few were made for each character.
After putting them in front of players, and seeing reactions to them, narrative
direction shifted slightly to something more manageable. Each character would
have their own key format of recombinant interaction. While the story was still
being told linearly, this would allow players to feel more like they were having an
effect on their version of the story as opposed to going through what could
potentially feel like a visual presentation.
Kalwani 16
Once this was established, a ruleset and form of language was designed for
each of the different characters. Character Dossiers were compiled that helped
the team know their motivations and roles in the narrative. Even things like
natural elements, colors, and artistic styles were chosen very specifically to
match a few words that helped describe each character and the theme of their
narrative. For example, Karan was at a very emotional time in her life, so her
artistic style had tons of sharp edges. Meanwhile, Markos was going through the
loss of innocence in his part of the narrative, so world of black and white was
starting to be filled with greys.
Development of each of these characters and chapters continued, with three
individuals, Fredérico da Souza, Jingchuan Wang, and Jiedi Chen, each focused
on the artistic stylizations of the different characters. With the latter two, we
would have art production meetings where they could ask for feedback and
direction and would make shots based on reference art and storyboards I’d give
to them. With Fred, we would have conversations then implement assets he’d
make into Unity, essentially creating a 2D canvas that we could navigate using a
3D camera.
Along with this, the composer, Brian La Guardia had experience with fMOD and
we developed a procedural musical track that would change based on players
choices. It was one way to reinforce sonically that a player was affecting the
system. It was a good way to test our collaborative possibilities.
Kalwani 17
Of course, this content was all there to help serve the narrative. I wrote a
branching, conditional, interactive script over 100 pages long, and we brought in
Voice Actors – 4 in total -- to play 5 different roles.
Engineering was based solely on trying to allow for intuitive, touch-based
interactions that would need minimal tutorialization. Plenty of programming visual
effects were overlay-ed on the work of the artists to incentivize players to
interact. And of course, animation handlers, dialog handlers, and other aspects
were handled through the code base.
3.3 Development Process of the Virtual Reality Installation Piece
While the principle team focused on the Interactive Visual Novel, I split my focus
between that, managing the team, and focusing on making the Virtual Reality
Installation Piece. Fortunately, I had made a prototype for it in the summer prior. I
understood how to get “rigid bodies” (or consistent shapes) into a virtual
environment and how to track them properly, including their movement and
orientation. Much of the engineering was “Wizard of Oz”-ing that I had already
developed a system for and mastered.
Of course, there were many lessons still to learn here. Lessons on attention and
how to guide people through this space. For the thesis project, stripping out
sound actually turned out to be beneficial, since it would allow us to curate the
experience of an end-user to a much finer detail.
Many design choices within the volume were made knowing its limitations. For
example, people often try to walk outside of walls, and in a tethered experience,
Kalwani 18
the “wrangler” or person carrying the chord often has to step in and step
someone from hurting themselves. To remove our need to break immersion for
safety, we created diegetic barriers. Tables that were meticulously whiteboxed in
the right position. Other surfaces that players could touch (for example, a
whiteboard feels surprisingly like a mirror when you can’t see it) were put into the
space to allow them to know their limitations. Of course, players would often want
to go further or stumble on something, but this allowed them to know the
boundaries of the physical room without us ever having to interfere with their
process.
In the prototype phase, most of the focus was on mechanics. Gaze detection,
object manipulation, and switching perspectives (and changing characters) were
the first things we focused on. Then we leveraged things we know work well
experientially, like embodiment to help differentiate characters. Models and
colors would change based on which character you were. Essentially, the world
changed based on the eyes through which you saw it. Once this was complete,
much of the digital work came to a standstill.
From there, the key was to meticulously plan out what we could afford to put in
such a minimal space that would give it as much of the narrative arch as
possible. Once we made a blueprint of the room, and created a list of props, our
next goal was to make, find, or buy each prop. From there, we could create 3D
models with identical dimensions to each of these props and populate the room.
Kalwani 19
An idea came to mind to really make the project fly – create a door in the space
that we could open. Once opened, that door would take us to a completely
different dimension. This dimension would shift based on which character we
were. In essence, we created 3 different The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe
effects.
Once we had the models, and the physical props, we had to simply map them
onto each other. This was a meticulous process that took digital development
time, but also required fine tuning in the physical world at times, to ensure there
was a one-to-one correlation between the different props. Players would trust the
environment, so we would physically move some objects (the ones that were not
tracked) so that they were in the exact location where players would try to reach
out and touch them.
This was incredibly important for some interactions, such as feeling the map
table, the mirrors, or the doors gated shut with chains.

Kalwani 20
3.4 Playtesting & Feedback Process
While the frequency of playtesting and feedback could have been higher, each
instance proved to be incredibly valuable. Almost always the lesson was that
things needed to be communicated clearer. Learning such things helped push
the direction of narrative and its speed, but also visual communication. Players
would lose patience with the system even though they knew something
interesting was happening. While we didn’t want to change the pace of the
experience, we wanted the curiosity to be one that grew over time rather than
waned.
As a result, different changes happened through each step of the development
process. At the Halloween Open House, the focus was on changing the 2D
narrative from a standard progression to one with more player agency and to be
more transparent with how their actions impacted the system.
At Wintershow, the narrative hooks hadn’t been implemented, so players quickly
lost their way. To refocus, the narrative was added for the Spring Thesis Pre-
Defenses, but even still, too much was happening and not quickly enough. To
help expedite narrative delivery, there was an emphasis on transitions and
delivering story in a fairly, traditional, cinematic way. This helped create a more
consistent stylization across the board as well as provided some narrative heavy
lifting in a tried and true way. The timing of these shorts pushed the edge of
players patience. Many wanted to interact, but the narrative held their attention
long enough until it was time to get into the systems.
Kalwani 21
Testing was a key component of the Virtual Reality installation piece as well.
Though so much of it was internal. It helped to know the limitations of the
volume. When it was erected, tracking would sometimes err and we would need
to make on the fly adjustments to virtual and physical models. The hardest part of
testing was without a doubt the intricate, “Wizard of Oz”-ed set up as well as
having to make due with a smaller footprint in order to give the rest of the show
more operating room.
3.5 Next Steps
With the thesis complete, the next steps are focused on polish, refinement,
playtesting, and preparing it for festivals or future releases. Thanks to playtests
with noted industry dignitaries and USC alumns like Andy Cochrane, Ian Dallas,
and Alex McDowell we know the possibilities for this go further than a student
project, and work on porting it or getting it further recognition is under way.
3.6 Conclusion
Without a doubt, the thesis deviated quite drastically from its original concepts,
but it did so to the benefit of the project. It went from something grey and murky
and nebulous to something more specific. Gameplay and narrative working in
tandem is often times difficult to achieve, especially when trying to create multiple
unreliable narrators. As a result, in the thesis, we see each characters viewpoints
as a truth rather than something that can’t be trust. Which is akin to reality, and
less abstracted than originally intended. This makes sense, since, for all of us,
our viewpoints are truths and frankly the only thing we can trust in regards to how
Kalwani 22
others think. We make assumptions based on who we are and what we know of
them.

Kalwani 23
Works Cited

"Rashomon Effect." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 29 Mar. 2013. Web. 20
Apr. 2013.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Kalwani, Sunil (author)

Core Title Transference

School School of Cinematic Arts

Degree Master of Fine Arts

Degree Program Interactive Media

Publication Date 11/10/2015

Defense Date 11/10/2015

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

Tag cross-platform,mixed reality,motion capture,motion tracking,multimedia,OAI-PMH Harvest,perspective,point of view,tablet,Transmedia,unreliable narrator,virtual reality

Format application/pdf (imt)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Kratky, Andreas (committee chair), Li, Hao (committee member), Watson, Jeffrey (committee member)

Creator Email skalwani@usc.edu,sunilkalwani@gmail.com

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c40-198062

Unique identifier UC11277368

Identifier etd-KalwaniSun-4026.pdf (filename),usctheses-c40-198062 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-KalwaniSun-4026.pdf

Dmrecord 198062

Document Type Thesis

Format application/pdf (imt)

Rights Kalwani, Sunil

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...

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