Ex Nihilo ~ Out of Nothing (2022)

Is humanity ready to hold the power to establish an isolated virtual reality community?

Does humanity then become the “God”, or creator, of this community?

Who is then held accountable for what transpires within the community?

Exhibited at the Ars Electronica Festival (2023); New Designers Show in London Business Design Centre (2024)

Featured on Royal College of Art Pluralist Newspaper (2023)

“Ex Nihilo – Out of Nothing” is a desktop game exploring the power dynamics within the virtual landscape. The audience goes through the process of becoming a human avatar while exploring social dilemmas, such as identity, gender, race, sexual harassment and escapism within five levels. The audience experiences a perceived notion of choice on these topics and is confronted with the realisation that the virtual reality world is merely a mirror of the real, physical world; they are an extension of self at the end of their immersive journey.

This work addresses critical storytelling through new digital media, utilizing concepts from quantum theory, as well as merging our team’s personal experiences to highlight the political position of the digital landscape through a confrontational Virtual gaming experience.

Collaborative teammates:
Niccólo Abate, Shaye Thiel, Katie Weitzmann, & Lyla Zhou

Ideation to Initial Storyboard:

1) Exploring General Themes of Interest

2) Narrowing Down Interests into Research Questions

3) Organize Overlapped Themes & Questions for Storytelling

4) Curate Themes into Initial Storyboard

Directing Level 1 (previously known as Episode 2 in Storyboard):

Each team member was responsible for directing their own level - mine focusing on the issue of race. When provided with a palette of different options for the skin tone of the avatar, the user has a perceived notion of choice; however, the user is unable to pass the level until they choose the only correct answer - the lightest skin avatar. The creation of this level was inspired by my personal, childhood experience of being forced to choose between and playing with only fair-skinned dolls that never looked liked or represented me.
After the user passes Level 1, they will continue to experience the superficial, perceived notion of choice while picking the avatar’s clothes - exploring themes of gender & queer identities in Level 2.

Scripting with User Interaction

Visual Inspiration

1st Interation of Level 1:

I worked with a variety of softwares: Final Cut Pro X, Unity, Adobe Photoshop, & Reaper to produce the initial iteration of my level.

2nd Iteration:

Based on users’ feedback, the 1st iteration had a strong, deep concept & story yet lacked aesthetic cohesion between all 5 levels. Hence, our team heavily reworked the project while preserving the core concept & storytelling. In order to achieve this, each teammate focused on a particular aspect across all 5 levels - mine being sound design and mastering audio levels.