Roommate

Technique
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Unreal Engine5
Virtual reality
C4D, Maya
Metahuman
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My Role

Director, Cinematography, Animator,
Unreal engine developer

Overview

Roommate is a VR storytelling and game play experience revealing the truth about eating disorders. The project aims to shed light on the complex nature of eating disorders.
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Full walkthrough recording

Concept

Eating disorders are behavioral conditions characterized by severe and persistent disturbance in eating behaviors and associated distressing thoughts and emotions. There are lot of reasons can lead to eating disorder, like family genetics, body anxious, Pressure from work or school, bullying of other people, or experienced traumatic event.

Basically, it has a common psychological factor behind it: A need for control. The control comes from you demanding yourself too much from life, or we can say perfection. but the control is extreme and self-destructive.which will lead to bad consequences to your body and mental. So you will need to find comfort.

These people may turn to food as a way to cope with stress, pressure, and negative emotions. they use food as a source of distraction from their problems. But, same as the need for control, they are both extreme and unmanageable.

However, under this unmanageable comfort, a strong wave of self- blame, guilty follows. You want to cleanse yourself and once again enter a state of extreme self-control.

Base on this, I created a VR storytelling and game play experience. In my story, I personify these two extreme characteristic and describe a person who lives with them in one room. Their interaction show how the main character struggle and find balance between these two extremes under the influence of an eating disorder.

Storyboard

It begins outside an abstract house, which can also represent the main character's inner world.

Maybe you'll catch three dark shadows inside the house, which is our main character Jade, and her two roommates Rex and Bo. Then, you'll slowly enter the house and immerse yourself in their story.
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During the black and white story part. you'll be immersed in their daily interactions and conversations by using third person perspective, experiencing their struggles and how they find balance with each other.
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In this part of the story, I will place some clues and hints in the scene, like this paper note, which will reappear when you engage in gameplay.
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At night, Jade reached her breaking point and was taken to the basement by Bo.
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It is at this point that you will change to a first-person perspective, becoming Jade, and explore the basement to uncover the truth behind the story.
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In the basement, I highlighted the items appeared during the day, making them clues for the gameplay.
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Throughout the gameplay, you can discover these items and then find out the chaos in the basement is actually caused by Jade herself, not Bo. Eventually, you'll realize that Bo and Rex are merely manifestations of Jade's two extreme states of personality, and they are, in fact, both Jade.
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At this point that the story reaches its climax, with Rex coming over to stop Jade, and Jade's mom unexpectedly showing up as well.
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In the ending, you will return living room to the black and white narrative section, where Jade reject her mother's help and once again enters the cycle of her daytime routine.

Character & Scene & Spot lighting

Character
‍Now you knows that the main character is Jade. Her two roommates represent extreme self-control and extreme self-indulgence, respectively. Their personalities and interactions in the story reflect this. For instance, Rex constantly keeps a strict eye on Jade and is highly organized. On the other hand, Bo acts carelessly beside them, doing things Rex doesn't permit.

Scene desgin
‍In terms of scene design, I separated the living room and the basement, using different colors to represent the ambiance and the underlying tone of the story. The living room is clean and tidy, while the basement is chaotic. In the living room, Rex drives the story forward, and in the basement, Bo takes over.

Spot lighting
‍In the passive storytelling experience section, I used stage lighting to drive the story forward for two reasons.First, the intensity of the light can signify the change in the story's focus. Second, using stage lighting makes the entire experience less overwhelming. Users can simply stay in one place without being distracted by additional scenes, much like watching a stage play.

Technical details

I spent two months completing this project, using Unreal Engine 5 for VR and game interaction, combined with Maya and Cinema 4D for 3D modeling and animation production.