Abstract

Full Paper. Session: Futures and Heritages / Mixed media and heritage digitizing

Keywords: Transmedia storytelling, Virtual Reality, immersive theatre, location-based entertainment

This paper outlines the process and initial findings relating to the location-based VR installation The Last play. The experience aims to immerse and engage the users by utilizing mechanisms borrowed by immersive theatre and game-design such as spatial storytelling, agency, engaging multiple senses and telling the story through multiple media.

The paper focuses on the methodology undertaken and the lessons learned, to create the location-based Virtual Reality (VR) story-telling experience. The last play was initially staged in Limassol as a student exhibition show in May 2021 and then again in September 2021 at the Animatikkon festival in Pafos. The installation is for two people and takes place in two different sections, one physical and one virtual, and it can be experienced in either order. The experience aims to immerse and engage the users by utilizing mechanisms borrowed by immersive theatre and game-design such as spatial storytelling, agency, engaging multiple senses and telling the story through multiple mediums. The integration of these various practices seems to be an important element that complements the immersive qualities of the VR experience. Furthermore, the spatial storytelling methodology, the transmedia approach, and the integration of the various physical objects into the experience seem to positively con-tribute to the storytelling aspect of location-based VR installations. https://madlab.cool/projects/the-last-play

• Dr. Doros Polydorou is an Assistant Professor at Cyprus University of Technology. He is a creative coder and digital artist with a keen interest in immersive technologies. Doros has a background in multimedia design and computer animation and he is currently teaching the 3d animation modules at the department of Multimedia and Graphic Arts. Doros has worked internationally in universities in Singapore and the UK in both artistic and commercial projects. He is the co-founder of the Media Arts and Design (MAD) lab, and his current research interests explores experimental narratives through immersive technologies and techniques in site specific performances, installations and exhibitions.