My Project

I love Unity. It's incredibly awesome. Ideas of scenes and movies that have lived in my head for twenty years have a possibility of actually existing. The potential for Unity is very high. It just takes finding the right models for the right price, or learning how to make them myself. The actual building process in Unity came pretty easily. Assembling pieces and set objects, as well as importing animations and sound from the Unity store isn't that different from importing files into Final Cut Pro or building scenes in Minecraft or some of my favorite video games. I've done some work with game/scene creation with Bethesda Softworks' Fallout franchise as well, so the immense learning curve that is Unity doesn't seem quite so daunting for me.

Coming up with an idea was easy. I like dinosaurs, and I like castles, so that was my scene: a dinosaur attacking a castle. I threw in some cool medieval-style music and some flags as decoration and ambiance and my scene was ready. The looming mountains behind the castle gave my Godnor want-to-be the atmosphere it deserved. Their white capped peaks shone beautifully behind my creation. Everything went well until I tried to run the scene.

I thought everything worked out until I realized I couldn't move around my scene at all. The music played, the dinosaur moved, and I just stood there, staring at the stone walls of my castle, unable to experience the glory I'd created. My experience was anticlimactic, but I'm still excited. Once I figure out how to start moving, Johndor will be ready to live and breathe for real.

Thought Exercise

Unity provides an intimidating workspace. So much can be created. The best use for Unity, in my mind, would be to portray stories that are simply impossible to tell with real-life footage. Graphics won't be as realistic as real film. Things might be a little laggy or the wrong size. Those ill affects can be pardoned if the overall portrayal is awesome, however.

Making Unity stories a walk-through narrative is engaging and overwhelmingly cool. Having someone walk from one room, listening and experiencing one story through a door into a completely different scene and story would be awesome. A 3D feed of updates, news stories, and kitten videos are the possibilities. No more "Like" if you agree, "Scroll" if you don't. You'd simply walk into the next "room" if you disagree or can't be inclined to show clickbait articles the light of day.

Imagine standing (or floating) in the International Space Station while an astronaut recounts the awesome thing they found on Mars, opening a hatch, and floating on into an underwater submarine as they discover the lost city of Atlantis, then swimming into the water-logged town hall and entering DC as the President gives the State of the Union Address. Cool stories made that much more engaging and amazing through 3D models and personal control.