Nunavut Tales

2023 - 2024
Personal Project
Interactive VR Game Prototype

Project Overview

Nunavut Tales is a prototype for a VR sensing interactive game centered around Inuit culture. In response to the permafrost thawing challenges encountered by the Inuit, I designed a sensing boot that is able to use magnetism to simulate the difficulty of moving around as the permafrost thaws and sinks. Combined with a simulated environment built in Unity, the goal of the game is to give the player a first-person experience of the challenges faced by the Inuit people.

Background

The original idea for this game came from a CBC documentary that I watched during the course. The documentary depicted the challenges that melting permafrost due to climate change poses to the lives of the Inuit people of northern Canada. As the ground thaws, infrastructure such as houses, roads, and buildings become unstable and are forced to exacerbate the difficulty of the Inuit's traditional hunting methods. And I was completely unaware of a group of people facing such a crisis until I was introduced to this documentary. That's why I wanted to create this game, to give more people a real sense of some of the crises that are being ignored.

Conversation with an Inuit Arist

Before working on the game I visited the Inuit Gallery of Vancouver, where I learned more about the Inuit connection to nature, which is reflected in their artwork. After the visit I tried to get in touch with the lead artist of the exhibit, Koomuatuk (Kuzy) Curley, from Kinngait (Cape Dorset), NU, and asked if I could do an interview with him.Luckily, Kuzy agreed to do an interview after hearing about the project I wanted to do :)

During the interview I learned more about the plight of the Inuit homeland. For example, they had to ferment some of their meat in the summer permafrost and couldn't hunt as often as usual; they had to wait longer for the ice to form into sea ice asweentered the winter; and more accidents would happen due to the permafrost thawing, etc.

Part 1 - Game Prototype

Plot Flow

In the context of Inuit life, it is important to reflect on the fact that cities, as a more “safe” place, are in fact one of the main culprits of the permafrost dilemma. Overdevelopment of the city contributes to the rate of global warming, and indirectly to the threat to the Inuit's living area. Therefore I wanted to put this metaphor in the context of the game:

After the collapse of the village in the permafrost region, the player, who is an Inuit from the first point of view, embarks on an expedition with the goal of seeking a “safe place” all the way south because of an old legend about a safe place. The game consists of the Beginning - Village - Snowy Forest - Highway - Final “safe place”,the city. Along the way, players will face real-life challenges, including the difficulty of navigating with our magnetic sensors.

Plot Flow Chart

Game Map

Scenes in Unity

UI Sample

Start Page

Saved Page

Loading Page

Main Page

Part 2 - Interactive Device: The Boots

Introduction

As previously stated, the game will feature a sensing boot that simulates the feeling of sinking in the snow. This is mainly done by placing an iron plate underneath with magnets placed inside the boot. And then through the Arduino panel to connect the specific plot content, at the corresponding moment to trigger the magnetic force (more detailed wiring connection diagram below)

Video Demo