Horizns – an augmented reality, collaborative storytelling game

February 1, 2021February 16, 2021 | Matt McGowan

Horizns is my thesis project for the M.A. Program in Digital Media Design for Learning at NYU, created (in 2015) using the ARIS (Augmented Reality Interactive Storytelling) platform.

Here’s the back-of-the-box description:

Playable by anyone aged 12 and up, Horizns is a narrative-based, augmented reality (AR) game ultimately designed for collaborative storytelling in grades 7-12 ELA and/or Social Studies classrooms.

Players begin by participating in the (fictional) “Horizns Rewards Program,” an AR tour of the history of Times Square, NYC. The plot takes a dark turn, however, as players must “dystopify” the world around them; and everyone’s best chance at escaping a dire future means interacting with the dystopian visions of others.

“Lucky” introduces the backers of the Rewards Program.

The (2D) Map showing the plaques players can navigate to (and some profile/Notebook entries).

One of the five tokens Rewards Program participants must collect.

Kwellist, a hacker from a dystopian future.

m0rlock, another hacker from a dystopian future.

The (3D) Map showing an alternative (hacked) set of plaques.

Another alternative/hacked plaque (1976).

And another alternative/hacked plaque, this one showing an example of some of the speculative/concept art in the game.

Lucky, after the hackers have done some serious damage.

A sample Notebook entry detailing (in 140-420 characters) a dystopian vision of the future.

If you’re interested in my (six-minute) talk introducing Horizns to attendees of the ECT-DMDL Design Expo (5/15/15), you can find it here. [Warning: Contains spoilers! ;-)]

My general aim with this project was to make something that was a) genuinely constructivist and constructionist; and b) a genuinely engaging gaming experience. More specifically, as far as learning theory goes, the game’s design is ultimately driven by the notion of “Social Imagination,” which Maxine Greene defines as learners’ “capacity to invent visions of what should be and what might be in our deficient society, on the streets where we live, and in our schools” (Releasing the Imagination, 2005, p. 5). And for a bit more on the theory behind Horizns‘ design, please feel free to check out my Design Expo poster (pdf).

“Through My Eyes” – Oculus Rift + interactive fiction (+ Harry Potter)

June 29, 2015February 16, 2021 | Matt McGowan

Created for:

Digital Media Design for Learning (DMDL) degree; Architecture of Learning Environments course (Spring 2014).

Project length:

Medium-long (approx. last quarter of the term, final group project design document).

Team:

Diondra Arroyo
Enid Brown
Kelsey Buttendorf
Jullie Harten
Matt McGowan
- my principle contributions: “Persona,” “Context Scenario” and “Narrative Flowchart”

Challenge:

As a group, produce a full, thorough design document on a project of mutual interest.

For our final project, my group came up with an Oculus Rift-driven, interactive fiction learning game experience titled “Through My Eyes.” Here’s the concept brief:

Through My Eyes - concept brief — (Layout by Jullie Harten)

The full design document is here:

“Through My Eyes” – full design document

and these are my principle contributions:

Persona:

Context scenario:

TME – context scenario (pdf)

Narrative flowchart:

“The Great Mural of Our People” – a MinecraftEdu + Makey-Makey design

Drawing of Stonehenge builders rolling stones

June 7, 2015February 16, 2021 | Matt McGowan

Created for:

Digital Media Design for Learning (DMDL) degree; Narrative, Digital Media and Learning course (Fall 2014).

Project length:

Short (one week, design document).

Team:

Matt McGowan (solo project/assignment).

Challenge:

Integrate tangible computing into another assignment done during the semester.

I elected to add a tangible element to the design I did for the course’s “Empowering narrative-making in others” assignment earlier in the term–a MinecraftEdu-based project entitled “The Great Mural of Our People” (the text of which is here, for comparison’s sake). Here’s the result of adding Makey-Makey to the mix–wherein students design simple, interactive machines that simulate laborers operating the same machine together: