FIVARS had the chance to speak with director Maisha West and the team of creatives at Human Studio for a chat about their game and 360 video; Coded Black.
What lead to the creation of this piece?
MAISHA: Sheer necessity, despair, and frustration led to the PC game.
I was teaching a large lecture course called “What is America” during the 2015 presidential debates between Trump and Clinton. There were around 150 students in the class, the vast majority of which were white and from Indiana and the neighboring states. Though we had read a great deal of historical and theoretical texts on race and immigration in America, and talked at length in the lectures and seminars about the history, I still found my students repeating racist tropes and ideas from their grandparents’ generation. And worst of all, many of my students of color were coming to me with complaints that their peers were saying explicitly racist things within their hearing.
After Trump’s election, the atmosphere on campus only worsened as a white Nationalist student group formed on campus and was allowed to function and recruit. Meanwhile the local KKK chapter was engaging in a similar recruitment drive in neighborhoods. I couldn’t believe that people young enough to be my children were reproducing the same vile rhetoric my grandparents faced. I figured our previous ways of educating people and encouraging them to be anti-racist were no longer working; I thought VR might be a better way to reach people and fight the racism that was proving so virulent.
What was the production process like for you and your team? What did you learn?
MAISHA: I won a British Academy Global Professorship, which was a massive grant. I‘d initially intended to create the prototype for the game myself, and learned XR creation in Unity. Realizing that I couldn’t create a project as nuanced in VR as I could in game for PC (at least not without making my players motion sick), I switched platforms. Two years into the grant, my PC crashed, taking half of the project with it; it crashed again while I was pulling the backup from an external hard drive, corrupting the drive in the process. As my little one was just learning to walk, I realized I would need to pivot the process. I reallocated funding and hired Human Studio.
I drew up a GDD which included the design for the two scenes; the storyboard; a link to the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture’s Point of Pines Plantation slave cabin asset; and illustrations of other buildings, devices, and general details. My Research Associate and I set about curating the primary materials for the game; meanwhile Human Studio set to work creating the first draft of the scenes in Unreal.
HUMAN STUDIO: Rough maps for the two levels in the game had already been sketched out by Maisha, so making 3D models of the necessary buildings and creating the environments was the first stage we undertook. We created almost all the buildings from scratch, working from a large selection of reference images and real-life blueprints to make the world feel historically accurate. Once we’d done that, we populated the environments with content, characters and story triggers.
This was our first time creating an interactive piece of this scale, as well as being new to Unreal Engine, so it was a big learning curve! We learnt a lot about UE’s blueprint system, and there’s definitely things that could have been done in a better and more efficient way if we were to re-start from scratch now.
MAISHA: In three months they had a viable prototype of the first scene. When I provided a very basic narrative to go along with the game, they pointed out that it would need something more detailed and pointed me towards other narrative games like What Remains of Edith Finch. I was not a creative writer and was terrified at the prospect, so I recruited my friend Desiree Reynolds to co-author the lead narratives for the two scenes. I also recruited Brandon Tanner, a composer in living in Texas and skilled in game tracks, and likewise provided sample music to help direct him. I hired actresses through Voices.com, one of which worked from France, to voice the two lead narratives.
HUMAN STUDIO: After we finished the main PC game we re-worked it to be viewed as a condensed experience in 360 video format. This involved rendering out key locations and editing down the narrative strands to fit and make sense in the much shortened time of 10 minutes.
MAISHA: I detail the process for three reasons. One, I had no prior engagement with XR before starting this project, but have learned enough to help lead the development of this massive game; if I can do it, you can to. Two, this is truly a global project in its creation—from an American living in Sheffield, UK and working with a local studio and writer, to a Texan composing the soundtrack, and an actress from Pakistan living and working in France. We came together because we see how the game’s critique of anti-Blackness has repercussions across different populations, nations and identities. And three, because every person who contributed to this project gave so much more than I could have asked of them, and were brilliant in the work they produced. That computer crash might just have been a blessing.
How did you become an immersive content creator and why?
MAISHA: I chatted with the XR specialists at one of Indiana University’s “Speed Dating with Tech” event, where they convinced me that I could learn VR programing and create a game for my students in 3months. They swore that an Art History professor recreated the Louvre for his students to interact with over the course of one summer….I owe them both a slap and a thank you.
HUMAN STUDIO: Our journey into creating immersive content happened organically; our backgrounds are in design but we always had an interest in integrating 3D tools and new technology into our work. Over the years we’ve evolved from using 3D for ultimately 2D outcomes (design, animation) to creating XR work that allows the audience to engage and be involved. We love the added the added element of participation and the possibilities it presents.
What is the VR/AR industry like in your region?
HUMAN STUDIO: Sheffield has a strong creative and digital sector, with a few startups, studios, and university-led projects exploring XR applications in gaming, health, education, and heritage
What do you have planned for the future?
MAISHA: There is so much to countering anti-Blackness than this game can cover. I’m looking for funding to create another game with Human Studio which explores the rise of the concept of Blackness and race in general. This project will involve recreating a slave fort as a playable object. I likewise would like to create a game in which the player has to navigate a race riot.
What would like to share with fellow content creators and/or the industry?
MAISHA: Gaming and XR has huge potential as a way to reach people and encourage social justice. Given the challenges and horrors facing us in a variety of nations, we have to use all the tricks in our bag if we are really to encourage people to be bold and creative in imagining and pursuing a different, more equitable future for everyone.
Do you think VR festivals like FIVARS are important?
HUMAN STUDIO: Absolutely! There’s so much interesting and experimental work pushing the boundaries of art and storytelling, it’s encouraging that there’s an appetite to explore and celebrate work of this kind.
MAISHA: I second that observation and would add that it is important to recognize and celebrate the challenges we all met in producing our work. It is also great to exchange our processes and discuss ideas for future projects and practices. The best innovation comes from collaboration.
Coded Black: The PC Game and the 360 film will be available at the in-person showcase at OCAD University on June 25th and 26th. The 360 film version will also be available in the FIVARS online theater.
