VR Literature

+ What is a V[R]erse?

A V[R]erse is a microstory. Each story consists of a storybox that can be experienced in 3D via a WebXR enabled mobile device, desktop PC and in Virtual Reality.

+ Who’s Behind the V[R]erse Curtain?

Each V[R]erse is created by different digital literature authors [text] and Mez Breeze [development + design, model + concept creation, audio].

+ Halp! I Need V[R]erse Navigation Tips:

Press the white arrow in the middle of each storybox below to begin. After clicking on the white arrow, you can then click on the “Select an annotation” bar at the bottom of each storybox screen, or on either of the smaller arrows on each side of the storybox if viewing vertically on a mobile [and also make sure to click the “+ more info” option for a full readthrough too], or navigate through the annotations manually. If you need help with the controls, please click the “?” located in the bottom righthand side – you’ll find other controls here like too “View in VR”, “Theatre Mode”, “FullScreen”, “Volume” etc.

If interactivity isn’t your thing, you also have the option of a static playthrough of each V[R]erse by clicking on the annotation bar and selecting “Start Autopilot”, or if you’d prefer just to experience the work without the text, “Hide Annotations”.

+ How Many V[R]erses Are There?

How long is a piece of digital string? [In other words, we don’t know just yet, so stay tuned.]

+ Feedback About the Project:

“This work represents a novel association between the text and the image, as the three-dimensional space gives a new perception of the text and its possible sequences. Breeze assembles then a new type of digital literature reading environment, with an intriguing composition of form and texts.” – From this review at Neutral Magazine: Critical Digital Culture and Media Arts.

“V[R]erses, as a broader work, is an XR (extended reality) story series…a V[R]erse is a microstory. What is intriguing in this case is that text in electronic literature is not necessarily central or authoritative. In fact, in this work…the text is supplementary to either code or other media.” – From “Collaboration and Authority in Electronic Literature” by David Thomas Henry Wright, TEXT Special Issue 59: Creating Communities: Collaboration in Creative Writing and Research.

Originally titled A Million and Two, V[R]ignettes is a series comprised of Virtual Reality crafted microstories. Each individual microstory, or vignette, is designed to encourage a kind of ‘narrative smearing’ – where traditional story techniques are truncated and mutated into smears (kinetic actions and mechanics, collage-like layered building blocks, visual distortions, dual-tiered text annotations) which requires a reader to make active choices in order to navigate each microstory space (storybox).

The microstories presented below are part of the ongoing V[R]ignettes Series. When exploring each microstory, a reader will experience poetically dense language (such as letters bracketed in words – requiring rereading – that are designed to expand and enhance meaning potentials) and various visual, textual and technological elements that require direct audience input (such as: do you choose to view each microstory in a 3D or VR space – through a Virtual Reality headset or a mobile phone or computer monitor? Do you set each microstory to autopilot, or navigate the experience through manual annotation click-throughs and spatial manipulations? Do you choose to use the model inspector and view the microstories without any post-processing effects, or in wireframe? Do you choose to enable audio? Do you read only the title fields or entire paragraphs?) Such smears are also designed to be combined by the reader to create a story piecing system that’s circular in nature, where a reader/interactor is encouraged to experience each microstory multiple times, in multiple ways. For instance, when experiencing In the Skin of the Gloam, if a reader chooses to read only the title line of each annotation, they’ll experience a minimal poetic (title) text version: if they instead read the rest of the annotation accompanying teach title line, the narrative is accented differently. If you choose to manipulate (scale, rotate, zoom) the 3D models in the space (and/or if you engage autoplay, or in the case of Wracking in the Upper Bubble read the wall text only), a reader’s experience will be markedly different from those choosing to experience each microstory in a VR space (where teleportation is an option and the spatial dimension is crucial).

To load each microstory, please press the white arrow in the middle of each V[R]ignettes storybox below (and if viewing on a mobile device, please make sure to view each storybox in full screen mode). After clicking on the white arrow, to begin reading the text please click on the “Select an annotation” bar at the bottom of each storybox screen: from there, you get to choose how you experience all other narrative smearing possibilities. If you need help with navigation and controls, please click the “?” located in the bottom right side of each storybox.

The Thing Tableau is a 3D/VR work conceived and designed in Virtual Reality. Its story unfolds through a digital narrative that can only be viewed online. The story references insomnia and the thoughts and language that can creep and reoccur when in this twilightish state.

The project is designed for audience interaction through click-based annotations, and can be viewed in multiple ways: as a text-based narrative that unpacks when an audience member interacts with it, or as an automated playthrough (though it’s preferred that audience members get to interact with the model in a 3D or even VR space).

The Thing Tableau is one of the works from the V[R]ignettes Microstory Series.

There’s an aspect of current Virtual reality that underplays an emphasis on the personal, the poetic, the introspective, and the spaces that exist in between. Our Cupidity Coda seeks to address this by creating (what I term) a MicroVR Experience: a poetic snapshot of the life span of a romantic relationship, bridging the gap between the impersonal and the intimate. The meat of the project is a set of poetic texts interspersed with 360 illustrative stills. The work is deliberately designed to partially echo the conventions from early film-making days (including no audio), making a viewer focus on text inserts, which are contrasted with having to move (turn in the 360 VR space) and view the 360 tableaus (a reflection of the theme underlying the work) to engage fully with the 360 illustration sections. Our Cupidity Coda is designed for viewing on any mobile phone and is designed for (initial) quick sharp consumption, then repeat plays for those with which it resonates. It’s designed for viewing as a 360 video through a URL on most mobile devices and/or desktops/tablets/ VR headsets (recommended is viewing through a Vive setup via a 360 viewer such as Virtual Desktop or the latest version of the Mozilla Firefox browser). Our Cupidity Coda was built from a desire to encourage repeat viewing, to play through the experience several times in order to stitch together the poetic denseness of the minimal text, and to absorb and process the 360 visuals. It’s a slow-burn work for those that click with it.(source: ELO 2018 website) 

A Place Called Ormalcy is a digital fiction designed for, and developed in, Virtual Reality. It’s comprised of a text-based story made up of seven short Chapters housed in 3D/Virtual Reality environments that can be accessed via mobile devices, desktop PCs and via a large range of Virtual Reality hardware. This VR story was constructed with each chapter (comprised of 3D models, text, and audio) compiled using Sketchfab. In January 2019, A Place Called Ormalcy was shortlisted for the New Media Writing Prize and in December 2018 was also showcased at the Art Expo of the 2018 International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling in Dublin, Ireland (sponsored by Microsoft Ireland). Earlier in 2018, the project was also a finalist in the 2018 Queensland Literary Awards in the Digital Literature category.

This VR Literature work is an allegorical poem deliberately designed to emulate conventions established in early cinematographic days (the silent soundtrack, white on black intertitle-like text, parallels to Kinetoscope viewing) so as to echo a similar sense of creative pioneering/exploration. Our Cupidity Coda is designed for read through multiple times in order to unstitch its poetic denseness. It’s a slow burn work for those that click with it.

Instructions and Navigation: Our Cupidity Coda is designed for viewing via an internet browser using a VR headset – no hand controllers are necessary. The work is designed for (initial) quick sharp consumption, then repeat plays for those with which it resonates. It is also viewable using only a desktop browser/monitor, but the recommended setup is a HTC Vive using the latest version of the Mozilla Firefox browser.