Spirit of Place
An open world in VRChat, held together by music and atmosphere. It was in competition at Venice in 2021.
Case study
A place people wander through.
- Year
- 2021
- Role
- Director, worldbuilder, and producer. Dale P. Deacon's directorial debut.
- Platform
- VRChat, built in Unity.
- Recognition
- In competition, Venice VR Expanded, 78th Venice International Film Festival.
The brief
Spirit of Place is an open-world spatial narrative in VRChat. It was made for the Venice VR Expanded competition lineup.
Open worlds at festivals are risky. People get lost, miss beats, or treat the map as a playground.
The approach
- Let people wander
The paths are optional. There is no rail.
- Bind it with sound and light
Music by Danheim and narration by Charles Bryant carry the story between the paths. Atmosphere does the rest.
The outcome
It was in competition at Venice VR Expanded 2021, at the 78th Venice International Film Festival.
It was made under Team Epic, the South African studio that later became Worldbuild. It was early proof that a festival competition and social VR could meet.
Sources: the expedition note and La Biennale's 2021 lineup.
The world
Credits
- Director and worldbuilder
- Dale P. Deacon
- Music
- Danheim
- Narration
- Charles Bryant
- Produced by
- Team Epic now Worldbuild
- Supported by
- We Are VR Africa
- The Metaverse Crew
The record
The Venice lineup is public.
To talk to Worldbuild about the world, write to Dale.