Study of A Commodity: Scene 1

Study of A Commodity: Misconception

About Study of A Commodity VR

“Study of A Commodity” is an interactive Virtual Reality experience that glimpsed into Pikuni/Blackfeet tribe culture and tradition that reflected in Louis Still Smoking’s painting of the same name. This project was directed by Caroline Running Wolf, who was selected as 2017 Oculus Launchpad Scholarship recipient, with the goal of bringing conversation and awareness to contemporary Native American’s issues.

For this project, I was responsible to create all the environment assets from scratch, integrate them in Unity, and made prototype for each level to showcase to clients and other viewers.

This VR project is divided into three different levels, where each level has its own unique art style.

Platform: Samsung GearVR.

About Misconception Level

Scene 1 for Study of A Commodity reflects the first thing that usually come to mind when the general public is asked about Native American’s homeland: a bleak and dry reddish desert with mesas in the background, tumbleweed rolling over, and rocks of various size all over. Oh, don’t forget the little chubby Indian boy.

This type of environment appears in many Western Cowboy movies, cartoons, and other media. As part of the Virtual Reality experience, this scene will later be contrasted to Scene 4 where First Nation people view of their homeland as a lush and open landscape.

Level Screenshots:

Billboards of Native American's tourist attraction, with a dry desert background, which typically found in western media to depict the First Nation's homeland

A dry desert area with mesas, which typically found in western media to depict the First Nation's homeland.

Props:

Billboards showing Native American's tourist attraction

Check out other Study of A Commodity levels:

View of an art alley, with street art and a mini-gallery of Louis Still Smoking's artworks. — Study of A Commodity – Scene 2/3

View of Pikuni's homeland, looking Northwest toward Chief Mountain — Study of A Commodity – Scene 4

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