the Deep Space Night Out

For this project, I decided to create a nightclub in Unity. This is a project I have wanted to create for a long time, and this felt like the perfect time to do it. For over ten years (since high school), I have written and produced my own music. I wanted to create a space that would allow people to not only listen, but interact with the music. To start, I developed an active LED floor that has a timed glow of neon emission. I also created a color lerp so that the floor simulates real LED dance floors that switch colors. I also built an arena with walls, fog, ambient occlusion, and neon lights. I then set up four rooms that could each have a song playing in them. The triggers react to the player so that the song can switch once the player enters each room. In each room, I also placed a floating piece of fruit. The fruits are like Coachella stage signs so that friends can know which room to meet up in.  This project is a prototype for a much larger project that I am developing. Due to COVID, people lost the ability to go out and have fun. Concerts are not an option these days. The problem is, there are no interactive spaces for friends to hang out. There are night clubs featured in GTA Online, but that is hardly accessible for your average person. Even if you do play GTA Online, it is so hard to get a nightclub, and invite your friends that the experience is not worth it. There used to be a site called Turntable which allowed players to create a tiny avatar and listen to music with friends. The problem, it was shallow. The game harbored no interactivity or agency. 

The game that I have built for the interactive practice project seeks to solve these problems. The game is not online now, but it will be. Players will be given a chance to create their very own room, customize the walls, dancefloor and build it out however they like. They can then create a player. The game is entirely free to play with purchasable cosmetic upgrades. I want to continually update cosmetic upgrades, so players have hundreds to choose from bi-weekly. I want to develop a dance wheel that allows players to choose from hundreds of different dance moves. Using a node-based system, players can create custom dance moves. Players can then connect their rooms together and form clubs. In the clubs, you can move freely throughout and host parties. These parties are live with up to 30 people in a full space at one time. I plan to embed Spotify, Apple Music and Tidal. These will stream through the sites, benefitting the artists, streamers, and labels because these plays will all count to streams. We will take no money off the musicians, or the streamers. Labels and companies can have their own rooms, and host events/concerts or whatever they feel inclined to within their space. For example, in the Spotify room, Phoebe Bridgers might play a small acoustic set. Everyone who is in the room (up to 30 people), will be sitting in a live Phoebe Bridgers concert. Think of this as a game that is driven by a social network. This will connect the best of TikTok, Spotify, Clubhouse, and Zoom all in one convenient, fun and gamified place. 

Thank you to Cassidy Pong & Margaret Moser for your help :)