Susan Ellen Everett Intern
for Immersive Environments
In the summer of 2022, I was tasked to create a Unity Kit that would allow for development in a unique 360-degree space. A specialized camera system was created and extensively documented for both 3D and 2D environments.
Multiple demonstrations were created to show the capabilities of the kit, Hank’s Haven to showcase 2D, a Procedural Aquarium to showcase 3D, and multiple ports of existing Unity projects.
Hank’s Haven was a demonstration of how game design can be utilized in creating 2D games of this wrap-around space. There were three minigames made:
Hoppy Hank - Character allowed to move vertically with gravity, avoiding buildings procedurally created moving around the screen.
Hurdlin’ Hank - Character allowed to move vertically using lane-switching to avoid obstacles spawned.
Hank’s Heist - Background is static as the player is able to move around the screen collecting objects.
For this project, I was responsible for art assets, animation, design, and basic programming.
With this easy-to-use instruction set and downloadable camera prefab, students, faculty, and staff can create immersive environments for this space to facilitate learning, complete art installations, and ultimately take advantage of this high-tech room.
In this aquarium scene, fish are moved procedurally via flocking and spawn randomly. This ensures that no one will see the same thing twice!
I was responsible for creating the environment given external models. I was required to retexture objects, bake textures, optimize UV maps, and reduce polygon count from the original downloaded models. Ultimately, I implemented each model into an immersive underwater environment for the viewers.
Custom shaders were created to simulate realistic plant movement and ocean light reflection to add visual depth and realism to the environment!
This experience becomes available to students at the end of the semester as a destressing area where they can relax in the space with calming music and an abundance of sea creatures!
Femme Game Night!
Femme Game Night was started by myself and three others in the libraries as a way to create a space for female-identifying and non-binary individuals of NC State to have a space to place games together in a place usually dominated by men. Since its creation, we have received grants and funding to continue, thus we are able to hold it on the last Friday of every month!
Other than acting as an advisor for the event, I also create all graphic designs for it such as posters, shirts, etc!
Special Collections Research Center Stickers
The Libraries Special Collections Research Center commissioned a set of four stickers to be used for outreach in the community and general merch for employees. All stickers were inspired by items used in their work such as floppy disks, archival boxes, folders, and their signature stamp!
