Rosapotheosis Interactive Narrative
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Rosapotheosis, an interactive opera

Rosapotheosis follows the story of a young woman, apparently kidnapped, and the impact of her disappearance on the uneasy town of Cerialis, Colorado in 1899.

The story unfolds as an interactive narrative, told by a sequence of four animal avatars.

The project design includes the story elements and a "reading room" environment. The interactor experiences the story through a touch screen interface in the reading room.

View of Cerialis, Colorado
Dragonfly Character

The interactor first enters the world as a dragonfly hovering over a pond high in the mountains above Cerialis. The user controls the dragonfly from a first-person perspective, experiencing the story while simultaneously having the thrill of flying through a visually exciting environment.

The visual style of the world Dragonfly experiences is executed in the style of a Japanese woodblock print.

Dragonfly artwork
Fish character

Having been eaten by Fish the user now sees the world through Fish's eyes. Fish can move freely through the pond and the Ruby River that flows both into and out of it.

Fish can jump out of the water occasionally, getting a better view of the world out of the water. But Fish's story experience begins when it travels upstream and into a mysterious cavern where the river runs through the air.

Fish artwork
Coyote character
Coyote artwork 3D Studio Max render 3D Studio Max render

Fish is eventually driven downstream in the swift current of the Ruby River. As the river narrows and approaches the town there are a network of flumes diverting water for various purposes in the town.

Exploring these flumes Fish is Captured and eaten by Coyote. The user's avatar turns to Coyote as the day ends and Coyote goes into town looking for food and mischief.

A portion of this section of the project has been implemented in 3D Studio and Nemo.

3D Studio Max render 3D Studio Max render

Rosapotheosis, an interactive opera, interactive narrative, story game, story world, Persephone mythology, American West, 3D Studio Max, modeling, texturing, rendering, reading room kiosk, interface design, environmental design, npr rendering, non-photorealistic rendering, toon rendering

Owl character

Owl is a fierce hunter and not especially fond of coyote. Its fun being coyote, though, and eventually the interactor gets too bold and annoys one of the town witches, or just gets caught in the open and is carried off and eaten by Owl.

Owl is the most powerful of the avatars and has the ability to gather the last of the clues needed to find out what happened to Rose.

Owl artwork
Reading room kiosk
Story game environment

Designed in conjunction with the Rosapotheosis storyworld, the reading room environment supports and enhances the interactor's involvement in the story.

The reading room is designed for location-based entertainment locations, and venues such as cafes and galleries.

The room unit is not large, but it provides an intimate and immersive environment for the interactor. A flat-panel screen outside the room allows other visitors to see what's going on in the story.

The touch-screen is designed to resemble a warm book and to make the computer interface as transparent as possible. The interactor doesn't have to learn a complex interface; the first level of the story (the Dragonfly character) also serves as a tutorial for the user.

By the time the interactor reaches the most complex story elements (in the Coyote and Owl avatars) the interface should already feel natural and "invisible".

The wing-back chair allows stereo speaks to be ideally positioned for the interactor, while maintaining a volume level low enough to not disturb other visitors at the location.

Kiosk environmental design
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