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I found this video on http://digitalurban.blogspot.com. It's a video of Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater placed into Valve Software's Source engine. This is a good example of how game engines can be useful for architectural visualization. Imagine letting your client "playtest" their own house!
This has become an exciting new possibility for architects looking to help their clients visualize their own house before it is built. In a conversation with my contact from Valve Software, we discussed Valve's Source engine and their environment creator, Hammer, being used as architecture visualization tools.
Like the levels in a game, this could potentially allow architects and their clients to test their designs and change them accordingly (obviously if used during the correct phase of the design process.)
The video shows a player exploring the house as someone would the regular maps in Half-Life 2, then using the game's passcode console to initiate "noclip" mode, a mode that allows testers to freely explore the map without being limited by the structures of the gamespace, and do a fly-around of the map and see the whole house.
Yesterday was the first meeting of the "Game Design and Architecture" course. While that inevitably leads to some drier material, the course is off to a good start. Thank you everyone who filled out one of the class surveys, I have already gotten some great information from them! Next week's assignment is a spatial layout exercise. I am posting a .jpeg copy of the project sheet for anyone who needs it:
I am changing some of the requirements for next week's assignment:
- The drawings don't need to be at 1/8" = 1', but instead at a scale will fit onto a sheet of 8 1/2" x 11" paper. Keep your files and scale drawings for the juries later in the semester. This will help me have a bookmark of your what we'll refer to as your "before" design.
- Bring your model so the class can look over it, but please hold onto it after the lecture so you can refer to it as you rethink the design. Make sure the model is of good quality and kept safe, since you will present it later in the semester.
- Please write a quick 1/2 page explanation of your design and how it guides an occupant through the path you create.
Let me know if you have any questions, I'm all for helping you guys out with anything you guys want to discuss. Don't forget to think of what kinds of games you'd like to create and who you'll want to work with as well. I really encourage you to think "outside the box" on the type of game and do any research on new games, especially those that utilize space in different ways (i.e.: more daring projects may yield better grades.) I'll provide a list of possible types:
Those are just a sampling so feel free to explore your own ideas. Many of the suggested readings have information on concepts like pervasive and alternate reality games. There are also helpful links on the sidebar of this blog.
I hope you are looking forward to this class as much as I am, good luck on your first project and I'll see you guys next week!
