CloudWorks: System Design

Project Overview

CloudWorks is a MMO style platform created to host a virtual festival because of COVID.
CloudWorks Team: Cara Chen(artist), Jim Liu and Alan Zhang(programmers), John McClain(producer), Beck Wolfinger(experience designer) and me(system designer).
My Role: System Designer

Project Duration: 16 Weeks (2020)

Platform: Unity

Project Goal: To create a virtual ETC festival where 600+ guests can directly interact with the students and their work, without crashing, whatsoever.

What does CloudWorks look like?

What did I do?

After the festival, we created an offline version of the festival platform.

In this offline version, everything was kept as it was except for the Zoom and download links. It allows you to design your own avatar, explore the environment, and watch videos of students’ work.

Download Windows offline version

Project Management and Pipeline

I was responsible for the main MMO system design, meaning I maintained close communication with our 5 teammates, 19 committee members, and a class of 44 students who were making crazy projects on a variety of platforms that we had to eventually integrate into our system.

Pipeline was developed by our artist and programmers
Avatar System and Pipeline

To provide a variety of customizable assets within the time we had, we developed an avatar system and pipeline. We used 2D pixel art instead of 3D models, then colored and animated the frame sprites in Unity.

I organized the tutorial for Avatar Open Submission

It allowed the opportunity to open up submissions from the students and guests, where they could follow our tutorial to create personal assets as 2D sprite.

Because we limited the colors to our themed style, and provided walking frame template, the overall style was consistent while given many customizable choices.
Incorporating Student Work

To incorporate students’ work into our platform, I coordinated between the class and our team to communicate needs, and I created a checklist and a spreadsheets with a peer-verified system to help streamline final delivery.

I closely followed the class progress on their work, and coordinated our tech team to support the students’ work without compromising their work as much as possible.

Demo of the final guest experience, I organized and coordinated the student submissions and implementation between the class and our team.
Amazing forces from everywhere that helped make the festival possible
Festival Committees

To accomplish the work in 3 months, we brought in multi-disciplinary help from the class. I closely discussed our vision and helped them to compose music or make 3D models for environments that were still being developed.

  • An example of how I communicated with the sound committee about the tone and atmosphere we’re creating for each area without actually seeing them.
  • I used reference images to help communicate the tone between the artists and sound designers.

Massive Virtual Playtesting

Our playtesting process included an alternating series of experience and stress testing on a weekly basis.

We used headless clients to stress test within our team before inviting playtesters in to test the design.
Testing Robustness

Following the playtests were iterations on how we distributed the content, and I designed theming and flow structure to organize the work from tech, art, and sound. By dividing the content onto several servers instead of just one, and adjusting our system and guest experience design, we managed to improve the robustness of the platform.

Credits to all of the volunteers who joined our playtests.
Simulating the Real Deal

We invited the class to test their projects on our platform to help them design the guest flow of their experience.

I was responsible for guiding and consulting on the students’ work submissions for the festival and the soft opening playtesting, which helped us test the overall stability of the platform and guest experience.

Guest Flow Design

Onboarding Experience

Our festival website was the entry point of the whole experience, so we made sure to cover every step to help our guests get ready to enter the virtual space.

I structured the step-by-step guide, illustrated the graphics, and with the help of my teammates, filled in the words and recorded the video.

On the post-event feedback survey, the majority of the guests responded that the manuals were highly effective. From this, and the fact that the live support room was awfully quiet, we believe they served their purposes.

Interactive Tutorial
I designed and illustrated this in-game tutorial to help our guests learn about the controls and interactions in our virtual space.
In the photo is the CloudWorks team and our final version of the environments!
Environment Design

There were four main areas in our festival, each with different tones and purposes. I helped set and communicate the tone and guest flow of each area with various groups, and made iterations based on the playtests.

An example of me using google slides (on the left) to communicate our tone with the artists and sound designers to work on the environment simultaneously.

Concept art I made
Final Environment
This is what it looks like from the player view, with music composed by fellow sound committee.
We made so many iterations that I thought it’d be interesting to share our journey.
Hence, we created a CloudWorks museum where we showcased the old models and how the environment evolved.
I drew intro cutscenes for playtests to observe guests’ reaction to the theming design.
Theming Design

To accommodate the server load, we needed a “personal room” as a transition hub between areas. I themed it as your personal UFO taxi that picked you up from the comfort of your home to this theme park in the clouds.

Guests could find UFOs in each area to return to their own UFO.

This theming and animation design was to make this tech-wised necessary mechanics feel more natural and immersive.

In the UFO, players could change their avatars’ appearance(by clicking the closet) and choose their next destination.
Interacting With Students’ Work

Our team worked closely together to iterate on streamlining guest flow, taking in tech, art, and guest experience into consideration, making it loud and clear that with just a few clicks, they could download the files, enter the zoom room, and start playing!

To keep it consistent, we designed standardized entry and exit points and clickable holograms that directed guests into zoom rooms or helped download projects. I communicated the template requirement to the teams, helped consult on the design of their guest flow, and organized the final submissions for their themed rooms.

Iterations to find better camera angles and guest flow.

There were 12 customized tents where guests can directly interact with the students and their work.

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