We make decisions for our protagonists in the video games we play under the assumption that they are not real. What if they were real? What if a player's gameplay decisions had an actual outcome on someone who depended on them in the real world?
The Origin Project is an extperimental Google Maps-based gameplay experience whereby strangers on the internet collaborate to guide a real person on a journey across the United States. This project aims to inspect the relationship between game creator and game player, and explore topics relating to personal autonomy, surveillance, digital nomadism, and urban isolation.
Photogrammetric and 360 degree video assets will be collected on the journey, forming environments which will be assembled later into a re-playable experience of the journey. The result is a loose narrative that is part documentary and part fiction.
This project is in its initial phases of Alpha testing. To the right are screen captures from early playtests. Below those are wireframes, which offer some more insight into the interaction between player and protagonist.
The Origin Project
