Two Doors Open
Interactive Art Installation
Role
Artist
Duration
6 month
Tools used
Description
Two Doors Open is an interactive 3D game that explores the tension between societal expectations and personal aspirations. This project touches on the internal conflicts of many creative students, who are being forced to adhere to societal pressures to pursue STEM-related fields while longing for a future in the arts.
Rather than telling this story explicitly, Two Doors Open invites players to experience it through two contrasting rooms: a STEM-focused vs. a creative-focused room. The game invites players to explore and interact with objects and rearrange the space to their personal liking. Through sorting and organizing, players interpret the identity of each space. There is no “correct” arrangement in either room, but the contrast speaks for each room.
WHY?
The project utilizes spatial contrast and object interaction to reflect on an internal conflict many creatives experience when navigating expectation versus aspiration. In the STEM room, sorting feels structured and constrained. In the creative room, sorting feels expressive and open. After organizing both rooms, the doors remain open, and objects from one room can be moved into the other, allowing players to blend identities rather than choose one.
The message is that one does not have to abandon oneself to honor another.
HOW
Technical implementation:
Modeling: I will build this project using Blender and Godot. Using Blender to model all assets (furniture, decor, and room structures)
Game Engine: Once I’ve finalized the Blender assets, I plan to import my models into Godot to create the interactions for the players → Interaction: players moving around freely between rooms and grabbing, dropping, and rearranging objects around the space
The project is built using Blender and Godot. The furniture, items, and room structures are modeled in Blender. The visual language contrasts the two rooms through lighting, color temperature, and spatial arrangement.
The assets are imported into Godot, where player interactions are implemented. Players are freely able to move between rooms and pick up, rotate, and place objects within the space. The ability to move objects between rooms is a central conceptual feature, allowing players to blur boundaries and interpret the identity of each space.
Relevant Works
Unpacking – Witch Beam, 2021
My project draws inspiration from the puzzle game Unpacking (2021), developed by Witch Beam, which uses spatial organization as a form of storytelling. As players unpack and organize rooms over a series of living rooms, an identity is revealed through the objects being unpacked rather than through direct dialogue and an explicit storyline, which aligns with my own game. Like Unpacking, my project utilizes the act of sorting a space as a way to portray a story and an identity.
Florence – Mountains, 2018
https://annapurnainteractive.com/en/games/florence
This project also references the indie game Florence (2018), developed by Mountains, which communicates emotional tension through player interaction and environmental shifts. Similarly, my project utilizes simple mechanics and spatial design to express personal states without explicit goals or dialogue. A direct parallel exists between Florence and my own game: both games explore the tension between personal passion (in the form of art, music, or creativity) and societal expectations. Like Florence, my project relies on the changes in how a player interacts with familiar spaces and objects to portray internal conflict.
Do Ho Suh – Architectural Fabric Installation
https://www.victoria-miro.com/artists/188-do-ho-suh/
Finally, contemporary artist Do Ho Suh's fabric installation, Home Within Home (2013), recreates his past homes from memory using translucent fabric, exploring themes of identity, memory, migration, and belonging. My project, like Suh's, utilizes rooms as psychological space; the STEM versus creative rooms represent external pressures and internal aspirations rather than merely being organizational spaces. Like Home Within Home, my work focuses on how spaces hold emotional narratives and represent internal states, without the need for explicit storytelling.
Initial
Sketches
Creative Assets
Created in Blender
STEM Assets
Created in Blender
TECH RIDER
Lighting
Semi-dark space for projection
dim lighting
Space Requirement (6ft x 6ft)
Requires floor and wall space for access to computer controls and projection
A table and chair to prop the projector and computer
Venue
Adam D. Kamil Gallery
PROCESS IN GODOT
Part 1
PROCESS IN GODOT
Part 2
Winter Timeline
Wk 2: Initial Project Proposal
Ideal outline for final project w/ video recordings and related works to help explain the goal of the project.
Wk 3-4: Sketch Up Blender assets
Establish a moodboard
Begin modeling Blender assets - room structure, walls, floor, furniture, etc + basic textures and lighting styles
Wk 5: Midterm - Showcase modeled assets in Blender w/ textures and colors
Wks 7-9: Concept revisions based on feedback from midterm critique. Continue working on the remaining Blender assets → order furniture and structure in Godot
Wk 10: Final 160A: Demo Blender assets and structures
Showcase sketched layouts with assets
Spring Timeline
Wk 1: Work on Tech Rider.
Wks 2-5: Import my created assets into Godot and begin assembling the environment. Begin implementing basic player movement and interactive mechanics, and work on sound effects. Test navigation and object placement.
Wk 6 Midterm crit: Demo Blender assets in a Godot environment with simple interactions.
Wks 7-8: Gather feedback from crit to make changes to the game. Adjust interactions and lighting in the environment, and begin user testing the game. Ensure sound effects are working.
Wk 9: Final code and setup revision based on gathered user feedback. Final debugging. Finish updating the website.
Wk 10: Final 160B: Present Finished Piece in Crit.
Wk 11: Gallery install and exhibition.
Thank You!
For sparing some time and review my work.
Get in touch with me
© 2024 By Leona Lai.
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