top of page
Board members
​exude their  f r e a k i s h n e s s
when you decide to reject their proposals.

Feast of Fools is an Oculus VR seated interactive narrative experience created by Sheng Raymond Liao and Mari Kyle, in which the player acts as the heir of a very large estate wrapped up within their families company and must decide, with board members of the company, what to do with the estate through accepting or rejecting members' proposals during a dinner-like business conference.
​​
The game mechanics are raising the right controller to vote for board members' proposals and picking up the wine bottle prop to see characters' mental activities that are visualized as "manifestations", their symbolic phantom figures that allude to their past, after they being rejected.

Genre

Interactive Narrative

Psychological Horror

Surrealism Art

​

Tech

Oculus VR

Made with Unity

Autodesk Character Generator

Mixamo

Role

Executive

Co-designer

​

​

CREDITS

  • Original screenplay by Mari Kyle; The title scene and the credit scene arranged by Mari Kyle

  • Original music in the title sequence by Cali Wang (王米加) ( http://uscscoring.com/students/2018/cali-wang )

  • Original music in the voting scene and credits sequence by Anthony Sabatino ( http://uscscoring.com/students/2018/anthony-sabatino )

  • Voice-over for character "Champion" by Brian Handy

  • Voice-over for character "Red" by Mari Kyle

  • Voice-over for character "Curl" by Cuahtemo Marquez​

PERSONAL CONTRIBUTIONS

  • Read the screenplay and translated it into visuals.

  • Collected resources such as three-dimensional models and composed the scene.

  • Created the four character-models in Autodesk Character Generator according to the concept images and text descriptions.

  • Searched for appropriate animations on Mixamo and integrated them onto the 3D models.

  • Programmed to add interactivity except for the title sequence.

  • Implemented the "manifestation" visual effect similar to Portal Rendering using the stencil buffer.

Feast of Fools VR - Playthrough

Feast of Fools VR - Playthrough

Play Video
Script to Game

To help the visitors reading this page understand the narrative in the game, character details are provided regarding to their names, the "manifestations" presented behind the wine bottle, and their proposals for continuing the business of the company. Next to the character section, script to screenshots are listed as well to illustrate the transition from words to visuals. Screenplay by Mari Kyle from Interactive Media and Games Class 2019.

Character Details
The "Champion" character profile image for Feast of Fool VR Game

Nick Name: Champion

Profile: A tall, serious man. He wears an expensive black suit with a red skinny tie.

​​Manifestation: He is facing away from us, adding details with a chisel to a statue he is carving of a gigantic angry old man in a suit. The statue has the words "FATHER, LORD" (​not in the video recorded) carved into its pedestal.
​

--------------------​
​Proposal - Round 1
"Our company's biggest competitor is the Manson & Locke Company. The best business decision we can make is to buyout their shares and become majority shareholders in their company... We eat up the enemy and absorb their resources."
--------------------​​
​Proposal - Round 2
“I don't have anything else to add. It's just objectively the best business option.”

​

The "Bowtie" character profile image for Feast of Fool VR Game

Nick Name: Bowtie
​
​Profile: A fashion-forward young man with a matching turquoise bowtie and pocket square. Black hair neatly combed back, thickly rimmed glasses.

​Manifestation: A see-through man, almost invisible except for his glasses. The figure frantically waves in the faces of others, as if trying to be noticed.

--------------------​
​Proposal - Round 1
"We should use the estate to build a second Aster tower. A grand beacon of the company wealth and success. It would help to show the world how significant our company is and secure our place in the public eye."
​--------------------​
​Proposal - Round 2
Not available in the video recorded

The "Red" character profile image for Feast of Fool VR Game

Nick Name: Red

​​Profile: A sophisticated woman in a red pants suit. She seems wise, calm, and stern. She is in her early 40s.

​Manifestation: A teenaged girl, holding a dead fetus.

​

--------------------​​​
Proposal - Round 1
​(No original script, from Listening)
"Let's revive the dream that started the Aster company and build a newer, bigger industrial factory. It will create jobs and help us manufacture our own goods rather than outsourced companies road."
--------------------​​
Proposal - Round 2
​(No original script, from Listening)
"We can make this the first-ever all eco-friendly factory and we can set it an example for all other companies in the future."

The "Curls" character profile image for Feast of Fool VR Game

Nick Name: Curl

Profile: A woman with thick, bouncy tight curls sprawling in all directions, forming a halo around her face. She wears a dark green dress with a golden bracelet.

​Manifestation: A streetlight, with a dark figure in a hoodie, leaning against it, smoking a cigarette.

​

--------------------​
​Proposal - Round 1
"Let's invest the money from our company back into the communities that made us great. Building a sprawling park in the area where one of our factories used to be would create an oasis for the working class families."
​--------------------​
​Proposal - Round 2
"The park would raise property value and bring stores, restaurants, and business to be communities and create opportunity."

Script(Revised)to Screen
A screenshot of the opening scene of Feast of Fool VR Game with a perspective of a dinner table full of golden tableware and appetising cuisine

You are immersed in ​blackness. You hear the twinkle of wine glasses clinking together from your right. You hear soft laughter and conversation to your left. As the sound crescendo, the world around you fades in, object by object. First, you see a wine glass(bottle) half full of red wine with a glided rim. It sits in front of you, though a little to your right, and at stomach level. It feels as if it is sitting on a table. ...

         Stern voice: "To continue on the company legacy, what we do with the Aster estate has to be decided tonight. I'm going to give each of you some room to speak about your proposals for the estate and my hopes are, by the end of the dinner, we, the board members, will vote for what we think would be the best option for the continuation of our company."

A screenshot of the moonlight spilling through a tall Gothic window scene with two gigantic beast statues

Behind you, moonlight begins to spill into the room as a 15 foot high window slowly fades into view. It is night time and the moon is slightly obscured by hazy clouds. ...

​         Stern voice: “Hayden Aster requested in the will that Jay Aster be the ultimate decision-maker. Jay, thank you for being here and our condolences for your loss.”

The moon illuminates the space that lies in the path as it shines through the rectangular window. From what you can see, you are are in a expensively decorated Gothic dining room. The light shows the waxed wooden floors and two seemingly roman statues of beasts next to the window.

A screenshot of a spooky manifestation of the "Red" character's trauma, emerging on the red-wine bottle

There is a wine glass(bottle) to the right of the players plate. With your controller, you can pick this up (by reaching to it and pressing down (and holding) the trigger on the Oculus controller then hold it to your headset.

When you look through the wine at the characters, you will see manifestation of their phobias, fears, wants, or traumas sitting in their place.

bottom of page