Works by Mashiyat Zaman
A summary of my works in Unity3D, listed in reverse chronological order. My approach is to emphasize simple, thoughtful interactions between subject and visitor, while pushing the boundaries of what I know and can do.
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February – March 2023
A metaphor for how a feeling transcends distance between loved ones living apart, presented as an arcade game where you race against the clock. Using an origami pen attached to a joystick embedded in a pop-up book, steer a paper plane across a vast landscape to find four landmarks. Submitted as a midterm project for the graduate class New Arcade (Spring 2023).
I Am A Cube: Unity Workshops For ITP
January 2023
A series of projects designed to teach peers at my graduate program the basics of C# scripting in Unity using limited assets. My hope is to encourage further use of the game engine in their artistic practice, and create a shared knowledge resource.
mashiyatzAll code examples and documentation are written by me. This project began as a response to the limited class time first year graduate students had learning game engines. Many students attempted building interactions in their projects, but lacked a resource for learning how. My hope is to develop these projects into a set of labs and tutorials that can be accessed by the community at large.
Signal Malfunction
December 2022 – Present
Navigate through a symphony of half-complete thoughts in this audiovisual metaphor of the mind. Click on a figure for a better listen, and piece together the monologues of a young man. Started in collaboration with Juan-Carlo Gallego, Music Therapy at Molloy University.
Spurred by the process of introspection allowed by This Reminded Me Of You, and inspired by the work of my peers at the ITP/IMA 2022 Winter Show, I am exploring the use of Unity's sound spectrum and particles effect tools in my storytelling.
PhiPhi's Quantum Tuna Cans
November – December 2022
Rotate a can of tuna to increase the odds of successfully feeding a hungry little cat, and learn a little bit about quantum mechanics along the way. Created with Yuke Ding as a final project for the graduate class Introduction to Physical Computing (Fall 2022), and presented at the ITP/IMA 2022 Winter Show.
mashiyatzI scripted the Arduino and Unity3D code for this project, implementing serial communication between the Nano IoT 33 and Unity, which allowed us to use a rotary encoder (i.e., a button you can rotate) as a controller. The orientation of the encoder influenced the probability of a successful outcome, communicated by PhiPhi's expressions. Through playtesting, we iterated the UI to clarify directions more clearly, while offering a route for curious players to learn more about quantum physics.
This Reminded Me Of You
November – December 2022
Take a break in your living room filled with books we’ve lent you throughout years of friendship – use your mouse or scroll wheel to search the room, and click to read our letters to you. Created with Jo Suk for the graduate class Hypercinema (Fall 2022), and presented at the ITP/IMA 2022 Winter Show. Playable on a desktop web browser.
mashiyatzI designed the room, and scripted the interactions with the books strewn throughout. When clicked, a book slides into view while a handwritten note is shown and read aloud. We implemented periodic flickering of the clickable books and audiovisual feedback when the mouse hovers over them to prompt users towards the interaction, while preserving a relaxing, minimalist atmosphere.
Re:Earth AR Prototype
January – September 2022
Track local landmarks and visualize 3D models in your neighborhood using this AR companion to Re:Earth, a web-based GIS tool. Developed at Eukarya, a Japanese startup specializing in geospatial technologies.
I built this prototype with Unity's AR Foundation Framework, using a package for rendering objects in AR using GPS coordinates, and open source libraries for downloading 3D models from the web. I developed the project over time to visualize different types of data available from Re:Earth, such as images and text descriptions. Read an introduction to the project here.
RPG Battle System
June 2022
A turn-based RPG battle engine I developed from scratch to practice and review state machines, class inheritance, and callbacks in C#. A project I hope to revisit in collaboration with other artists.
mashiyatzOther Projects I Liked
Outside of Unity3D, I've had a chance to explore other tools and problem spaces, with particular emphasis on designing accessible experiences for people with blindness or low-vision. I share some of these experiences below for reference.
A Cane Attachment for a Guide Dog Harness
September – December 2022
In collaboration with the non-profit The Seeing Eye, we examined how the guide dog harness can be redesigned so that blind and low-vision users can carry and access their white ID canes more easily.
Artistic Exploration Using Swell Form
October 2022
Tactile companions to visual media such as AR, animation, and image generation made using the swell form machine. Created with Lily Yu, Spencer Harris, and Lang Qin in assignments for the graduate course Hypercinema at ITP (Fall 2022).
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MashiSkelly The Candy Keeper
October 2022
Press a button for access to a trove of snacks kept under watch by an excitable skeleton. Created with An-Kai Cheng as a midterm project for the graduate course Introduction to Physical Computing at ITP (Fall 2022).
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