Never Forget: An Architecture of Memory - Nicole Del Medico's Portfolio

NEVER FORGET: AN ARCHITECTURE OF MEMORY (2015-2017), Programs Used: UE4, Maya, Mudbox, Photoshop, Premiere Pro, Audition, Ableton Live, Max/MSP 7, Roles: Solo Game Developer - Generalist (Creative Director, Project Manager, QA Tester, Level Designer, UX Designer, UI Designer, Programmer, 3D Modeler, Animator, Composer, Sound Designer, VFX Artist, Interviewer, Video Editor, and Compositor).

Never Forget: An Architecture of Memory is a virtual reality (VR) experience that serves as a digital form of a requiem or “sonic memorial” that “reskins” the player as an archeologist of memories that belong to ninety-three-year-old Anna van Vliet (maiden name Schotanus). Her memories and lived experiences in the period prior to and including World War II (WWII) in the Netherlands are exhumed via the navigation and exploration of the created three-dimensional “lieux de mémoire” (memory spaces), or architecture of memory, which are contained within various rooms, spaces, environments, and objects of that particular time period.

NEVER FORGET: AN ARCHITECTURE OF MEMORY

(2015-2017), Programs Used: UE4, Maya, Mudbox, Photoshop, Premiere Pro, Audition, Ableton Live, Max/MSP 7, Roles: Solo Game Developer - Generalist (Creative Director, Project Manager, QA Tester, Level Designer, UX Designer, UI Designer, Programmer, 3D Modeler, Animator, Composer, Sound Designer, VFX Artist, Interviewer, Video Editor, and Compositor).

Never Forget situates the player in this “prosthesis-memory” and reskins them as a witness to Anna’s memories, now transformed into digital memory artifacts, to convey the strong conflicting political and social undertones of the time, as well as to highlight the persecutory events of the Jewish people and others that transpired during WWII. The narrative, while mostly linear, has non-linear paths that lead to different narrative spaces. This allows each player to have a different experience as they can visit these memory spaces in whatever order they please, as well as spend as much or as little time as they wish in each space.

NEVER FORGET: AN ARCHITECTURE OF MEMORY

(2015-2017), Programs Used: UE4, Maya, Mudbox, Photoshop, Premiere Pro, Audition, Ableton Live, Max/MSP 7, Roles: Solo Game Developer - Generalist (Creative Director, Project Manager, QA Tester, Level Designer, UX Designer, UI Designer, Programmer, 3D Modeler, Animator, Composer, Sound Designer, VFX Artist, Interviewer, Video Editor, and Compositor).

Just as Anna was a witness to events that transpired during the war, I too, through the creation of Never Forget, have taken on the role as a witness to her life and in doing so, have allowed those that experience Never Forget to become witnesses as well.

NEVER FORGET: AN ARCHITECTURE OF MEMORY (2015-2017), Programs Used: UE4, Maya, Mudbox, Photoshop, Premiere Pro, Audition, Ableton Live, Max/MSP 7, Roles: Solo Game Developer - Generalist (Creative Director, Project Manager, QA Tester, Level Designer, UX Designer, UI Designer, Programmer, 3D Modeler, Animator, Composer, Sound Designer, VFX Artist, Interviewer, Video Editor, and Compositor).

Never Forget is history and memory turned into a virtual environment that instigates players who experience it “to search for the memorial in their own heads.” Would the player have done the same thing and taken the same chances as Anna if they were in her position? Would the participant be active and have the agency to fight against inequality as she did, or would they be passive and just witness the atrocities before them?

NEVER FORGET: AN ARCHITECTURE OF MEMORY

(2015-2017), Programs Used: UE4, Maya, Mudbox, Photoshop, Premiere Pro, Audition, Ableton Live, Max/MSP 7, Roles: Solo Game Developer - Generalist (Creative Director, Project Manager, QA Tester, Level Designer, UX Designer, UI Designer, Programmer, 3D Modeler, Animator, Composer, Sound Designer, VFX Artist, Interviewer, Video Editor, and Compositor).

Never Forget's narrative is interwoven in gameplay is felt through interacting and exploring the created virtual environments, employing a "show, don’t tell" approach to level design to guide and envelop players in a world they love and fear, making them feel indispensable to the storyline through visual and audio cues and light direction.

NEVER FORGET: AN ARCHITECTURE OF MEMORY (2015-2017), Programs Used: UE4, Maya, Mudbox, Photoshop, Premiere Pro, Audition, Ableton Live, Max/MSP 7, Roles: Solo Game Developer - Generalist (Creative Director, Project Manager, QA Tester, Level Designer, UX Designer, UI Designer, Programmer, 3D Modeler, Animator, Composer, Sound Designer, VFX Artist, Interviewer, Video Editor, and Compositor).

Qualitative and conceptual research and documentary interviews were converted into interactive roadmaps, level designs, and rapid prototypes that led to the final build, where this interactive experience was presented to a diverse VR audience by the thousands at TIFF, Oculus Connect (Facebook), and other high profile venues.

NEVER FORGET: AN ARCHITECTURE OF MEMORY

(2015-2017), Programs Used: UE4, Maya, Mudbox, Photoshop, Premiere Pro, Audition, Ableton Live, Max/MSP 7, Roles: Solo Game Developer - Generalist (Creative Director, Project Manager, QA Tester, Level Designer, UX Designer, UI Designer, Programmer, 3D Modeler, Animator, Composer, Sound Designer, VFX Artist, Interviewer, Video Editor, and Compositor).

Received the OCAD University Medal for Integrated Media, scholarships, and awards.

NEVER FORGET: AN ARCHITECTURE OF MEMORY (2015-2017), Programs Used: UE4, Maya, Mudbox, Photoshop, Premiere Pro, Audition, Ableton Live, Max/MSP 7, Roles: Solo Game Developer - Generalist (Creative Director, Project Manager, QA Tester, Level Designer, UX Designer, UI Designer, Programmer, 3D Modeler, Animator, Composer, Sound Designer, VFX Artist, Interviewer, Video Editor, and Compositor).

Exhibitions:

- Yorkville Village Arts Festival, Toronto, ON - 2017

- Women in VR, Breakthroughs Film Festival Exhibition, Toronto, ON - 2017

- iON Kingston Virtual Reality Exhibition, Kingston, ON - 2017

- Toronto International Film Festival – TIFF POP 2, Toronto, ON - 2016

NEVER FORGET: AN ARCHITECTURE OF MEMORY (2015-2017), Programs Used: UE4, Maya, Mudbox, Photoshop, Premiere Pro, Audition, Ableton Live, Max/MSP 7, Roles: Solo Game Developer - Generalist (Creative Director, Project Manager, QA Tester, Level Designer, UX Designer, UI Designer, Programmer, 3D Modeler, Animator, Composer, Sound Designer, VFX Artist, Interviewer, Video Editor, and Compositor).

Conventions & Conferences

- Oculus Connect 4, San Jose, CA - 2017

- Make Change Conference, Toronto, ON - 2017

- Panelist - Magazines in a Digital World, Corus Quay, Toronto, ON - 2017

- Presenter - Art Intersectors Meetup, Gamma Space, Toronto, ON - 2016

- Presenter - OCAD University, 100 McCaul Street, Toronto, ON - 2016

NEVER FORGET: AN ARCHITECTURE OF MEMORY (2015-2017), Programs Used: UE4, Maya, Mudbox, Photoshop, Premiere Pro, Audition, Ableton Live, Max/MSP 7, Roles: Solo Game Developer - Generalist (Creative Director, Project Manager, QA Tester, Level Designer, UX Designer, UI Designer, Programmer, 3D Modeler, Animator, Composer, Sound Designer, VFX Artist, Interviewer, Video Editor, and Compositor).

Awards and Recognition

- OCAD University Medal for Integrated Media - 2016

- Imagination Zone Award - 2016

- Nora E. Vaughan Award - 2016

- Project 31 Award

NEVER FORGET: AN ARCHITECTURE OF MEMORY (2015-2017), Programs Used: UE4, Maya, Mudbox, Photoshop, Premiere Pro, Audition, Ableton Live, Max/MSP 7, Roles: Solo Game Developer - Generalist (Creative Director, Project Manager, QA Tester, Level Designer, UX Designer, UI Designer, Programmer, 3D Modeler, Animator, Composer, Sound Designer, VFX Artist, Interviewer, Video Editor, and Compositor).