2022 / 2026 published case study
On the Other Side of the Wall
- medium
- Unity-based first-person experimental walking simulation
- tools
- Unity, C#
- keywords
- constrained traversal, dialogue-gated progression, looping scene control, interaction grammar, environmental storytelling
short description
On the Other Side of the Wall links domestic, educational, workplace, and transit spaces into a constrained first-person journey. Walls and dialogue nodes regulate passage, while repeated return, fade-and-teleport transitions, and media embedded in screens and windows turn movement, delay, and access into the central material of the work.
research relevance
The project underpins my published 2026 case study on Unity-based experimental scene control. By making the implementation layer visible, it demonstrates how a small set of reusable scripts can support coherent progression, environmental rhythm, and transferable practice knowledge without large-scale production resources.
project notes
Design proposition & research context
Project overview
The wall is both an image and an operating condition
The work reorganises familiar domestic, educational, workplace, and transit environments as a linked experiential sequence rather than as documentary reconstructions. Its segmented circular layout keeps the route compact while allowing outer zones to remain visible but partly inaccessible. The wall is therefore more than a visual motif: it is a progression threshold that makes enclosure, exterior visibility, and negotiated passage structurally present.
Interaction grammar
Approach, prompt, input, response
A shared detect-prompt-trigger pattern gives different objects the same readable interaction rhythm. Dialogue is not optional narrative decoration; it validates movement between zones and temporarily suspends other input so that repeated triggers cannot destabilise the current state. The player learns how to act without extensive tutorialisation, while uncertainty remains focused on when and where progression will become possible.
- Approach an interactive object or spatial threshold.
- Read the prompt and activate its dialogue or scene condition.
- Complete the interaction to unlock a transition or environmental update.
- Re-enter familiar space after the system has changed its state.
System design
Small modules coordinate a continuous experience
Unity holds movement, prompts, dialogue states, transitions, dynamic media, and scene updates within one layered runtime system. A base interaction script handles common behaviour, while focused modules extend it for particular situations. The design avoids a large collection of bespoke mechanics and instead relies on interoperable parts that remain easier to test, revise, and document.
- Loop-and-reset logic returns the player and recalibrates selected dialogue and interaction states.
- Fade-and-teleport transitions stage movement between segmented spaces without an abrupt break.
- Ladder controls adapt movement and camera behaviour for vertical traversal.
- Dynamic exterior spawning and embedded AI-generated video imply activity beyond the playable route.
Experience analysis
Restriction makes progression perceptible
Exploration is guided rather than fully open. Players encounter places that are visible before they are accessible, or familiar before they are functionally altered, producing delay and negotiation instead of conventional challenge. Repetition organises the environment rhythmically, while state-linked motion, light, and screen media make system changes legible at the level of atmosphere as well as interface.
Research contribution
An artwork that also documents a method
The project shows how an independent interactive artwork can generate reusable technical knowledge when its middle layer - prompt behaviour, gating logic, reset conditions, and transition control - is made explicit. The published study presents this as a practice-based, low-cost model rather than a universal solution: it examines one PC-based case without a full user-study dataset, while opening the system to future testing, comparison, and adaptation for installation or public contexts.