halohex-CHOIR

Halohex is an AR audio sequencer. Players manipulate alien-like objects into sculptures. Next, orchestrate the sound and make it come to life. Finally, share videos of their creations.

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halohex by NEOKLAR

www.neokl.net | Instruction Manual FREE download

Inspiration

As a move to curb the pandemic, quarantine measures have been applied globally. There is a major shift in working culture around the world where more companies are now seriously looking at remote working as the way to move forward as a society. People are finding themselves with a lot of spare time at home- which used to be filled with working at the office & commuting. Calm isolation can turn into anxious energy if the mind isn't stimulated, and when boredem sets in, it can take a toll on ones mental and physical health. It is a global issue and people are searching for more creative outlets to relieve them of stress- which will then directly increase work productivity.

What we do here at NEOKLAR involves design and music. We're a team of designers/musicians that work a lot on projects that combine the two elements together. So it was natural for us to create an audio visual experience that can help stimulate the creativity of people at home. Halohex was the result of this journey.

The story concept of Halohex

These objects appeared in our world out of thin air. Soon every human being on earth found themselves with these objects in their homes. The sounds emitting from these objects... are ethereal yet familiar. We're all trying to find answers to what these things are. Can we make contact?

What does it do?

Halohex is an AR sequencer that mixes abstract art with sound design.

Players use the world facing camera to view and manipulate these ethereal objects into sculptures. These objects emit sounds that can be manipulated through the act of positioning it or scaling its size.

How we built it

Halohex can't be achieved without the input of all our team members. Halohex is built with patch editor with zero javascript scripting/coding.

  • Arma Badrulsham: Creative direction, character design & modelling (Blender/ Illustrator/ Photoshop/ Premiere)
  • Ikram Hakim: User interaction & play experience (Touch Designer/ Spark AR)
  • Dylan Lee: Sound design (Logic-Pro X)

  1. We first started an ideation meeting discussing what we wanted to achieve for our first halohex sequencer, halohex-CHOIR. Ikram found out that spark AR is able to enhance our sound design with the use of its sound effects feature. Our priorities were to maximise creative play & user intuitiveness within the scope of spark AR.

  2. The project started out with Arma drafting out the story and a core concept of halohex-CHOIR. Once a solid backstory is created, he designs the objects and then models it on blender. Low-poly shapes were preferred to fit the filter size limitations. Halohex-CHOIR was picked as the name for our first sequencer to reflect the mysterious backstory, curvy fluid shapes and ethereal sound design.

  3. Arma works in tandem with Dylan- feeding object images for him to create a sound design that fits the world of halohex-CHOIR. He crafted a warm ambient sound design that enhances the ethereal mood and story.

  4. When the visual and sound designs are completed, the information is then passed to Ikram which worked on the user interaction and interactive play of halohex. Along the way, everyone tests the game and provides input to better the experience. Lastly we shared it to friends to get feedback on halohex-CHOIR before finalizing all its systems and publishing it.

  5. Teaser and trailer videos are created by Arma to be shared on our instagram and other platforms to make our followers aware of halohex-CHOIR and its release date.

Challenges we ran into

There are few challenges that we ran into while creating halohex.

  • There was a bug that appeared where the objects were not "stackable" which was fixed by Ikram with some simple logic solutions.
  • Some sound effect changes were not audible, so we had to understand the effects and design sounds that will have a significant audible change when effects are applied. Ikram suggested that we add a volume modifier by scaling the object size- this opens up simple mixing possibilities in the sound loop.
  • Making sense of the orientation of the objects by adding a subtle grid overlay as a main plane indicator.
  • Adding a UI button to lock/unlock the plane was a game changer. Something that we thought was trivial and an afterthought decision, proved to be the one thing that changed the whole experience. The plane lock system made the game much more manageable and organized whilst still keeping true to the experience of experimental gameplay for the user.

"The challenge was packing a bunch of interactions to be as intuitive as possible- from making the object more visible when sound is played by using a subtle animation, to opening up the game with an intro. Placing everything in the right place was important." - Ikram Hakim

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We're proud of how the project grew organically. This was our first time working together on something like this- using a filter as a sequencer. All of us make music on electronic controllers and analogue sequencers, so we're very pleased to see that we've created something like this. We feel that we've created something special that can possibly grow into a community that uses Halohex as a game or as an instrument.

What we learned

We've always believed that when approaching methods for a project, it should serve to better the end product. The experience of creating Halohex has definitely strengthened this philosophy. We view Spark AR as a tool to enhance our Audio and Visual products as a team and how other softwares can work in tandem with Spark AR.

What's next for Halohex

Halohex-CHOIR is the first sequencer in the halohex sequencer series. We are aiming to release 5 more halohex sequencers in the coming months. Each sequencer will have its own unique character and sound design. We're also working with another team member, Max Jala, on converting the Halohex series into its own app.

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