Way to Go is a surreal game-film hybrid adapted from a browser-based web project for the Oculus Rift. The participant stars as a long-limbed anthropomorphic who can walk, run, jump, and fly in Vincent Morisset's 360-degree forest. The game-film serves as an escape from the modern world of set destinations and groundedness into an environment where one can get lost and indulge in one's curiosity. 

This project piqued my interest because it combines my love for video games and exploring nature and new worlds into one, all while addressing very valid concerns about our increasing prominent loss of curiosity and wanderlust. The environments and the creatures within them are both haunting and intriguing, and definitely gives the audience a view that is both familiar, yet very different from the ones that we experience on a daily basis. Although I was only able to experience the browser version, I have no doubt that the Oculus Rift adaption is even more engaging and beautiful. 

Way to Go is very thoughtfully put together, from the fragile, sketchily drawn, blank slate character, to the detailed, engaging environment, to the calming, yet inviting accompanying music. However, I feel that the creators could've taken more creative freedom to immerse their audience in a more enhanced environment, whether it's adding more details to their current world or producing a new one entirely. I also felt a slight discrepancy between the art style of the world's inhabitants, including the main character, and the world itself. While the characters were drawn with very basic shapes, the environment often had a photo-realistic finish, which I think dampened the relaxing and mysterious atmosphere. 

This work reminds me heavily of Journey, a highly artistic game made by Thatgamecompany. While Journey is more indiscriminately a video game, both works feature expansive, 360-degree environments which players can explore to their hearts' content. Unfortunately, Journey is not adapted for the Oculus Rift, but it would definitely be material for a virtual reality game. 

My project draws ideas that are heavily used in Way to Go, namely an immersive, outdoor/nature/new world experience where a player has free-reign. However, in combination with the concepts from my other researched work, I would aim to create a more otherworldly/alternate universe vibe, in which the environment would be both mysterious and convoluted, in a perhaps disorienting manner.