At
Potion I worked on an interactive koi pond, for a new cancer center in NYC. The entire pond is made up of 3 sets of giant touch tables, and sits outside the elevators next to the cafe in the building, offering visitors a moment of relaxation and reflection as they wait for treatment. It also responds to time of day and year, to keep repeating visitors entertained.
The pond was made in Unity. I developed the fish's procedural movement, by adjusting joint position in code in combination with animations made in 3D software. This way, we could have the fish respond to the user immediately, no matter where the user was calling the fish to.
In addition to fish behavior, I created a system for interactive lilypads in the pond. These are to give users more ways to interact with the fish. They can feed the fish and give the fish a message, with content populated by the client.
The pond also has ambient features, including the previously mentioned time of day and seasonal changes. Throughout the day the lighting in the pond changes, creating different color pallettes, and there is different scenery for the four seasons. The fish also have ambient behaviors, and will occasionally do different choreography all on their own, creating a magical moment for anyone lucky enough to catch a glimpse.
