In the midst of my experimentation with the Unity gaming platform, I’m struck with the idea that I don’t actually know what I am doing.

I refer not to my technical prowess in working with Unity, which admittedly leaves something to be desired, but rather the goal or objective of my design process in a larger sense. Although the exploratory nature of the project suggests a degree of openness in the process, a resistance to closing off avenues, I find myself in the realm of overly abundant possibility. Coming from a visual arts background, I am accustomed to working within constrained circumstances: testing the wiggle room of the rules, finding the pocket universe inside a seemingly bounded space, produces some of the most interesting and challenging work. A more pragmatic expression of the same sentiment is captured by Newell et al., who note that “beginning the design process with a relatively narrow feature list or functionality is advantageous” (238). Point taken.

Am I approaching the design of an archival interface in VR as the creation of a finding aid, a visualization, a virtual space or an encounter? Each paradigm entails a set of assumptions, a conceptual framing. What is the “relatively narrow feature list or functionality” that I am beginning with? Can I determine those parameters without having a comprehensive knowledge of what can be done within Unity? My bull’s run through the china shop continues…