Setting Up the 360ยฐ Display
Project Overview
Welcome to 360 Studio! This semester, our team will be exploring the creative possibilities of a 360-degree cylindrical display and investigating how its unique form factor can inspire new forms of interactive entertainment.
Unlike conventional flat screens, our display consists of two 180-degree curved panels forming a continuous 360-degree viewing surface. This creates an unusual environment where audiences can gather around the screen, move between different viewing positions, and experience content from multiple perspectives.
Our goal is to better understand the possibilities and constraints of this technology and ultimately create an engaging location-based entertainment (LBE) experience designed specifically for this platform.
Understanding the 360ยฐ Display
During our first week, we focused primarily on becoming familiar with our equipment and setting up the foundation for future development.
We began by unpacking and assembling the cylindrical display, connecting its components, and working through the initial technical setup. Once the system was operational, we experimented with displaying different kinds of visual content, including videos and images, to see how conventional media translates onto a curved, continuous surface.
These early experiments helped us identify several important considerations, including the curvature of the screen, image distortion, resolution, viewing angles, and the relationship between the physical structure of the display and its digital content.
Exploring the Design Space
Beyond the technical setup, we also began discussing what makes this display fundamentally different from traditional screens and how those differences might shape our design process.
One of the most interesting characteristics is that viewers cannot see the entire display from a single position. Instead, they must physically move around the cylinder to access different parts of the visual content. This creates opportunities for interactions that incorporate players’ spatial positions and physical movements.
We also considered the social possibilities of the device. Because the screen can be approached from multiple directions, it naturally creates a shared experience where several people can gather, participate, and observe simultaneously.
Rather than treating the cylinder simply as another surface for displaying existing games, we want to explore how its physical characteristics can become an essential part of the experience itself.
Week 1 Alignment
As a team, we used our first week to establish a shared understanding of the project, discuss our initial interests, and identify the design questions we want to investigate throughout the semester.
Our early conversations centered on the relationship between the screen, the players, and the surrounding physical environment. We considered how the display could support different forms of gameplay, how multiple users might interact with it simultaneously, and how the experience could encourage physical movement and social engagement.
These discussions helped us establish an initial direction while keeping our design possibilities open. Before committing to a particular game concept, we believe it is important to explore the platform and understand what kinds of experiences it can uniquely support.
What’s Next
Moving into Week 2, we plan to continue investigating the technical and interactive possibilities of the 360-degree display. Our next steps include exploring potential gameplay directions, identifying the platform’s primary constraints, and beginning to translate our ideas into small experiments and prototypes.
Through this process, we hope to gradually narrow our focus and discover an experience that genuinely takes advantage of the display’s unique characteristics.
