PROJECT 14 | Suburban Commando Command Control Console | Media Installation, 2003

A video installation produced as a senior project for my Interdisciplinary Computing Arts major at UCSD.

The idea was to present a console from which a number of remote participants in a multiplayer first-person shooter scenario could be coordinated and commanded from a central location. The participants could have their vital signs and in-game statistics monitored on one screen, while the in-game action could be monitored on other screens, presenting a holistic view of the physical and telepresent environments involved in the action.

The project's battle scenario consisted of a counter-terrorist raid on a suburban cul-de-sac, with the game map modeled after a stereotypical house found in San Diego's Mira Mesa neighborhood. The counter-terrorists repeatedly rush the house in an attempt to prevent the resident terrorist cell from setting off a bomb, thereby committing suicide and eliminating all evidence of their activities. In this sense, the piece could be viewed as a tactical simulator -- which in effect isn't so different from the way these games are often used in non-artistic contexts.

QT Movies: Console screen | Game footage