Featured Works by Mashiyat Zaman
A selection of projects I took part in developing. My approach is to emphasize simple, thoughtful interactions while pushing the boundaries of what I know and can do. My best work comes through collaborating with others – see these projects and more on Instagram, where I'm happy to connect.
Community Canvas (Jan 26–28, 2024)
Co-design your neighborhood with members of your community through AR. Using a pair of smart glasses and your phone, model shared spaces the way you want them, and participate in dialogue about what creating for the community really means.
Developed MIT Reality Hack 2024. Finalist, and winner of Best Leia SR Application, and Best Use of Snapdragon Spaces. Currently my Master's thesis at NYU ITP – follow this page for development updates.
TASK: Build an XR application that touches on the theme of connection.
TOOLS: Unity3D | Snapdragon Spaces SDK & Dual Render Fusion Add-on | Lenovo ThinkReality A3 & Motorola Edge+ | Figma | Meshy | Codeberg/Git
TEAM:
- Media Operator, Yidan Hu
- Interaction Designer, Tom Xia
- User Experience Designer, Lily Yu
- Unity3D Developer, Mashiyat Zaman
- Interaction Developer, Joyce Zheng
CONTRIBUTIONS:
- Planning: I worked with my team to brainstorm problem spaces related to the hackathon theme, and use cases of the chosen technology in these situations.
- Unity3D Development: I implemented the Snapdragon Spaces SDK with the Dual Render Fusion Add-on to create a prototype that demonstrates the user flow and 3D asset generation in mixed reality.
reality-hack-2024
- Presentation: I pitched our project through several rounds of judging, articulating our motivation and the advantages of the technology we used, and responding to feedback and suggestions.
RETROSPECTIVE:
- Perhaps in the future, smart glasses will become commonplace, but right now they are expensive and difficult to come by – how do we create opportunities to use them in a way that promotes transparency, rather than creating more inequality?
- Smart glasses, like any headset, can get hot after a while, and in the case of the Lenovo ThinkReality A3, drain the phone battery quickly – how can we utilize their strengths given these limitations?
Transcending Boundaries (Oct 2023 – Dec 2023)
Learn how different UN organizations work together to tackle issues around the world with this interactive globe. Select a topic of interest, choose from a list of UN entities doing work in that field, and see how they've collaborating with community partners to make change.
Completed for the class Designing for Impact at the NYU Game Center (Fall 2023), with mentorship from the UN Chief of Visitor Services. Presented at the UN Visitors' Lobby on December 18, 2023.
TASK: Collaborate with UN Visitor Services and area experts to design and prototype a public installation for the UN's exhibition space.
TOOLS: Unity3D | NocoDB | Illustrator | Figma | GitHub
TEAM:
- Database Programmer, JD Calvelli
- Exhibition Designer, Queenie Huang
- UI/UX Designer, Lily Yu
- Unity3D Developer, Mashiyat Zaman
CONTRIBUTIONS:
- Unity3D Development: I translated iterations of our UI/UX designs from wireframes to the game engine, implemented the touch-based interactions, and propagated information between our database and the user interface.
- Presentation: This project was one of four projects selected by the UN Visitor Services team for development. I pitched this project as a potential solution for organizing and consolidating information about the UN's activities across its member organizations around the world. With my team, I presented our finished prototype to UN staff, emphasizing its scalability through its potential to show information about any number of organizations and their milestones.
- Communication: I maintained contact with our collaborators at the UN, providing updates on our progress, and facilitated biweekly meetings in which we discussed questions and feedback.
RETROSPECTIVE:
- How do we distinguish which parts of the screen are interactive vs. not, without explicitly telling the user what to touch and when?
- The concentration of UN headquarters in Europe should not seem at odds with their distributed activity around the world – what's a better way of showing this information?
- Refactoring the project to be agnostic of the dataset could allow clients to use the same style interface to represent any kind of information.
jdcalvelliOshi-Gokko (Mar 2023 – May 2023)
In this two-player arcade game, play as either an underground popstar going about his busy schedule between bookings, or as his number one biggest fan in hot pursuit of photos for her burgeoning stan account.
Developed as the final project for the ITP graduate class New Arcade (Spring 2023). Presented at Wonderville on May 6, and at the ITP/IMA Spring Show May 14-15.
TASK: Design and develop an arcade game and its enclosure for playing at multiple public venues by a wide range of guests.
TOOLS: Unity3D | Teensy 4.0/Arduino | Photoshop | Audition | Fusion360
TEAM:
- Electrical Engineer, An-Kai Cheng
- Art & Sound Asset Designer, Kitty Guo
- 3D Modeler & Fabricator, Mathew Olson
- Unity3D Developer, Mashiyat Zaman
CONTRIBUTIONS:
- Level Design: Based on feedback through play tests and in-class critiques, I frequently updated the game's map for optimization as well as further experimentation. Our major breakthrough was introducing traffic lanes between buildings, which added unpredictability that players enjoyed as both an obstacle and a strategic escape plan.
- Physics: Taking inspiration from Pac-Man, I implemented "cornering", through which players are able to move slightly more quickly around corners, which might create an advantage during a particularly close chase.
- Arduino Development: I used the Teensy 4.0 microcontroller to map the joystick and button presses into keyboard commands – on the Unity side, I used these button inputs to trigger UI updates, such as the idol's star timer or the fan's camera flash, as well as character movement.
RETROSPECTIVE:
- How important is balance when there is asymmetry between player controls?
- In optimizing for balance, or adding new features, how do we avoid overcorrecting, or power creeping?
- Adding more contrast between the terrain and characters may help players more easily locate where they are, especially after being tossed around by cars!
mashiyatzThe Disease of Doubt (Oct 2023 – Dec 2023)
A virtual experience in which you write a birthday card to an old friend, reminiscing about the ups and downs of your journey together while confronting distractions and intrusive thoughts that threaten to pull you away. A look at how OCD may influence relationships.
Submitted as a final project for the ITP graduate class Autofictions and the Music Technology graduate class Audio for Immersive Environments. Presented at the Autofictions Showcase on December 7 and at the ITP/IMA Winter Show December 18, 2023.
TASK: Design an immersive storytelling experience.
TOOLS: Unreal Engine 5, Meta Quest 3, Wwise, Ableton, Figma
TEAM:
- Level & Sound Designer, Hyungin Choi
- Set Designer, Charlotte Shi
- Project Manager, Dipika Titus
- Unreal Engine VR Developer, Mashiyat Zaman
CONTRIBUTIONS:
- Interaction Implementation: I used Blueprints and the Sequencer to control the contents of the letter based on whether the player brought the pen to the page in the VR version, or whether they were pressing the mouse over the page in the PC version.
- Optimization: To account for hardware limitations of both the VR headset and our workstation, I looked into best practices for running a VR application as smoothly as possible and adjusted settings accordingly.
- Sound Engine Implementation: I implemented all of the sounds into the scene using Wwise, scaling volume, spread, and low-pass filtering of different elements using a "stress level" parameter that increase the further down the letter you write.
RETROSPECTIVE:
- Debugging and testing new changes for VR is time consuming after accounting for creating a new build and putting on the headset each time.
- Hardware specifications can limit the complexity of interactions that can be implemented – testing early and often is key!
Other Projects
Have a look at some other projects that I also developed with game engines, both independently and with talented classmates and colleagues. I've listed these in reverse chronological order – over time, I have been able to expand my toolkit and contribute in areas beyond programming, including modeling and sound design. This flexibility has helped me explore new ways of sharing my voice – sometimes even literally!
Valuables
A short single player story where you play as a stranger to a remote village, finding the lost belongings of locals at the behest of an otherworldly being.
Developed over the course of a month for the annual GitHub Game Off, and submitted as a final project for the ITP graduate classes Hypercinema and Game Design & the Psychology of Choice. Presented at the ITP/IMA Winter Show December 17-18, 2023.
TASK: Build a game over the month using the theme SCALE.
ROLE: Unity3D development, battle design, sound engine implementation
TEAM: Stephanie Chen (SFX & music design), Briana Jones (UI & VFX design), Jane Liu (art & assets), Daniel Wai (story & cutscenes)
TOOLS: Unity3D, Wwise, Figma
mashiyatzNPC Mashi
Displayed by the front desk of NYU ITP and serving as both public self-mockery and a public service message, this simple interactive piece features myself as an NPC, working at a desk in a surprisingly honest simulation of the 4th floor of 370 Jay Street. Tap the NPC to hear a variety of quotes you might encounter as a student. Tap the question mark in the corner to see a frank message displayed to passersby.
TASK: Tell students to go the f-ck home!
ROLE: Unity3D development, 3D modeling (hat, table), sound design & editing
TOOLS: Unity3D, Fusion360, Mixamo, Blender, Audition
mashiyatzWe Are Only Apart
A metaphor for how a feeling transcends distance between loved ones living apart, presented as an arcade game where you race against the clock. Using an origami pen attached to a joystick embedded in a pop-up book, steer a paper plane across a vast landscape to find four landmarks.
Submitted as a midterm project for the graduate class New Arcade (Spring 2023).
TASK: Design and develop an alt.ctrl game.
ROLE: Unity3D & Arduino development, 3D modeling (windmill), level design, paper fabrication
TOOLS: Unity3D, Teensy 4.0, Fusion360, Audition, paper (& patience)
mashiyatzThis Reminded Me Of You
Take a break in your living room filled with books we’ve lent you throughout years of friendship – use your mouse or scroll wheel to search the room, and click to read our letters to you.
Created for the graduate class Hypercinema (Fall 2022), and presented at the ITP/IMA 2022 Winter Show. Playable on a desktop web browser.
TASK: Design a poetic diorama using a game engine.
ROLE: Unity3D development, level design
TEAM: Jo Suk (concept, art & sound design)
TOOLS: Unity3D, Audition
mashiyatzPhiPhi's Quantum Tuna Cans
Rotate a tuna can-turned-controller to increase the odds of successfully feeding a hungry little cat, and learn a little bit about quantum mechanics along the way.
Created as a final project for the ITP graduate class Introduction to Physical Computing (Fall 2022), and presented at the ITP/IMA 2022 Winter Show.
TASK: Design an interactive experience using Arduino.
ROLE: Unity3D & Arduino development, quantum physics research
TEAM: Yuke Ding (concept, art, UI, & quantum physics research)
TOOLS: Unity3D, Arduino Nano IoT 33, Illustrator
mashiyatzGeospatial Visualization with AR
Track local landmarks and visualize 3D models in your neighborhood using this AR companion to Re:Earth, a web-based GIS tool. Read an introduction to the project here.
Developed at Eukarya, a Japanese startup specializing in geospatial technologies.
TASK: Prototype an AR companion for visualizing GIS information, for potential use in emergency response training.
ROLE: Unity3D AR development, research, pitching
TEAM: Hidemichi Baba (project management), Naoya Nishibayashi (strategy), Shinnosuke Komiya (lead)
TOOLS: Unity3D, Cesium, Google Visual Position System
Here are a few more projects I like, in a variety of different mediums!