Zitong Wang
Brand Identity, Generative Design, Publication, Installation Design, Web Design
2. EaseUp
VUI Design, Generative Design, Visual Identity
3. Reunion: ài + AI
Installation Design, Web Design
4. HerVoice
UI Design, Visual Identity
©2024 Zitong Wang From Abyss to Air
Game Design, UI/UX Design, Installation Design
Not all stories begin with words.
Some begin with movement, with current, with breath.
About
From Abyss to Air follows a journey through the ocean, moving across three depths as a jellyfish, dolphin, and whale.
A wearable interface connects the body to each creature, while the environment traces how marine life intersects with human industrial systems.
Technical Insights
Design Diagram
This project connects physical gestures with digital marine movement. I built a glove that tracks subtle finger motions and turns them into real-time controls in Unity. Marine creatures respond directly to the hand.
Movement becomes navigation. The body shapes how the environment unfolds.
Why a Glove, Not Hand Tracking?
Most hand tracking systems focus on precision. They try to recognize what gesture is being made. This project takes a different direction. It focuses on how a gesture feels.
The glove supports continuous, analog sensing. It does not try to interpret the hand. It follows it.
Instead of relying on optical accuracy, the interface is built through pressure, resistance, and motion. The glove becomes part of the body. It is not just an external input device.
Glove Prototyping
The glove uses five flex sensors. It was first prototyped on a breadboard, then soldered for stability.
Development moved step by step. I started with Arduino and Processing to test finger response, then shifted to serial communication with Unity.
The system is tuned to feel accurate and easy to move with.
Serial Communication
The glove sends five flex sensor values through an Arduino using serial communication. In Unity, the data is read line by line and turned into inputs for movement and interaction.
This setup keeps latency low and allows full control over how the data is parsed.
Gesture State Machine
To keep gesture recognition stable, I used a simple state machine based on flex sensor thresholds. Each gesture is defined by a combination of finger states.
Control remains consistent, even when the sensors are slightly noisy.
Gesture Mapping
Each gesture controls a different creature. The system is divided into three stages, each linked to a different ocean depth.
Jellyfish: Curl and stretch all fingers to float.
Dolphin: Pinch and release the thumb and index finger to swim.
Whale: Hold the thumb up, then curl and release the other fingers to move forward.
Game Mechanics
Players collect fragments of memory, motion, or resilience to move forward. Each stage introduces a different condition. The deep is still. Higher up, debris begins to drift. Closer to the surface, human structures appear.
As players ascend, the camera moves closer, shifting from distant observation to full immersion. This change reflects a growing intimacy with the ocean and the creatures they inhabit. Each level unlocks the next, rising from depth to surface, from drifting toward direction.
How does a body move through something it cannot see, yet is shaped by everyday?
What if gestures are not about control, but about sensing, remembering, becoming?
Where It Takes Place
This story takes place near the Port of Long Beach, where offshore drilling meets the Wilmington Oil Field. Pipes and platforms stretch across the seafloor, overlapping with a gray whale migration route. Ships, metal, and artificial light begin to interrupt that path.
Some traces rise to the surface. Floating debris and oil drift across the water, appearing quietly throughout the game.
The project stays within this tension, between industrial systems and natural rhythms.
Gesture as Performance, not Control
Wearing the glove is not just about playing.
It does not try to simulate the creature. It asks something else.
What does your body have to give up to move like them?
What does it have to remember?
Each gesture becomes a small choreography.
It is not about doing it right. It is about noticing what feels unfamiliar, awkward, or unexpectedly natural.
A quiet reminder.
We were never only human.