Worlds Unfolding: Ideas and Prompts for Virtual World-Making

Over the past few years, our understanding of connection, community, and creativity has been profoundly transformed. Virtual spaces have become essential complements to physical ones, offering new ways to gather, collaborate, and imagine beyond the limits of geography and physical presence. Worlds Unfolding invites you to explore the art of virtual world-making—a practice that blends storytelling, design, and collective imagination to craft spaces that nurture community, experimentation, and liberation.

This publication offers a curated collection of prompts, ideas, and community-contributed projects that delve into the possibilities of building and inhabiting virtual worlds. At the same time, it critically engages with the complexities of these spaces, acknowledging their entanglement with systems of power and inequity. By approaching virtual world-making as an intentional and collaborative process, Worlds Unfolding aims to inspire creators to shape digital spaces with care, creativity, and a vision for collective flourishing.

Explore the projects, connect with the artists, and contribute your own ideas to this growing archive. Together, let’s reimagine what virtual worlds can be.

Published by Underground Art And Design
Vol. 1
January 2025
1ST Edition
ISSN: 3066-165X

Edited by
Amy Xiaofan Jiang

Contributed by
>3<3=3 (Chunlu Sheng and Xuanjie Huang)
Alice Chen
Andy DiLallo and Ian Anderson
Caren Wenqing Ye and Keer Zhao
Cecil Boey and Michael Wang
Chia-hua Lee
Freddie Sanders and Chaney Manshu Diao
Huanzhe Hu
Jiatong Yao
Lois He, John Luo, Kaiyang Zhao, Kaiyang Zhao, Vio Zhu
Neonature (Kassandra Huynh and Johannes Fuchs)
Parsons & Charlesworth
SENAIDA and Ricky Kapoor
Song Xin and Rosie Muhan Yuan
WanderLens Lab (Zihao Zhang and Daoxin Chen)