Walkthrough of vr game world
My inspiration for this virtual world was a combination of two of my most favorite video games, "Abzu," made by Giant Squid Studio, and "Journey," made by Thatgamecompany and Santa Monica Studio. One of the biggest things that struck me about these games is the colors. I love the beautiful bright and vibrant colors that were chosen to make these games. I wanted to replicate that in my own game, with a small twist, so that it wouldn't be a total copy. I also love the simple look of all the animals, objects, locations and characters in the game. Everything is created simple, with not too many details and realistic features. I decided I wanted to replicate this, but exaggerate it even more by using a low poly style in my game. I want someone to have a peaceful and calming experience when playing my game.
The Process
The process to making this game was a long one. I had a lot of research, design, and building time that I needed to plan out.
I first had to research what kind of look I wanted for my world. I reflected on many games that I have played in the past, and looked for games similar to the ones I like. I had to keep in mind what kind of lighting I liked, color palettes I wanted to use as a color theme for my world, and the style I wanted to use for the objects in my game, whether those be realistic, vector, high poly or low poly.
After I finished my research and had an idea of what I wanted my world to look like, I needed to do more research to see what asset packs I would be able to find in the Unity store so that I can use them in my world. The more I can find that fit what I need, the less I needed to create myself in Maya.
Once I got all my assets and determined what else I needed to create, I went ahead and created the terrain in my world by using an actual mountain's height from Africa, and modified the height of it to fit my preferences. I then was able to change the look of everything, bring in all my assets, and arrange everything together, adding in lights and music afterwards.
Virtual Reality Ecosystems Gallery
I wanted to think outside of the box when I heard I was supposed to make a virtual gallery for the class I was taking. I knew that everyone else would decide to make an actual gallery, something that represents being indoors or inside a 'traditional gallery.' I decided to represent some of the biggest natural environments in my gallery, bringing nature and the outdoors to be an indoor experience. I wanted it to seem like you can all the natural environments of the world in one place, without having to actually travel. I think that nature can be its very own gallery, having all of its beauty on display for others to experience as you walk through a forest, a meadow, or swim through a sea. With this project, I wanted this to be experienced, and for people to be able to find which room they connect with the most.
The Process
The process to making this virtual gallery was a long but enjoyable one. I first created my gallery space by drawing it out on Photoshop, importing that image into Unity, and creating the walls and floor based off of the image, like a blueprint.
Afterwards, I tried to look for asset packs for each one of my rooms that were all low poly. I wanted to make sure that everything looked the same so that there would be a consistent look throughout the whole gallery.
Once I had everything collected, I placed out all the rooms and made sure I adjusted the lighting to how I thought it fit best, and added sounds.
I created a 3D sculpture and five paintings in virtual reality during this whole process which would be added throughout the hallways of my gallery downstairs, as well as in the upstairs area of my gallery.
Noctis Evadere Virtual Reality
When I made this Virtual Reality game with my team, we wanted to make a game that was familiar, but mysterious. We ended up making a game that is similar to the movie, "Night At The Museum," in the sense that the game takes place in a museum at night. We decided to name the game "Noctis Evadere," which is Latin for "Night Escape." We thought that the use of Latin would be eye-catching to many, and that it would lead many to wonder what the title means and what they would be escaping from. The game itself uses two types of sensors, a laser sensor, and a camera sensor. With these sensors, we wanted to show how a robot may see the environment around it. By using the flashlight with laser dots, it shows how some robots and artificial intelligence may see the environment around it by displaying these dots and reading how far back they go. This is similar to how an Xbox Kinect works. The camera sensor is supposed to detect anything that looks like a person, to spot someone who may potentially break into the museum. This is representative to cameras that are made to recognize people's faces. Through playing this game, you get an understanding of two out of three most typical sensors used in robotics, along with a sense of mystery and problem solving as you try to escape the museum.
 |  |
|---|---|
 |  |
 |  |
 |  |
 |  |
 |  |
The Process
The process in making this game was very complex. We first started out with brainstorming ideas. We came up with movies and games that we like, and wrote down words that would get associated with them. We then came up with themes that those movies and games would fit, and came up with words that would describe what you might find in those themes. After that, we thought of environments that might be seen in those themes. Eventually, we all came to agree on what the theme and setting of our game would be.
After we established the game theme and setting, we decided to figure out how many rooms we would have in our game. Once we broke it down, we figured out what the theme of each room would be. We then listed out items that may be found in each of those rooms, and decided on what we could realistically create ourselves in the amount of time we had until our deadline.
After figuring out everyone's responsibilities, we all started working on our rooms. One of our teammates created the building, and we each took our separate rooms, keeping in mind the measurements in order to have everything in size relative to how items and people are sized in real life. I created all the items needed in the two rooms I made, which were the Terracotta soldier room and the security room.
Once everyone had created their items and assembled their rooms together, one of our teammates assembled the whole museum together, while me and another teammate researched sounds and music that we needed for each room and organized them together.
We all worked together in making sure that all the sounds and music were put in, and collaborated with a computer science professor who has a long experience in coding to help us create scripts we needed for grabbing objects, flipping switches, and other functions, and worked together to transfer the game into VR and get everything working as it should.
At the end, we worked together to create the splash screen at the beginning and the screen that pops up at the end, and to create a walkthrough of the whole game.