VR Space for Mental Wellbeing
Virtual Reality
The brief was to design a collaborative VR space for mental wellbeing or primates. I decided to build upon my Embodied AI concept and have my protagonist Kanye Zest at the forefront, designing his wellbeing world with aspects of playful discovery dotted throughout the world.
I explored various aspects of the experience, from spatial design, to sound and light design. I then brought it together through greyboxing and kitbashing in Unity to make a proof of concept prototype.
This project scored me full points on the ELVTR AR/VR Design Course
An embodied AI named Kanye Zest greets you into the world, triage's what kind of rest you need and tells you if you are over activated, or under activated then directs you to a side of the world, bespoke to your rest needs.
A space to recharge
The Vibe
Drawing inspiration from animations such as Pachamama, Oni: A Thunder God’s Tale; small indie games suck as Flock, Night In The Woods, I Am Dead and Firewatch; and anthropological artifacts from Mesoamerica, North West Coast Indian tribes and Ancient Japan, subtly pulling from ancient mindfulness techniques.
The Experience
Sound Design
The world will be full of enriching nature sounds to discover to bring you into a restful state and lower your stress levels.
Pep Talk Vases
Throughout the world are little vases that offer words of encouragement for those who need a little pep, adding an element of discover ability and play into the space for wellbeing.
Lighting
Audio Concept
Glimmer Orbs
Sound therapy has shown to be an effective solution to release stress. My audio concept brings in different vibes to suit the mood of the player, all with stress busting properties, whether that’s structured electro beats for focus, or more ambient, natural sounds.
Conceptually, these will be in the form of interactive audio glimmer orbs that follow you throughout the world. As a player you can drop and pin the orbs in any space you like to create your own tailored restful space.
The Glimmer Orbs are named after the word Glimmer, a term coined by Clinical Social Worker Deb Dana, meaning the tiny micro moments of joy that elicit a rush of happiness, gratitude, and calm.
Mindfulness & Mantra
Meditations
Smooth voices
Ambient sound
Wind
Rain
Waves
Birds
Thunder
Sound for focus
Downtempo
Lofi
Electro
Sensory
Binaural beats
Spectral & mindfulness
Spacey
Low BPM
Easy tempo
Scan these Spotify Codes for audio examples:
1. Open Spotify; 2. Tap Search; 3. Tap the camera icon top right;
Building in Unity
I began my building journey in Unity by greyboxing first, using primitives to get the rough layout, and then I began kitbashing with assets from Unity Asset Store and CG Trader, ensuring optimum performance for VR applications. A challenge I faced was missing textures on some of the assets, which meant my world has a bit of a snowy look.
