- Sep - Dec 2022
- Design an interactive VR application for a 3D Animation & Virtual World Building class in Simon Fraser University
- Tools Used : Unity
- Game Level & Art Designer
The goal of Satellite Damage is to bring awareness to the issue of space trash and present a possible solution to the problem. We want to provide users an opportunity to physically interact with space trash in an attempt to provide a positive difference in the simulated world. The game experience focuses on the physical labor aspect of repairing and recycling in an effort to bring awareness to an upcoming global crisis if the world doesn’t act soon.
The objective during the experience is to travel from satellite to satellite, checking on their general wellbeing, and decide if they would need any care and maintenance (refueling, repair, or recycling). The user is then in charge of fixing said satellites with the necessary components. Players should walk out with more knowledge about space clutters; how it can potentially get worse in the future; and what are the potential solutions for this issue. Through our designed experience, we hope to invoke feelings of awe in space, and potentially disappointment or anxiety when dealing with space debris.
Inspired from classic space movies such as Star Trek, Star Wars, and Interstellar, I desired to create a spacecraft that provokes uniqueness, futurism yet familiarity, as the VR game takes place in the near future, 2105. There were a few designs that I came up with, however this is the final design our team decided to move forward with.
During the creation process, I have built a few variations with minor variations of the spacecraft, and I worked closely with the other team members to allow them to provide feedback and work out adjustments. After the exterior was finalized, the interior design process was considerably easier, as another Game Art Designer had already worked out an interior design & floor plan with me, and we just imported assets from the Unity-Asset Store (as per course instructions) and started creating the interior.
Through meticulous planning and feedback provided, we rifled through various different amounts of assets, chose assets that best fits the theme of the spacecraft, and placed the objects in the appropriate areas. Additionally, we worked on lighting to ensure that the interior is properly lit up in a realistic manner.
After the both the interior and exterior sections of the spacecraft had been finalized. We spent a few days to choose 2D & 3D textures that best fit the spacecraft, imported them, then placed them onto objects. Additionally, we went through the entire spacecraft to ensure that there weren't objects and walls that were out of place, and no invisible walls and glitches that could potentially break the immersiveness of our application.
Finally, with the use of Premiere Pro and its audio effects, I created radio transmissions that broadcast throughout the entire ship in an extremely low level to provide more immersiveness, and worked on object provided audios so that it functions properly.
Here are some unused assets and cut content that I created for the application.
Overall, Satellite Damage was one of the best projects I've ever created in University. I had learnt a lot in terms of game and environmental build process, test-builds, iterations, effective communications and collaborations fellow group members, and working with an engine that creates a VR application.
World Making has always been an interest of mine, and this course helped solidify that I am able, and still have the passion in this field. I would like to bring this experience towards building even more games and applications if the opportunity arises.
Our Team created a website for our project. Feel free to check it out! : https://zhengbu991012.wixsite.com/iat445
