“Save the Future!” | Time travel virtual reality game
trade show vr gaming experience for audience engagement
PROJECT: “Save the Future!”
Time Travel VR Game
CLIENT: Created for IMD Exhibit
LOCATION: Washington DC Metro Area
PROJECT PHASE:
From Concept to full implementation of VR Gaming Experience
Trade Show Exhibition Booth for VR Awareness and Audience Engagement
SERVICES:
Pre-Event, Gaming Concept
Development of all Virtual Environments & Components
VR Game programming for User Experience
and Audience Engagement at Live Event
Provision of Equipment, Set up, Booth Personnel, and Tear down
PRODUCTION TIME: 3 weeks
IMD regularly attends “Design DC”, an annual architecture conference hosted by the American Institute of Architects in Washington DC. The audience for this event are professionals in the Design and Construction industry, which typically are shy to try out new technology.
The idea behind the creation of the game was to display the possibilities of interactivity in a VR setting specifically for architecture, in addition to providing a fun experience for new VR users to enjoy.
IMD built a VR game with the theme of time travel to offer the opportunity to both explore architectural space and “play” outside the limits of reality.
An audio component explains the mission, a video instructs users how to use the VR equipment, and staff are available at the booth providing additional help and instructions if needed. The player starts in a future where there is the technology to travel back in time. Someone else already done so, and accidentally left an electronic device in the past. If the device remains in the past, the future could be altered forever!
The mission is to go back in time and recover the device before it’s too late. If the player is not successful, the space-time continuum will be destroyed!
One floor plan is designed to be “futuristic” and “old-fashioned,” similar to how a designer could use VR to compare Design Options. The player is able to pick up any small object and interact and rearrange the room while they search for the technology device. Don’t spend too much time rearranging, you’re under pressure to find the device and take it back thru the portal before time is up!
“Forget reality, put me back in the headset!”
VR Game Experience
Our Trade Show Recap, watch it here.
Behind the Scenes | insights
vr experiences without the headset
While you see this VR gaming experience as one through an HTC Vive headset by the participants in the video, the same experience can actually be programmed for use without the need of a headset device.
In cases where the end user prefers not to wear a headset, or is uncomfortable with the set up and maintaining of the technology, these same experiences can be used through a keyboard/mouse or game controller navigation.
advantages to using a vr headset
Using a VR headset such as HTC Vive or Oculus Rift has several advantages. To start, the “player” get the most realistic experience of the space because the proportions and dimensions of the space and objects within are created accurately as in the real-world. Therefore, when the player enters the VR world, one feels as if that is a in fact a convincing environment.
In addition, headsets allow for the most interactive experience. The VR headset experience offers continuous movement through a space, without the need to “hop” from one “Hotspot” to the next as you do in 360° VR. This, in turn, promotes muscle memory in training simulations with the possible addition of props to make the experience even more realistic.
single and multi-player modes
In both set ups, the interactive experience can allow for multi-player mode.
The keyboard/mouse or game controller scenario naturally gives way to a multi-player experience, because typically the experience is shown on a large screen, TV, and possibly in a conference room setting. This makes it very easy to present to a large group, and explore the game or project in a group atmosphere.
When using headsets, multi-player modes require more complex programming, equipment, and on-site installation, but the capabilities are there for those that want it.
Audience Reaction to IMD’s Time Travel VR Game with HTC Vive, created in UnReal Engine. This is the typical response when experiencing the real-life scale of a virtual world environment.