ForestVR
ForestVR is a simulation offering players an opportunity to adopt an animals' perspective in a forest environment. Players will be able to explore the environment as themselves; alternatively they can select one of the wandering animals and adopt their visual and auditory senses, experiencing the world from their perspective.
Role
UX Design
Lead Developer
Research
Client
American University
Programs
Unity
Figma
Github
Time
6+ Months
This VR experience was designed in collaboration with Environmental Film and Game Design graduate students from American University.
ForestVR is informed by research to achieve authentic visual and auditory receptors of the included animals. The team implemented post-processing effects to simulate the appearance of the environment from the animal perspectives. This involved applying chromatic aberration, color-grading, and camera depth-of-field, allowing its post-processing layer to communicate with each animals' unique post-processing profile. The forest setting was constructed with Megascans, a Unity plug-in utilizing impressive foliage models and photographic scans as textures to create a more immersive virtual environment for the player.
ForestVR emphasizes the capability of virtual reality to simulate natural environments while incorporating experimental technology for authentic perceptual experiences. Our team intends for ForestVR, and similar projects, to become pervasive with educational, corporate, and public audiences. Ideally, virtual reality with added experimental technologies would provide scaffolding for how to mitigate the effects of rapid urbanization. ForestVR, and similar projects, are just the beginning of immersive experiences that can inspire immense real-world impact by utilizing the strength of immersion: empathy.
The Development Process
State Machines were used to develop the animations for the animals in the forest environment.