After recognizing that VR experiences were limited to demos for enthusiasts,
my team and I decided to build a VR sandbox experience for the masses.
In ElemenTerra, players embody a nature spirit sent to a small, desolate planet, with the sole purpose of giving it the gift of life. Players get awesome terraforming powers bestowed upon them that allow them to mold mountains, grow vegetation and explore.
PLATFORM
Desktop (Windows)
TIMELINE
May 2014 - May 2015
MY ROLE
Interaction Designer
TEAM
30-person interdisciplinary team
The information/opinions/decisions shared within this case study are my own and may or may not represent the opinion(s) or decisions practiced by ElemenTerra.
2 - THE SITUATION
THE PROBLEM
In 2014, Virtual Reality experiences were just glorified tech demos showing off one gimmicky feature at private VR fan events.
Revolutionary hardware requires compelling software & experience to truly succeed in the long run, a problem the VR industry faced in 2014.
People didn't know what the solution would look like, as VR didn't have any Killer App yet, just a handful of Tech Demos that people could try and even those rarely left a lasting impression. In order for Virtual Reality to reach the masses, it needed a captivating experience, one that would appeal to both veteran gamers and general public alike.
THE GOAL
We wanted to build a fully immersive sandbox experience that encourages players to create and explore freely.
Even though we were using new technology, we didn’t want this to just feel like another virtual reality tech demo. Every technical decision we made in the game had to support the experience goals for our player. We wanted our players to experience:
• A sense of presence
• A sense of ownership
• Unexpected Delight
CONSTRAINTS
In order to reach our goal, we needed specialized tech to actualize our how.
We decided to utilize three new virtual reality peripherals:
the Oculus Rift, the Sixense STEM and the Virtuix Omni.
We had originally intended on using the Oculus Rift headset for player head-tracking, the Razer Hydra for tracking upper body position in 3D space and the Virtuix Omni (an omni-directional treadmill) to control help players proactively traverse virtually.
RESEARCH
OUR AUDIENCE
Before building anything, we needed to understand the people we're building for.
Virtual Reality can be an exciting, yet daunting experience. In order to mitigate the reluctancy players would have when trying the experience, I decided it would be best to understand the needs of different kinds of players, so we could best accommodate for their specific requirements.
I interviewed 2 groups: Veteran Gamers & the Average Joes/Casuals.
The insights gathered from these distinct audiences helped me better
empathize with each group's situation and I was able to aggregate the data gathered into 2 personas that outline each demographic's needs.
IDEATION
PLOT TWIST
Right as we planned to start building, we had received news that the Omni wasn't coming.
The news was devastating, as we wanted to use the Virtuix Omni treadmill to dictate player traversal, heightening overall immersion.
Nevertheless, I had to adjust to this circumstance and decided to map all of the player controls (for both movement & user actions) onto our existing Razer Hydra Controllers. To do this, I had to learn about all the different affordances granted by the dual-controllers (which was an unexpected, but incredibly rewarding exercise).
THE CONTROLS
The player controls were designed to be simple, intuitive, and beginner-friendly.
Since we knew that our audience of players would be mostly casual gamers and early adopters, we felt pretty confident in our choice to map First Person Shooter-style controls to the joystick - the decision proved extremely valuable and flexible.
TESTING
VALIDATING DESIGNS
Testing our new control scheme to check if it's usability/ease stands true.
After working with the engineering team to create a build with my control scheme, we organized a play-test through our Usability testing coordinator. He recruited play-testers to come to our workspace and we recorded their sessions.
TESTING INSIGHT
Interestingly, our control scheme wasn't the problem players had with the game.
For months, our play-testers mentioned they felt sick when using our game. This "simulation sickness" is one of VR's most widely reported problems.
Our players couldn't enjoy the game; mobility in the game made them sick
to the point of no longer want to play it. This insight was a big obstacle for us.
EXTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS
The player's environment and physical state played a huge role on if they got sick.
• Held play sessions in well-ventilated spaces.
• Had players sit down for extended sessions (30-45 mins)
• Had outdoor setups for players who wanted to stand.
DESIGN REVISIONS
OVER THE NEXT FEW MONTHS
I continuously iterated on different audio, visual, & movement schemes to find a fit.
INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS
Helping the player slow down,
especially while decision-making
improved their overall experience.
By the end of my project tenure and after many hours spent testing and tweaking, I finally established a movement system that felt great & didn't make our players sick! The most critical design features included:
• Locking player movement whenever they needed to perform any action. This way, movement sudden movement wouldn't hinder their creativity.
• Giving the player a 3D reticle to improve their depth perception and focus,
as not knowing how far things were definitely caused confusion/sickness.
THE OUTCOME
ElemenTerra released after of 1 year development
& received an overwhelmingly positive reception.
Interestingly, the people who were most interested to try ElemenTerra out were casual gamers or people who had never even played a game before.
They found the creation aspect of the experience to be incredibly appealing.
Hence, we had successfully achieved our goal of making VR accessible to the general masses. Moreover, we achieved all goals we set out to reach.
60%
of our player base were players who
had never even played games before.
70%
players mentioned that the game was incredibly immersive and relaxing.
80%
appreciated the sense of ownership and intuitive controls within the experience
90%
voiced that the random moments added in the game added an extra sense of delight.
RECOGNITION
In the coming months post-release ElemenTerra received tons of awards.
ElemenTerra went on to winning tons of game0awards for it's innovative storytelling and design. Additionally, an unexpected train of events led to Starbreeze Studios noticing the project, and offering the founders $750,000 to acquire the IP and continue development on the experience. Truly Great!
