James Wilson - Aquanaut VR

Audience: Commercial divers / trainers
Disciplines: VR / UI / UX / 3D / Branding
Deliverables: Virtual Reality application. Connected handheld device.
Software: Unity, Maya, Audacity, InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, XD

Brief: For our Final Year Project (the major project that would encapsulate everything we had learned during the course), we were tasked with creating and delivering a creative, digital artefact of our choosing. It involved not only design but research, development and evaluation.

Response: At this point, I wanted to focus on Virtual Reality and see what I could create in Unity and other programs. Due to my previous experience working with B2B and B2C brands, I focused on VR training rather than entertainment, so that I could create a tangible product for businesses to use. After picking an industry I was interested in, Commercial Diving, I decided to create a VR application for trainee divers to use alongside real-life training. Partnered with this, I added a tablet that would allow trainers to change the scenario in real-time so that it would be more realistic and present a challenge to the users.

A collage of images relating to all parts of the project, including art style and UI.

Logo alongside development. The logomark represents how both VR and diving are the window to a different world. This is partnered with the idea of depth which adds to the meticulous and scientific nature of the industry.

Level designs for the application. It's important to note that through my research, I found that many users can get motion sickness so I didn't want to create sprawling levels for them to explore. Docklands are for the Main Menu (above water to provide context), the Saturation Chamber is for Tutorials and Mission Briefings and the Scenarios take place on-site underwater.

This image details the tutorial area, showcasing the tutorial screen that follows the player as they move through the area. Compared to real-world saturation chambers, I made this less claustrophobic to contrast the underwater areas.

This is the immediate view of users when they first enter the underwater world. Lights guide the player to the main container-retrieval site.

And these showcase the variety of interactions at the players disposal. Interactions are what immerse users into VR so they need to be realistic, responsive as well as fun to use. Players can teleport, cut debris away from containers and use lifting bags to lift items to the surface. They can also climb ladders to enter and exit underwater areas.

This image showcases the training module that allows trainers to adapt the simulation for users in VR. They can adjust weather effects, fog distance, difficulty (lowers oxygen faster) and spawn in fish that will disrupt and attack the player. It also contains an area for the players current status.

Click play to see an explanation video as well as some real-time gameplay of the application.