VR Experience: Gravity Compass
"I just glimpsed the future and it was beautiful."
Summary
Gravity compass became the first published product for my VR startup company, NovaWake Studios. I created a unique experience for a general audience that was tested by hundreds of visitors and touted the first true comfortable 3D flying navigation for virtual reality.
Tools used: Unity, Maya, Photoshop, pen+paper
Target Device: Oculus Rift, HTC Vive
Audience: Steam users, and Studio visitors
Media: Virtual Reality experience
Contribution
- Concept
- Creative Direction
- UX Design
- 3D Environment Art
- Effects
The Challenge:
Create a virtual reality experience to drive revenue for a new startup company that is approachable and enjoyable to a general audience.
Background:
Without commercially available hardware in 2015, my VR company NovaWake wanted to make an experience that could be enjoyed on-site by visitors as well as become the company’s first product distributed online. In both cases, the VR experience generated revenue for the new startup.
My Role
I was a co-owner of the company and created the concept of the project. I served as the creative director managing engineers and technical artists in terms of user experience design and aesthetics. I also created the environment art along with some visual effects in the game engine Unity.
Result
During Terrain 8 people were lined up waiting to view the piece in the 7+ hour time period.
After launching on Steam, we achieved over 1,600 downloads in the first 6 weeks.
"So relaxing! I did not expect that. I wanna use it every time before I go to bed."
- visitor comment from Terrain 8
Exhibition
Team: NovaWake Studios
Premiere: 2015 October - Terrain 8, Spokane, WA
Exhibited: 2015 Oct - 2016 February - Time Traveler Lounge, Spokane, WA
Released: 2016 May - Steam for HTC Vive and Oculus Rift
Media: Audio-reactive Virtual Reality experience