Environmental Sim
By Trevor and Kody
Precedents
Notes from Arboretum Visit
- The landscaping felt intentional but there were somethings we wished we could change.
- It felt like a living museum
- We were inspired by the large amounts of of wildlife of the arboretum
- It didn't feel like wildlife, but it also didn't feel like a garden and had a very interesting mix.
Thesis
Environmental Sim is a small, meditative virtual reality game where the user can plant and grow trees while calming music plays, along with viewing other user's creative spaces gardens.
Project Principles
Lively Visuals
Seeing Life
Learning about Layouts
A Botanist in Borneo
Informative Gameplay
Learning About Food Webs
Precedents
SMOKE TREE
- The Smoke Tree (Cotinus Coggygria) has a cloud-like exterior and is very aesthetically pleasing.
- It can survive in the New England Climate that we wanted to replicate.
- It's vibrant bright colors sets it apart from other trees which is ultimately the reason we created this tree first.
Precedents
Pixel Ripped
Nature Treks VR
Sketches
Tiling & Early Ideas
Originally we explored the idea of tiling but moved away from that as we made our way into VR
In VR we wanted to create simple interactables that the user could easily understand
Phase 2 Prototyping:
Creating models
Black Oak Seed
Dawn Redwood Seed
Axe (Rearranging Tool)
Phase 2 Prototyping:
Building the world
Creating sound was a big part of our project to fulfill the meditative feel of the game.
In Unity, we tried to make the game easy to pick up with simple directions without losing any of the "Wow" factor you experience in VR.
Technical Sketch
Final Picture
Next Steps
Create more customization features
Re-incorporate the educational aspect
Allow the ability to share your world to others
Environmental Sim is a small meditative virtual reality game where the user can plant and grow trees while calming music plays, along with viewing other user's creative spaces gardens.