How to execute your idea in the Virtual World

Marco A. Friedrichsen & DH Hub

How to execute

Shaping an idea into a virtual or mixed reality experience is not a simple achievement.

If this is your first time dealing with it, the process might seem overwhelming for one person. But with consistency, very small steps, and being aware of what you don’t know, this can not only be done but also be fun’

Marco, the tired happy intern. ______

Asset programmer

Level designer

Narrative designer

General programmer

AI programmer Producer

UX designer

Audio designer

What an ideal team would look like in a project

What your project will probably have

It is important for you to remember that:

Because you are, most likely, working by yourself, things might take a little while to evolve. It can also get very messy on which tasks you should prioritise and which bugs you should fix first.

Don’t panic! It’s completely normal. And no one said that trees can’t teleport in your map every 3 seconds. ______________________________________________________________________________________

But because I know it can be frustrating and, sometimes, paralysing to create something completely new, I gathered some observations and thoughts during the process of creating my first virtual experience.

In the next pages you will find organisational and technical tips that might help you creating yours as well.

Keep in mind that these tips are not intended to show the only way it can be done or that they will be enough for your project.

They are made to provide you some guidance, but you should feel free to follow your own methods.

In any case…

By the way: Hi! This is me.

Here is what you need to know to make your project happen*

*From the perspective of a newbie

Exploring ideas 1

Whenever we imagine an immersive experience, we usually think it will be something in between Avatar and The Avengers. Realistically, it won’t happen. At least not in this stage.

In order to make sure you will be able to create something meaningful, it is important to decompose your main idea into smaller pieces that may or may not be incorporated in the final experience. And, maybe, at the end, you will have something closer to Cats.

Exploring ideas

You may need some help to decompose your idea.

Here are some questions that can help you with that:

- What is the purpose of the visual experience?

- What is the main idea you want to pass to someone?

- What is the concept you have in mind?

- Why is this idea important?

- Why the world needs to see it?

- Are there other ways to show the same?

- What is the minimal product you can develop that will deliver the main message?

Knowing your gear

Virtual and mixed reality experiences can take place in more than one platform and gears. Each option will have specific characteristics and approaches that are fundamental knowing before designing your experience.

In the Digital Humanities Hub, you can find VR headsets and the Igloo Vision Immersive Space as options.

Depending on the purpose of your experience, one or the other will be a more appropriate choice.

Do you want people to have access to your experience from anywhere or should they go to the Hub? Will it be made for mass distribution? Will the users have freedom to explore the environment by themselves? Do you want to control what is being experienced? Are you more familiar with a specific gear?

These and other questions need to be done before choosing one.

2 Knowing your gear

VR headsets have the capacity of tricking our brains into believing we are in another space.

A huge advantage of using these gears is the 360° field of vision and independence for the user to explore (walking, teleporting, swimming, etc) the environment on their own. This, together with audio outputs and haptic controllers, can provide a fully immersive experience.

They are also widely distributed, therefore more people are familiarised with it and can access contents. In the other hand, it’s a single-user experience and long periods using a VR headset can be uncomfortable to the user due to its weight, breathability and brightness towards the eye.

2 Knowing your gear

The Igloo Vision Immersive Space is a very powerful tool to create individual or group experiences. It transforms the environment around you into whatever you want.

You want to feel like you are in the mountains? You can do it.

In space? Underwater? In a hospital or an old building from the Roman Empire? Whatever you imagine, you got it.

Knowing your gear

Despite its power, some people may feel motion sickness if you don’t design a good experience.

An interesting idea to reduce this effect is to use the walls of the Igloo as windows that allow you to see your digital environment. It can be a ship (or a spaceship), a car or a house, for example. Just remember that you will not be able to see anything on the floor and in the ceiling.

A fundamental point when using the Igloo Vision Immersive Space or a VR headset is to read the instructions before creating your project.

Plug-ins and modules (such as the 360 camera and the general controller) might need to be inserted in the project before any other thing, in order to run smoothly. And, believe me, you don’t want to find out about this just at the end.

Choosing the ideal engine 3

The software in which you are going to create your experience are called engines. If you search for it, you will find hundreds of them.

You can check them in the Wikipedia page.

Despite the big amount of them, the two most common engines (that will allow you to do the entirety of your project inside them) are

Choosing the ideal engine

After writing down your idea and visualising what you want to do, take a day just to explore the capabilities of each engine and decide which one would be better. Here you can find a basic comparison in between them:

4 Finding content

Both engines have tons of materials online that will boost your project and teach you how to do what you want. I have selected some useful content that, hopefully, will save you some time in the making.

Click on the options related to the engine you chose and explore the selection.

Asset store Tutorials Extra tools Recommended assets

Asset store Tutorials Extra tools Recommended assets

Finding content

Unity’s official asset store

Complete asset store

Free content

Other websites with assets

Share textures

Sketchfab

Turbosquid

3Dtextures.me

Open Game Art

Kenney

Reddit Game Assets topic

Super Game Asset

Itch.io

CGTrader

Free3D

Tutorials

4 Finding content

Official platform

Unity Learn

Learn the basics

Code Monkey

Make your first game

Imphenzia

Game Makers’ Toolkit

Brackeys

John Lemon’s Haunted Jaunt

Basic coding in C#

Code Monkey

Implement a realistic ocean

Crest Ocean System

Using Blender

Blender Guru

Using Maya

Game Dev Academy

4 Finding content

Extra tools

Design your own assets to incorporate in the engine

Makes it easier to shape objects inside Unity

4 Finding content

Recommended assets

Skybox

Particles

Sound Effects

Real City Maps

Character Controller (3rd person)

Character Controller (1st person)

3D Game Kit

2D Game Kit

RiderFlow

MapMagic 2

Playmaker

Polygon Starter pack

Vegetation Spawner

Viking Village

Inworld AI Characters and Dialogue

Adventure – Sample Game

Unity Playground

UI Samples

3D Beginner: Tutorial Resources

UI Toolkit Sample – Dragon Crashers

Lost Crypt - 2D Sample Project

Creator Kit: Beginner Code

VR Beginner: The Escape Room

Crest Ocean

4 Finding content

UE’s official asset store

Other websites with assets

Complete asset store

Free content

Share textures

Sketchfab

Turbosquid

3Dtextures.me

Open Game Art

Kenney

Reddit Game Assets topic

Super Game Asset

Itch.io

CGTrader

Free3D

Tutorials

4 Finding content

Official platform

Unreal Learn

Learn the basics

Unreal Sensei

Make your first game

UNF Games

Smart Poly (Getting Started)

Smart Poly (Blueprints)

Basic coding in C++

Programming with Mosh

Implement water bodies

Virtus Learning Hub

Using Blender

Blender Guru

Using Maya

Game Dev Academy

4 Finding content

Extra tools

Design your own assets to incorporate in the engine

4 Finding content

Recommended assets

Low Poly Style Deluxe 2: Tropical

Environment

Assetsville Town

Stylized Egypt

Stylized Eastern Village

Realistic Starter VFX Pack Vol 2

Landscape Pro 2.0 Auto-Generated

Material

Procedural Building Generator

Downtown West Modular Pack

City Park Environment Collection

Modular Scifi Season 2 Starter

Bundle

Modular SciFi Season 1 Starter

Bundle

Procedural Nature Pack Vol.1

MetaHumans

Mannequins Pack

Project Anywhere XR

Unreal Engine Hour of Code

Particle Effects

Platformer Game

Quixel Megascans

Epic Games Content

Free for the Month

5 Detailing the environment

When we are not used to creating virtual worlds and experiences, we sometimes assume that most of the aspects of the real world will be already set up in the engines. This is not true (at least not for all aspects).

Whether you like it or not, at some point you will have to think about the physics that your experience requires. That is:

-

Will you use gravity as it is on Earth?

- Can players move around the map?

- Can players cross through walls?

- Is any other object or character (other than the player) moving in the map?

-

-

-

Is the environment itself moving?

Will you be walking, flying, swimming, crawling?

Is there water in your map?

- Is this water body supposed to have waves or flow of any kind?

And everything else that you assume is basic in real life. Again: decompose, write it down, and search

Detailing the environment

Once you realised that you have to specify or that you can manipulate physical aspects of your virtual world, you will know what you have to search for.

Very often you can find other people that have already done what you want, so checking in online forums is a good idea. Sometimes you will even find assets that simplify the process (such as the Ocean Crest System asset for Unity – which adds a complete ocean to your project with just a few adjustments).

At this point, it is important that you have decided if you are okay with coding or not. Some aspects will be more complex and code demanding, while others won’t. In any case, be aware that you might have to adjust your expectations around your idea in order to manage your time and effort.

If you are not worried about time and progress, then any option will work. But if time concerns you, the best advice I can give you is to find assets. Explore the internet, take a look at the recommended assets sections and make sure your assets fit your project settings (same version and same rendering pipeline – in the case of Unity).

Detailing the mechanics

As much as you have to think about the environment itself and decompose the ideas you have about the real world, you will have to think and detail what kind of mechanics (or actions) your experience will have.

The process is the same: decompose, write it down, and search (for assets or ways to do it).

But what do you even have to think about?

- Do you want something crashing or exploding?

- Do you need consequential mechanics in it (e.g. if you touch a button, a door opens)?

- Will your camera shake if something specific happens?

- Is there a need for an instructor that will guide your player? How is the interaction happening?

- Is anyone flying? Is everyone flying?

- Can you ride a vehicle?

- If it’s multiplayer, can they interact?

Think of how are things supposed to happen and make sure you know the details.

Idea

Decompose your idea, find the main purpose and think of simple or alternative ways to do it.

Gear

Play with the options you have before deciding which is more adequate and fun for you. Then identify the features of the gear you chose for your project.

Engine

From the needs you have identified in your idea, explore the engines and decide for which suits it better. Check for integrations that the engines have with the chosen gear.

Content

Explore the assets stores and the builtin tools that will help you build the main features of your environment.

Remember that you can update them later, if you want.

Specifics

Make sure you know the details of the environment and mechanics. It is also time to create specific content you may need, do some coding, and use the blueprint system.

Voilà! And…

You and your project will be flying! Or swimming, walking, teleporting…

This document was created in May 2023 as part of a Digital Humanities internship project funded by the University of Southampton.

Good luck!

Digital Humanities Hub

University of Southampton

Marco A. Friedrichsen

/marcofriedrichsen