Cineverse Chronicles was a academic team project exploring the way we can interact with technology. Through Virtual Reality the team created a fantasy world where hospital patients and their loved ones have the chance to meet famous movie characters from a selection of different movies through the medium. The project aimed to create an immersive experience utilising the use of colors, sounds, and props.
Overview: The project focused on creating a VR experience using thoughtful design elements like scale, sound, color and hidden easter eggs in a VR story filled with movie history and story telling.
Role: 3D Designer, User Researcher
Toolkit: Blender, Spatial, Cinema4D, Meta-Quest 2, DALLE
Introduction
Target Group & Product
The primary users for the project are young adults between the ages 18-21 that are hospitalized for long periods of time. The secondary target group are the patients close family members or visitors of the patient.
Looking at the success of the Ronald McDonald House in the famous video game Roblox, we challenged ourselves to create a similar experience using VR- & AR technology where our target users can meet and interact with their favorite movie characters from the world of Walt Disney and get immersed and caught up in a whole another fantasy world where they can walk around freely.
Business Goal:
The project should innovate and enhance user engagement in virtual exhibitions using VR and AR by creating a usable, feasible and functional alternative to traditional ways of interacting with interfaces.
Discovery Phase
We kicked off our project by brainstorming through workshops and the famous 6-3-5 method. Then we stitched together ideas for the project theme. The initial concept was to play around with scale, letting users stand next to life-sized animals or famous buildings from around the world.
The project needed a starting point—a lobby with different worlds to explore, one designed by each team member. We played around with open spaces, doors, and vibrant sci-fi themes. To bring our ideas to life, I used the generative AI tool DALLE, which helped shape our first concepts for the lobby. Initially focused on a sci-fi aesthetic, we soon shifted gears to Disney movies due to platform constraints. The warm, vibrant atmosphere of Disney felt like a better fit for the project.
Interviews
We conducted three interviews with professionals in the field. Two respondents worked with IT and technological exploration at our local hospital. There is a demand for VR from hospital patients but after the interview we found ourselves in quite a pickle. It will be close to zero possibility to conduct user tests with this target group.
After this first interview we found ourselves saddened that we most likely would not be able to conduct any user tests due to infection risks, finding the right contacts as well as the projects limited time frame. We had to ask the people who have been there, in the hospital – where we could not be. I got in contact with the people who enlighten the moods of hundreds of patients throughout Sweden each year, Clownklubben. It was one of those discussions I will remember for a long time and especially with the way they work with immersion and experiences in the physical space, using props, sounds and colors to enlighten the moods of the patients. The respondent said the following:
“Completely convinced that there is a need for an escape. It’s incredibly important to be able to forget oneself for a while, as there’s a lot of time spent in a hospital where nothing happens.”
This is exactly what we needed to hear to keep going and to create our product.
Exploring Six Degrees of Freedom
With two interviews now under our belt, we got to work. Using bodystorming we explored different ways our target group could interact with the equipment. Given that you have one or two controllers in your hands and the focus is entirely on what’s presented in the headset unless you move outside the boundaries, it became clear that performing complex activities like handstands in the headset would not be feasible. Sounds crazy? We tried it all.
However, through role-playing using the Meta Quest we tried three different positions—standing, sitting, and lying down—we saw with our own eyes how the user could experience movement and the environment within the headset. We were particularly interested in the lying down position because of the project target group. Here, we discovered that moving within a virtual reality environment while lying down would not be as straightforward as we first thought and therefore designed for standing, and a sitting position.
User testing
We made a VR station in the middle of the campus, offering fika and a chance to try out the technology. If they wanted to partake in the study they could, otherwise we gave them the chance to play around with the equipment. In total we conducted 12 unique user tests with randomly selected students at the university between ages 21-45
Results from the user tests
- 58% experienced symptoms of cybersickness
- 100% felt immersed in the environment
- 58% did not believe the test was physically overwhelming
We asked the users whether they would use VR in this form during an extended hospital stay, and two-thirds responded that they would utilize the medium. Given that some test participants experienced a degree of discomfort, it’s entirely reasonable that VR would most likely not be used as a medium to “enhance their stay.”
The final design
Our goal was to improve the situation for hospital patients and not worsen it. Based on our users reactions to VR technology, we’ve identified a potential risk for cybersickness. Therefore, we see great potential in utilising AR technology instead, with a stronger focus on objects and their interactions rather than on expansive environments. Through this medium, the patients would be able to avoid the risks that come with VR and instead use their personal devices to place the world or movie character in the comfort of their own room.
- With more time, we would look into interactive AR technology where users could pet or play with the movie characters.
- We would improve the VR world by minimising floors that are not flat that causes unnecessary movement in the headset.
- We would have also conducted more user tests and improved the user experience upon that data. What a classic, right?
