INTRODUCTION

One of the promises of VR and immersive experiences is the ability to feel like you’re really there – a concept called presence. And what’s even more powerful is the ability to feel like you’re really there with people you know – a concept called social presence.

Our design team has been exploring what it takes to create successful virtual reality (VR) experiences. This case study shares our experience in designing for 3D and the learnings and outcomes we achieved. 

THE DESIGN CONCEPT: FIRESIDE CHAT

We wanted the venue to lend itself to knowledge sharing and socializing and align with our Spatial brand. It was important that it have enough detail to feel convincing and be in the Pacific Northwest. We liked the relaxed, familiar socializing format of the ‘Fireside Chat’, and we settled on retro A-frame cabin theme.

A STORY-BASED DESIGN PROCESS

We started the design process by writing a narrative flow of the visitor experience, illustrating it with blueprints and storyboards that detail the visitor's path – arrival on the island by boat followed by exploration of the cabin and island.  

THE 3D DESIGN TEAM

The Spatial team has experience in architectural design, 3D modelling, brand, UX design and gaming. This broad, creative background was ideal for virtual environment ideation.

BUILDING THE VENUE: HORIZON WORLDS

We chose the Horizon Worlds platform because Meta is a client and we wanted to explore their toolset.

When creating in this environment, the entire build happens in the headset. All elements are created from a palette of pre-existing geometric shapes – cones, cubes, spheres, etc. It's the modeller's job to get creative when complex shapes are required. For example, our organically shaped coffee table was constructed from a series of geometric shapes fused together to create an organic blob-shaped surface. Similar techniques were used to create chairs, plants, and the Spatial logo - anywhere organic shapes are desired to break up geometry and provide a softer, more comforting feeling.

LESSONS LEARNED

Our first test revealed an unexpected result: when built to actual scale, people felt a general, claustrophobic-like discomfort in the space. The wide camera angle made the natural cabin height and square footage seem too small. We scaled the cabin up to a cavernous, nearly double, size to counter this feeling.

Another challenge was orienting people on arrival – our scene had them arriving on an island on a dock and having to walk across a narrow bridge. The experience as a bit jarring and people felt uneasy navigating across the walkway. Modifications were made to the design to create a more stable feeling and a sign made it clear which direction to go.

Orienting and wayfinding is a challenge from a design perspective when people can ‘choose their own adventure’ or explore on their own without a scripted scenario or guide.

To enhance the feeling of immersion, we built-in some activities like axe-throwing and getting a drink. These require practice with use of controllers so interaction is not intuitive.

Currently Horizon Worlds has significant limitations in terms of design and content integration. As of 2023, it was not possible to share media from other platforms, so no powerpoint presentations.

THE FUTURE OF FIRESIDE CHAT

We will continue to use the Spatial’s Fireside Chat venue for our own meetings and VR collaboration experiments. We hope to build out capability to make the venue more conducive to knowledge sharing.