If only for a moment, what if we gave the world an enriching perspective. With the ultimate goal of a mutual, more comprehensive, understanding of what it might feel like to be someone with a disability.
Project Common Ground
A VR Experience that lets users see, in first person, how various disabilities impact their life. Isobar Hackathon 2017.
Why are we doing this?
Words can only do so much. However, with VR's transformative nature we can simulate what other people might experience with their disabilities. For the first time, we're giving the world a first person perspective of what daily life might be like for others.
How We Built It
Built in Unity with Steam VR Plugin and VR Toolkit
Current Experiences
For our MVP we explored a range of disabilities that represents ease of development, and range of VR abilities.
People with Epilepsy have to be extra careful of their surroundings, so, hidden in the experience is a trigger for someone with Epilepsy.
Individuals who have Glaucoma have often experience what is called "tunnel vision." Our VR experience simulates this by placing a visual blocker in the viewer's line of vision.
Macular Degeneration is a condition where an individual's center field of vision is blocked. Like Glaucoma, we simulate this experience by placing a visual blocker in the viewer's line of vision.
Individuals with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) often have a hard time stabilizing their movements. In VR the user's controller moves a little beyond their control.
Their are many disabilities where height or reach may be restricted, to simulate this we've capped the height of the user.
To simulate the experience of vertigo, we've taken over the camera view of the headset to slightly shift beyond the users control.
The Team
A group of passionated individuals with little to VR experience came together one weekend to make something great.
Cory Chainsman
Jenessa Carder
Brayden Varr
What We Learned
This weekend we came in with very little knowledge on VR, below are some highlights from each team member.
How to learn the VR toolkit to quickly prototype interactions in VR.
Cory
What I previously learned in Visual Effects is very similar to building in VR.
Jenessa
How to build things in 3-D, and then add textures to them.
Brayden
Weekend Highlights
There was a lot of learning, exploring, and messing up this weekend.
That time when our lighthouses stopped working
Sketch Sketch Sketch
That time when our lighthouses stopped working
Explored But Not Pursued
Some ideas we had that either due to time, resources, or technical limitations we'd like to table for now.
A VR Story
A VR experience that gives a unique perspective on how we got here, in the bee crisis. You would be dropped in the shoes as a farmer, with a lush farm, however, swarms of something is attacking your cropped. Your presented with the ultimate tool for ridding the attackers, yet that also rids the bees. You don't find out that part until it's too late.
BEES
A VR Theory
A lot of VR involves messing up on the first few tries. We'd like to explore a way to track a users mistakes and replay them for them as they get to steps where they've previously messed up.
Learn By Messing Up
#UNFakeTheNews
The focus on fake news has misguided people into thinking journalism is mostly fabricated, however, much of what we watch in the media is expertly orchestrated clips of real segments. We would like to create a VR experience where we put the user in the director's chair and they're in charge of the cuts. We'd collect all cuts created to show just how much differently a story can be told just be editing.
Alternative Live
A Climate Change Visualization
A VR experience that shows where users are and how the sea level rising could effect their current location.
Sea Level Rising
DEMO 1: No Condition
Watch this snapshot to see what our experience is like without an disabilities.
Demo 2: Glaucoma
Watch this snapshot to see what our experience is like with Glaucoma.
Demo 4: Height Restrictions
Watch what our experience is like when your height or reach may be restricted.
