Assignment 2 Report

KIT208 Virtual and Mixed Reality Technology » Devlog

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Introduction:

If you’ve been struggling with fear of the dark, you aren’t alone, I myself have struggled with it too and it wasn’t until I exposed myself to my fears, I was able to overcome them. For this reason, I developed a Virtual Reality (VR) application that allows users conquer their fear by exposing them to the dark in a realistic environment, three different levels of difficulty are included in order to for them to build confidence.

Unfortunately the recording could not record audio. There is meant to be a wind in the forest trees sound effect playing as well as footsteps when the player is walking but not when they are stationary. The trees also do not sway in the wind, this is due to a Unity bug that stops a windzone from affecting the trees, it does sometimes work but very rarely.

Application Description:

This application alters a human’s interaction with the world by immersing them in an experience. This is achieved by changing the perceived sense of the user. What this means is that what the user sees and hears, is not what they normally would. They are placed into a realistic virtual environment where they are confronted with darkness. The user is exposed to the darkness in order to help them relieve their fear. Altering the user’s sense of sight and audio allows the application to make them feel as if they are in another reality. If sight and audio are changed, the application is able to simulate interactions to aid in heightening the user’s sense of immersion. Increased immersion leads to increased realness[1], deepening the fear the user feels which in turn can yield better results for the exposure therapy[2].

The interface problem is a phobia, “an extreme or irrational fear of or aversion to something”[3]. This problem is related to the users and how they interact with the application because the users are people who are seeking a solution to their fear. The significance of virtual reality in this context is that it is very useable and accessible. For many struggling with a fear of the dark, they are irrationally averse to experiencing it. The significance of virtual reality allows them to take a fresh look at the phobia and face it head-on in a realistic environment. VR is also much more suitable for the application as AR is far less immersive and interactions are limited, whereas in VR for the intended use, the interactions are much more suitable. Although it has different benefits, AR is far less suited to the application. This relates to the first and second step in the human computer design process as being immersed is essential to helping someone afraid of the dark because VR can replicate the real world in a useful way in this context.

Interaction Design:

Interaction is needed in this application as it enhances how immersed the user feels. As mentioned above, the more a user feels immersed, the “realer” the application feels. Turning a flashlight on and off and having a goal such as finding and enabling a light switch is a very real situation the user could easily find themselves in.

The main goal if for the player to first read the instructions and choose a difficulty. The instructions will require the player to turn on their flashlight, turning on their light is the first available interaction. The second interaction will be when the player selects one of three buttons to select the difficulty. The last interaction other than them walking around in the woods and using the light to look at things, is turning on the light inside the house.

Storyboard to illustrate the use case of the interface technology and the interactions in the application.

Technical Development:

This application was developed in Unity 3D and used the Oculus Integration package available on the Unity asset store. The Oculus Integration allows development support for Oculus VR and some other supported devices.

To turn on the flashlight, the player must press the A button on their right VR controller. For the second interaction, the player must use their pointer finger to poke a button to select a difficulty. Holding the grab button and NOT holding the index finger trigger will allow the player to successfully press a button. For the last interaction, player must do the same thing as selecting a difficulty at the beginning and poke the light switch to press the button and in turn finish the exposure therapy.

Model Descriptions:

Conifer Trees:

These trees were downloaded from the Unity asset store and were used to fill the scene in this project. They were also used as they look quite realistic and helped bring some more realism to the scene.

Outdoor Ground Textures:

These ground textures were downloaded from the Unity asset store and were used to paint the terrain in the scene. They helped bring more realism to the scene.

Night Skybox:

This night skybox was downloaded from the Unity asset store and was used to help the project feel darker and more like it was night.

Rusty Flashlight:

This flashlight was downloaded from the Unity asset store and is used by the player to look around with a light. This also helped add to different interactions by being an active interaction that takes place whenever the user turns the light on or off.