Final Year Project: LifesaVR (A VR mobile game on Disaster Risk Management)
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Problem Statement and Project Description
Disaster Management is a subject which is incorporated in most school curriculums, but the methods and means of teaching, as well as the overall awareness regarding the subject, vary across different countries. To illustrate, a survey conducted in New Zealand in 2012 showed that lack of awareness of the teaching resource as well as lack of proper teacher training led to an overall decline in the standard of disaster preparedness among children. Similarly, in Nepal, a few educational programmes for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) have already been implemented, and their results were documented. However, an independent research conducted revealed that the initiatives taken were not nearly effective enough, especially at the individual level. These are just a few examples among many, taken to demonstrate the lack of effectiveness in Disaster Management Programmes implemented in different countries around the world, and the need for a more productive solution.
To address this problem, the Gaming Industry can be looked at. It is one of the fastest growing industries in the world, having generated worldwide revenue of over 37 billion USD in the PC Gaming market and over 77 billion USD in the Mobile Gaming market over the last year. Over the recent years, within the industry itself, there is a small niche developing in the field of educational gaming and game-based learning. This genre of gaming is becoming increasingly imperative, as studies have shown that there is an increasing demand for greater interactivity to be built into learning materials. Thus, in such a rapidly growing and evolving digital world, the reinvention of teaching methods and media can aid immensely in the improvement of the learning process.
Students have exhibited faster learning using three dimensional interaction in real-time, versus learning from a textbook. For a subject like Disaster Management, where real-time practice of do’s and don’t’s is key to better disaster preparedness, using virtual reality may prove to be a useful solution to fill in the present teaching gaps.
Therefore, this project implements an immersive educational game with the aim of improving overall disaster preparedness. The application was built on the Unity framework, and it has been developed for both the Android and iOS platforms. The main objective of the game is to familiarise players with the appropriate action to be taken in the time of a disaster. Two situational storylines are being created, each focussing on a different disaster, such as an earthquake or a fire. Through the innovative use of computer graphics coupled with an intuitive user-interface, the player experiences the hazards associated with such disasters in real-time. In order to win the game, the player must take the correct protective measures. Helpful tips are provided to the player mid-game, which help in the traversal of different situations. This also serves as an effective means to increase the retentivity of useful information. As a result, players can gain valuable real-time training in disaster management in an educational and enjoyable manner.
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Storyboarding and Design Process
The process of storyboarding for VR games is very different from that of film, or a web application, or a two-dimensional game, simply because it is more difficult to visualise three-dimensional environments on paper. However, the major difference between storyboarding for three-dimensions vis-à-vis storyboarding for two-dimensions, is that while for the latter, objects are defined relative to the frame, for the former, they are defined relative to the audience. While designing for any three-dimensional application, two very important components should be considered: field of view and depth perception. They are illustrated below as follows.
While wearing a VR mounted headset, the regular field of view is around 94 degrees.Assuming the user is seated, he can rotate his head comfortably for around 30 degrees, but to a maximum of 55 degrees. This range can be larger if the user is standing or seated on a swivel chair, but for the purpose of accounting for all edge cases as well, the limiting scenario is considered.
Fire Scenario In this scenario, the living room of a residential building is designed as the main environment. The room has been designed to look as real as possible, and the storyboard was created following the principles of VR storyboarding, taking into account the field of view and depth perception. The storyboard and final design of the fire scene is illustrated below.
Earthquake Scenario In this scenario, the attic of a house is the main environment being simulated. The attic was created in accordance to the principles of VR storyboarding, taking into account both field of view and depth perception as illustrated in the storyboard and final design below.
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Development and Implementation
The final game was implemented using Unity. Unity is a cross-platform Game Engine that is used to develop two-dimensional and three-dimensional games, as well as interactive simulations and experiences. For this particular project, the Universal Render Pipeline (URP) within Unity was used to develop the three-dimensional game. The Universal Render Pipeline is prebuilt in Unity, and it is a scriptable render pipeline that provides artist-friendly workflows and allows one to create optimised graphics across a range of platforms. This particular game was built for the Android platform.
I obtained an A grade for this project (presentation and thesis), and was asked to present it to a variety of professors at NTU.
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