Role: Programmer, UX Designer, On-site technician

Company: Cycloid
Client: Vodafone

Year: 2017
Location: Lisbon, Portugal

Description:
This was a mobile (Gear VR) virtual reality app (an hybrid of real-time rendered 3D  and 360 video) connected through real-time “multiplayer” to a computer, that mimicked the user’s head movement, to simulate screen casting.

Our reasoning behind this setup was:
– the client wanted the whole experience screen-casted, so non-users could also enjoy the experience from the outside; mobile screen-casting was, at the time, and still is, very resource-heavy, and VR mobile screen-casting actually overheated devices.
– the client expected a level of graphical fidelity that was redundant in such a low resolution (mobile), not to mention unfriendly to a stable framerate (which could cause VR sickness to the user); by having a “juiced” version of the game mirrored on a high-spec PC, we found a compromise.

The app was displayed at the inauguration of the Vodafone store at Parque Das Nações for about a month, and visitors could try it freely; it had about a 5 minute runtime.

Video:
Note: due to an non-disclosure agreement, I am only allowed to show this non-VR render of a stripped down-version (no music, no SFX, no voice-over, no guiding NPC) of an excerpt of the experience.