DENG GAO SHANG GAO RēVERIE

Role

Design and implementation of hand-gesture interactions

Studios

Invalid Symbol and Music Picnic

Type

Freelance

Duration

About 3 months

Engine

Unity (Meta Interaction SDK)

Platform

Meta Quest

About

DENG GAO SHANG GAO RēVERIE is an experimental VR experience for the Meta Quest, developed jointly by Invalid Symbol and Music Picnic. Split into two parts, it transports the user to a surreal but tranquil land where they don’t need to do anything but soak it all in, set to the music of Toronto composer Njo Kong Kie. The experience also features several hidden ways to interact with the environment via hand gestures.

What I did

Hand-gesture interactions

I was originally brought on to design and implement the various hand gestures that the player can perform during the experience, using the Meta Interaction SDK. In all, around 6 of them made it into the final product. This meant not only the hand-gesture detection itself, but also designing and implementing how the environment reacts to each gesture. Typically this meant animating various properties of the GameObjects affected by the interaction, and I also worked extensively with Unity’s Particle System.

Challenges

The biggest challenge was designing these interactions to fit the goal of the project and the wishes of the client. The gestures had to be extremely simple to perform, while the environment’s reaction had to be subtle enough not to take away from the greater experience. These interactions weren’t meant to be the user’s focus; they’re a fun Easter egg the user might discover by accident (we didn’t even let users see their own hands in the headset).