Ad Astra Driver
A driving simulation that combines a VR 360 degree chair, an Oculus Quest Pro and a Logitech steering wheel with elevation control
My Role
Experience Designer, 3D Artist
Team
Anton Renouf, Jingyu Xie, Zezhong Wu, Yue Wang
Tools
Autodesk Maya
Timeline
Fall 2022 - 2 weeks
Prompt
Create a fun experience for Carnegie Mellon Entertainment Technology Centre's Fall Festival 2022
Initial Thinking
As we had to make something that was simple, fun and could be enjoyed by a range of audiences of different ages, I began seeking inspiration from arcade games.
We decided to use the VR Egg Chair. As the feedback from the chair is so intense, we thought a racing game could potentially utilise its idiosynchrasisies as much as possible.
As we were encouraged to be experimental and bold in this final round, I wanted to create an interesting interface the player would use. As it was to be a racing game, I thought feedback could be more satisfying and realistic if the player had an actual steering wheel to control their vehicle as opposed to the Quest 2 controllers.
Development
I built the control board, modelled the pod the guest drives and made particle effects for the Thrusters
3D Design
Control Board
Thruster Flames
Reflections
In terms of design, I learnt too late that restricting player movement to a path, this greatly restricted the feedback possibilities of the Egg Chair. In retrospect, we should have made it a flying game where the player moves around an arena to achieve their objectives, so we could make better use of the chair's movement.