Unit 9

The brief for this unit was to create a virtual reality theme park ride based off of an existing film or television show, using Unreal Engine. As someone who enjoys theme parks and is interested in the design of them, I was excited to come up with a concept for a ride. On the other hand, I was nervous about learning Unreal Engine and was unsure that I would be able to create a high quality experience with a program I hadn’t used before.

Firstly, I started brainstorming films and television shows that could be used as the theme. I tried to stick to films with action sequences in them, which could be used as the basis of the ride. I looked into Monsters Inc, James Bond, Indiana Jones, Narnia, The Wizard of Oz and Game of Thrones. I was initially keen on doing a ride based on the door chase scene in Monsters Inc, but after considering the challenges of creating a stylised design that resembles the Pixar look, I decided to go with a live action film. I then starting looking further into both Narnia and The Wizard of Oz – in the end, I decided that Narnia could offer a more exciting action sequence compared to The Wizard of Oz.

I first started by looking at the design and overall atmosphere and feel of the film, looking at the different locations and colours used within them. I decided that the most recognisable location in Narnia is the lamppost in the forest, so I decided to make that the main location of the ride. I then had to come up with a concept for the story of the ride. I initially planned for the viewer to enter Narnia through the wardrobe, be chased by the White Witch through the forest before reaching the edge of a frozen river that cracks, causing the viewer to be carried down the river and down a waterfall edge, then finally returning to the wardrobe to safety. I soon realised that this would take too long to execute, so I shortened the sequence and decided to only include a forest chase.

I then started putting together a mood board for the forest, looking at snowy landscapes. After this, I began my concept art. I tried to capture the mystical feel of the forest in Narnia, using the lighting. I felt that I didn’t have enough time to spend a long time on the concept art, as I was mainly focusing on figuring out Unreal Engine – because of this, I went for a more stylised concept art instead of something realistic. If I had more time, I would have liked to try and create something with more atmosphere and in a more realistic style.

My first step with the digital work was to start looking online for any downloadable assets I could use for the scene. I was able to find some useful assets, like trees and the wardrobe, however I struggled to find snowy foliage assets. Because of this, I just used one snowy pine tree asset, which I just duplicated throughout the scene.

I first started in Blender, setting up the room with the wardrobe by looking at references from the film and trying to recreate that look. I also put together the small part of the forest with the lamp post where the viewer emerges from the wardrobe. I also did all animations in Blender, so that I could import these into Unreal later. I animated the wardrobe doors opening and the coats inside parting to allow the viewer to move through and into the forest. I tried to complete as much work as possible within Blender, as I understand it better than Unreal Engine.

I then imported my Blender file into Unreal Engine. There were some issues, as I hadn’t joined all of the objects in Blender and I also had animated objects. Eventually, I imported the non-animated objects into Unreal and set up all of the textures. Next, I planned out the path for the forest chase and then filled the surrounding scene with trees. Then, I lit the scene, placing a sun to light the area as a whole and create an atmospheric window shadow in the room, as well as the lamp post light, which I made a warm yellow shade.

Finally, I imported the animated objects. I first imported the opening doors, which worked well. I had some issues when importing the moving coats and ended up having to leave them as static objects since I ran out of time.

Final VR Theme Park Ride Walkthrough

I am not completely satisfied with the final theme park ride, as I wasn’t able to incorporate all of my original ideas into it, due to time constraints and the challenges of learning a new software. I would have liked to make the ride more exciting by adding some elevation to the terrain and also introducing different areas of Narnia, such as the river and the ice castle. I also would have liked to have a more conclusive ending, such as the viewer reaching Aslan or returning to the safety of the wardrobe.

I felt that I have benefited from learning a new software and thinking about the design of a 360 degree experience, but struggled to achieve what I wanted to in the given time.