The Team

Nicole Hampshire: Game Designer

Mikaela Muersch: Art Director

Nicole Shepherd: Technical Director

Programs: Unity Game Engine, Pixologic ZBrush, Autodesk 3ds Max, Adobe Illustrator

I was in charge of the overall look and feel of the game. We wanted to create an aesthetically pleasing environment that engaged its users. We brainstormed this style by providing verbal and visual ideas of the direction we had in mind. After our discussion, I did further research and created a mood board for our art direction. This included environment, UI, and character design. I also chose a color palette for us to follow in order to provide uniformity. After sharing these finalized ideas with the team, we then were able to move forward with asset planning and creation.

A challenge we faced in asset creation was the development of the character models. We wanted the characters to be abstracted from reality in order to avoid the uncanny valley effect. However, since anatomy is integral to this learning experience, they needed to still convey anatomical accuracy.

Part of my role as the Art Director was to develop assets for the scene. This included organic modeling, hard surface modeling, and UI design. I also assisted with narration by recruiting voice talent and editing the audio in Adobe Audition. We were inspired by the VR game Vacation Simulator to have a character guide the user through steps.

Our team collaborated to create a project timeline with key deadlines in order to stay on track. This allowed us to stay informed on teammates’ duties and ensure task responsibility was equally distributed.

We held weekly meetings for progress check-ins and reassessed plans as needed. During check-ins, we also provided feedback on created assets.

After meetings, we’d often meet up in virtual reality to play mini golf.