Cayla Kennedy

Yellow Submarine

An underwater VR experience by Cayla Kennedy, Quil Cummings, Alexa Hugenberg, Ramon Fernandez-Garcia, and Ethan Kellerhals.

Project Overview

Yellow Submarine was developed in Unity, with models being created and animated using Blender. The game features 8 different endangered species of fish, and as you go around searching for each fish, your tablet gives you a fun fact about the fish you are looking for.

The game was created as a final project for the Introduction to Virtual Reality class at CU Boulder, where the prompt was to create a virtual reality experience for social good. We chose to create an underwater experience because as we live in a landlocked state, not many people will ever get to experience the joy of seeing these fish in real life. In addition, we wanted to feature and bring attention to the current condition of our oceans, where multiple species of fish are at risk of extinction.

User Testing and Iteration

The development process had its own hang-ups, as the team had to work to create a game that had the visuals and functionality we wanted while working with the minimal processing power of the Oculus Quest 2. We learned how to reduce polygon count of 3D models which were previously created in Blender in order to get a higher processing speed, and analyzed each bit of the game to create the most optimal framerate.

In addition to visual optimization, we conducted user testing in order to find preferred user interface and methods of locomotion.

Presentation

The final iteration of this project was presented in an expo setting, where attendees could wander around and view the various projects that groups from the class created. Our project was one of the most popular, and left people lining up to explore the ocean without stepping foot outside of Colorado.