An Immersive Virtual Reality Experience about Grieving the Loss of a Loved One
Utilizing VR to immerse users in the moment to moment reality of someone grieving the loss of a loved one. Designed as a therapeutic tool for learning how to move through grief.
Project Overview
Design and prototype a VR experience using Unity that fosters empathy through the perspective of the individual for whom you're building empathy.
Duration: 7 weeks, completed December 2024
Role: Creative Technologist, Designer, Developer
Tools: Unity, C#, Oculus VR, Storyboarding
Focus: Empathy-Driven Storytelling, VR Design, and Technical Implementation in Unity
Context: Audited CCA Grad class “XR: Immersive Experiences and Scripted Spaces”
Conceptualization
When this project was assigned, I was 6 months into grieving the sudden death of my brother. As more and more time passed, I wrestled with how to share my life with people who never experienced a close, personal loss of this magnitude.
I was eager make my first VR project in Unity and also wanted to honor my current emotion state, so I became curious to see if I could use this technology creatively to process my grief and tell a story that builds empathy and understanding for every day complexities of grief.
I began by researching existing empathy-driven, immersive, and interactive digital experiences to understand different approaches to point of view perspectives and engagement.
Design & Development Process
Storyboard
Initial Storyboard (pg 1/1)
Second Storyboard (pg 1/3)
Second Storyboard (pg 2/3)
Second Storyboard (pg 3/3)
The room environment establishes the presence of grief in first moments of waking and the challenge of facing daily life after loss. By depicting neglected daily tasks and sentimental artifacts, the design immerses users in the emotional weight of grief, fostering empathy and understanding.
Coding & Interaction Design for Key VR Interactions
Day Counter
A date counter continuously increases from Day 1 to Month 5. As time passes, the amount of support via texts, calls, gifts, dimishes. The purpose of this scene is to place a user in a point of time (5 months after loss) and to introduce an atmosphere of loneliness and disconnect with the world they once knew.
I wrote a script that increments a "count" variable, with conditions that update the words "day" to "month", speed up after x days, and blink effect on day change to draw attention.
C# Script for Day CounterI needed to introduce who the shadow character is and get users to experience how grief can hit hardest in the morning. I achieved this with a photo on the bedside table that fades out when the alarm clock is snoozed.
The scene begins with an alarm ringing, triggering the instinctive urge to hit snooze. I implemented the snooze interaction using rigid bodies on both the clock and hand, with a box collider on the clock as the trigger. I wrote a script detects the collision between the clock and hand, shutting off the alarm with haptic and audio feedback while prompting the user to click the photo. I wrote another script that fades out part of the photo to introduce loss.
C# Script for On Collision State ChangeC# Script for Photo Fade Out
OnCollision State Change & OnClick Object Fade Out
Post Processing Effect Fade In
Gradually increase the intensity of the post processing effect over time to introduce a dissociated, overwhelmed emotional state.
I wrote a script that smoothly transitions the post-processing weight from a starting value to an ending value over time.
C# Script for Post Processing Fade InFinal Experience
Impact
This grid captures my favorite moment—users, immersed in the VR world, responding to a simple yet powerful prompt: to take a breath. In that pause, technology goes beyond simple simulation, guiding real human emotions and bodily awareness. This moment reflects my approach to creative technology: crafting empathy-driven experiences that resonate deeply, inviting users not just to engage but to feel, reflect, and heal. Through VR, I design spaces where digital and emotional realities intertwine, fostering genuine connection and presence.
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