Offshore Rig VR Experience
Dräger is an international leader in the fields of high profile safety technology.
Together with the Dräger organization, we teamed up to shape an engaging spatial computing experience in VR around a selection of their safety products.
The goal of excellence
The mission of Dräger is relatively simple: create the best safety and support innovative equipment, and bring technical excellence to everyday situations in order to ensure protection and assistance. Their aim was to show some of their most efficient gas detection devices in an intriguing way, while highlighting the importance of the presence of security devices in high-risk areas such as offshore rigs.
Therefore we created a gamification inspired experience with immersive storytelling at its core, in which the user is brought on an oil platform with critical mission to achieve while being informated about Dräger's line of products.
Keeping it real
In order to deliver a realistic experience, we made a deep research regarding the emergency programs and the use of the detection kits in collaboration with experts in the sector. All the elements then, from platform objects to escaping procedures, have been modelled following real-life models and paths, ensuring the user to personally experience how detection products work and how they ensure life protection as in everyday situations.
A captivating virtual experience
The experience lets you dive into a character visiting the oil-rig, pushed in a race against time to escape from a gas leak: using Dräger safety tools, a way to detect and avoid hazards, equip oneself with safety tools, and reach the safe area before time runs out.
Building up the story
Great attention was given to the creation of a story about the character and the events happening throughout the experience. We set up the narrative in order to have an increasing climax, useful in maintaining the attention of the participant. From an initial state where the user is freely able to explore the location and complete the tasks, the tension increases until the moment a gas leak causes hazard to the user.
Acting fast and effective
The use of alarms, interface elements and visual effects push the user to make quick decisions and find a way to escape in a safe area, underlined with music effects which dramatise hazard situations.
The offshore rig
The experience takes place on an oil rig which is made out of a fully textured mesh consisting of over 1.2 million polygons, while the ocean is created by a special real-time ocean shader. Together with all other assets, the polycount can reach up to 2 million polygons, optimized to not only run on high end VR machines but also mid-range gaming laptops.
User-focused design
3D-design, ambient effects, and sound design came together to let users dive into the heart of the action. We worked with a composer to create unique soundscapes for each element of the platform, and carefully calibrated the rhythm of the experience to allow inexperienced users to slowly get accustomed to the VR world, navigation, and interactions.
Interfaces connected to the story
A crucial part was the creation of interfaces necessary for guiding the user toward the tasks: overall the effort was to avoid the use of too many explanations popping out and distracting the user during the experience. As a solution, we included a voice-over advisor, providing guidance during the most challenging parts and explaining the targets to reach, while maintaining two interface types for the instructions and for the description of the events.
A support for the exhibition
The experience was designed to be controlled by a supervisor, helping the players with the VR gear and guiding them in case they were failing to follow the prompts within the experience.
The supervisor was supported by a realtime tabled based application. It allowed the supervisor to see the realtime location of the player, what goals the attendee achieved and also enabled the supervisor to set the player position to certain waypoints within the story if the participant was getting stuck.
Focused on the bigger picture, flexible in details
Since the first draft, the game logic constantly changed based on the constraints such as time and complexity. Useful customer feedbacks helped us to set up important milestones and work on major improvements in order to deliver a high-quality experience, particularly focused on the small details rarely noticeable at first sight but decisive to create a difference.
