Not Your Traditional Therapy

Project Brief:

Not Your Traditional Therapy is a virtual reality rage room that offers a unique and immersive experience, allowing you to smash and destroy objects without causing any damage in the real world. The idea for this project stemmed from the need to relieve stress in a safe and controlled environment. By utilizing the power of VR, we have created a new sensory experience that incorporates touch, sound, and sight, defying the laws of physics to provide an unparalleled level of engagement. With Not Your Traditional Therapy, you can break objects and let go of your stress from the comfort of your own home. Our aim is to provide an enjoyable and therapeutic experience that allows you to release your stress and have fun with it. We completed this project in a timeline of just 7 weeks.

Room 1

To create a unique and immersive experience for users, we conducted a survey to gather their preferences. Based on the results, we designed the Dark Room - a foggy, mysterious Zen garden in space that serves as the perfect backdrop for releasing pent-up frustration through smashing, throwing, and destroying objects.

To enhance the futuristic vibe, we ensured that every object in the room was interactive and breakable. Users can immerse themselves in a world where the laws of physics don't apply and they can let go of their stress without fear of damaging anything in base reality.

To add a festive touch to the experience, we also included a Christmas tree in the room. Overall, the Dark Room provides a unique and unparalleled sensory experience that cannot be found anywhere in the physical world.

After receiving valuable feedback from our midterm evaluation, we took the initiative to enhance the user experience by adding sound feedback for all the objects and incorporating new weapons to make it more engaging. To further increase the satisfaction of the users, we have also included various new objects such as a balloon wall, an assortment of glass, china and electronic objects.

Seasonal Items

We are excited to announce that a big Christmas tree is now available in the room, adding a festive touch to your experience! The tree features breakable gifts with surprises inside, perfect for satisfying your urge to smash and release stress. However, due to performance concerns, we have temporarily removed the collision of the lights and emissions of the decorations, which unfortunately means that users are currently unable to hit the tree. Nonetheless, we are constantly working on improving the user experience and hope to bring back the collision feature in the future.

Room 2

The second room, named Limitless Haven, offers a completely different experience from the first room and evokes a more meditative and ethereal atmosphere. We aimed to surprise users with a unique and contrasting gameplay experience that allows them to unwind and escape from reality. Inspired by the movie The Truman Show, we incorporated a dream core liminal space aesthetic that creates a surreal and relaxing environment.

Although the current version of the room is still a visual prototype, we plan to add more experimental elements such as zero-gravity, soft and squishy objects, and other sensory experiences that contrast with the first room's intense and high-energy gameplay. We hope to create a space where users can come to relax and unwind after a stressful day or intense session in room 1.

Built-in menu

We have expanded on the UE4 VR template by creating a customized menu, which includes several new features:

  • Play: Users can select and switch between the different rooms at any time, giving them the flexibility to switch up their experience.
  • Restart: If users want to continue breaking objects, they can easily restart the room without having to exit and re-enter.
  • Help: Clear instructions on controller interactions are available to help users navigate the VR experience.
  • Settings: This menu provides users with options to adjust the general settings such as volume and language, as well as accessibility settings like color contrast, haptics, and text size to ensure a comfortable and personalized experience.
  • Credits: Our team gets recognition through this option, so users can easily see the people behind the project.

User Testing

We did some user testing with our fella students and gain valuable feedback:

  • Weapons tend to drop, and it is hard for users to bend down and pick it up.
  • People don't read instructions from the build menu, it's hard for them to understand interaction if they are new to VR.

Solutions

  • Disable the gravity of all weapons. If the user drops it by accident, it will just flow in the sky and the user can easily pick them up again.
  • Create a training sector at the beginning of the game with huge banners of instruction. Also features some weapons and destructible objects for user to get familiar with the interaction.

Demo of Training Sector

For more information about project please visit here