Surviving the Great Depression
An immersive VR-first historical experience where learners navigate a 'Hooverville' shanty town, discovering how Americans coped with the Great Depression. Players follow an interactive timeline, collect artifacts illustrating life in the 1930s, and join various New Deal programs.
- ROLE
- Lead Unity Developer & Designer
- PLATFORMS
- VR Headsets (primary development) / Desktop & WebGL for broader accessibility
My contributions
- 01
Unity Development: Built VR and WebGL scenes, programmed collectible artifact systems, and optimized large 3D environments.
- 02
VR Interactivity & Design: Created interactive shanties, timeline elements, and 'jobs' within CCC, WPA, and TVA scenarios.
- 03
Immersive Storytelling: Incorporated period footage, audio clips, and real New Deal references to enrich historical context.
- 04
Educational Alignment: Ensured the content accurately depicts Great Depression challenges and solutions, collaborating with subject-matter experts.
Overview
An immersive VR-first historical experience where learners navigate a 'Hooverville' shanty town, discovering how Americans coped with the Great Depression. Players follow an interactive timeline, collect artifacts illustrating life in the 1930s, and eventually join various New Deal programs before transferring their progress to a WebGL browser-based version.
Purpose
Designed to help students understand the causes, impact, and responses to the Great Depression. By engaging directly with shanty home scenes, interactive timelines, and realistic 3D assets, students get a visceral sense of this pivotal era in American history.
Core features
- 01
Shanty Progression: Move through multiple shacks to discover Dust Bowl footage, bank runs, and government relief programs.
- 02
Artifact Collection: Players pick up items like a declined loan document or newspapers with headlines about stock crashes.
- 03
Interactive New Deal Jobs: Choose a path (CCC, WPA, or TVA) and carry out tasks to earn money.
- 04
Historical Media Integration: Embedded 360° footage and period audio for realistic immersion.
Challenges
- 01
Performance & Optimization: Large open scenes with multiple interactive elements in both VR and WebGL.
- 02
Historical Accuracy: Ensuring New Deal programs and Great Depression details are represented correctly.
- 03
Cross-Platform Deployment: Balancing VR fidelity with browser performance constraints.
- 04
Player Engagement: Maintaining an educational focus while keeping the experience compelling.
Solutions
- 01
Streamlined Scene Management: Used scene streaming and asset compression to maintain fluid performance.
- 02
Detailed Collaboration: Worked with historians/educators to refine references to events, programs, and timelines.
- 03
Adaptive UI: Created distinct UI for VR vs. WebGL, ensuring a smooth user experience on both.
- 04
Interactive Storytelling: Blended puzzle-like tasks with historical facts, keeping students engaged as they learn.
Accessibility
- 01
High Contrast Visuals: Clear fonts and UI for legibility.
- 02
Voiceovers: Key textual content is narrated, assisting those with hearing or reading challenges in VR and WebGL.