VR Sci-Fi Chemical Lab Project
Play with atoms and re-create chemical reactions in this physics-based VR sandbox!
For my “Introduction to Virtual Reality” module in university, I worked with a small team to explore the intricacies and limitations of VR. Over the course of a few months, we had to create a small demo project to represent a classroom teaching environment for students. Throughout the project, I attempted to push the limitations of mobile, browser-based VR technology at the time, when support for the WebXR framework was still fairly new and unstable. The big question was: How do we make a browser VR title that looks good?
To achieve a 72FPS target, I heavily relied on Unity’s optimisations for static batching and baked lightmap generation. And with help from my team members to script, test, adjust and decorate the environment, we managed to come up with this: A sci-fi chemical laboratory, dotted with physics-enabled toys, a dustbin, atomic suspension field, and “molecule dispensers”.
The main objective was to grab molecules, toss them into the suspension field to separate them, and once you get the correct number of atoms, press the blue button to check if your answer is correct. Personally though, I just liked throwing stuff around.
Thanks to my professor, I also managed to borrow and test our project on a Meta Quest 2, and that experience put me on track to become an avid VR gamer.
