LENSCAPE is a serious VR game that allows player to learn the basics of photography and experiment in open scenes. The game is focusing on understanding and mastering the perfect exposure of an image. The application aims to teach the player the three main controls that impact the exposure: Aperture, Shutter speed, ISO.
Photography equipment can be an expensive especially when considering specialist gear such as full sensor bodies, a range of lenses, filters, and other accessories. In the virtual world there are significantly fewer financial restrictions and the physical properties that can make photography gear expensive do not apply. Hence the player of “LENSCAPE” can explore photography gear without making a monetary investment or travel to distant locations.
What was the delivery strategy for the project?
The application is currently in an Alpha stage and was submitted for a university coursework teaching Interactive Visualization, Unity and C# programming.
The app is functional and runs on the Android/Oculus platform. Users can capture photos, explore the camera settings and diverse locations.
We aim to publish the app in the Side Quest / App Lab store
What were the main outcomes?
We’ve curated an expansive educational and explorational space for people to learn about and practice photography. We enable users to become better photographers and travel to different locations around the world where they can learn about photography in various lighting conditions.
What were the metrics of success and/or testing methodologies for this project?
We have concluded peer review, play testing and implemented the feedback provided:
- Added capture feedback panel and provides contextual feedback to the picture
- Implement audio feedback on button press and other user input
- We added learning posters into the main menu explaining the impact aperture, shutter speed and ISO have on the exposure.
What are the next steps for this project?
The application is currently in alpha but feature complete. We plan to implement the following features and would benefit from an industry mentor from the Innovate UK Immersive Tech Award Network:
- Improve the learning/onboarding experience.
- Add darkroom photo development. Let users develop the pictures themselves.
- Add hand-tracking based interactions. Currently the app is controller-only.
- Refine the photography locations by making them more engaging.
- Publish the app in the Side Quest / App Lab store.
How were audience needs considered during the design process?
Resulting from playtesting and user interviews we iterated on our initial project concept and experience by implementing changes such as iterating the UI interface and camera intractability. We are also expanding our tutorial section into an immersive learning environment about camera function ability and manual photography to equip players with more complete knowledge before they ‘travel’ to various locations.
