Trial-gorithm - Cyberpunk VR Experience
Interactive Cinematic Experience, Unreal Game Development, AI-Assisted 3D Pipeline
2024 / Caritas Social Centre
Trial-gorithm is a real-time VR experience built in Unreal Engine to explore human choice and algorithmic judgment through a simulated death journey. Designed for youth social work at Caritas Jockey Club Social Centre, the project translates psychological concepts into an interactive spatial environment. The player moves through distinct narrative stages—from an out-of-body perspective to a dark volumetric tunnel—guided by an external facilitator to prompt reflection on personal actions and choices.
AI-Assisted XR Pipeline & Technical Art
To deliver high-density cyberpunk visual assets under a tight budget, an AI-to-XR workflow was built using Stable Diffusion for concept drafting, and Meshy and Luma AI for initial mesh generation. Generative models were ingested into Blender for manual retopology, removing mesh artifacts and rebuilding clean edge loops for VR performance. PBR materials were authored in Substance Painter, while game logic and interaction triggers were scripted with Unreal Engine Blueprints and profiled for stable frame rates.
Game Environment Art & Level Design
Level design focuses on constructing the spatial progression of the death journey: an out-of-body scene viewing the user’s own body, a dark tunnel illuminated by a distant light source, and surreal interior spaces containing a Grim Reaper character model. To manage rendering cost in the tunnel sequence, Unreal Engine volumetric fog and light shafts were paired with static lighting bakes. Environment geometry, props, and character assets were optimized using explicit LODs, texture packing, and draw-call batching to maintain stable framerates on VR hardware.
First-Person View Journey
Integrated the VR headset front camera input to capture a photo of the user's smiling face before the experience, dynamically passing the image to a runtime texture parameter in Unreal Engine.
Constructed the interior wooden coffin environment, mapping the live-captured user photo onto a framed prop asset surrounded by low-poly funeral flower meshes and PBR wood shaders.
Configured a customized first-person VR camera rig to lock player orientation during out-of-body and coffin sequences, ensuring precise scale and narrative focus.
Authored custom post-processing materials—using dynamic vignette, color desaturation, and visual distortion parameters—to render the character's physical and emotional status directly in screen space.
CLIENT
Caritas Jockey Club Social Centre
MY ROLES
Developer & Artist — Unreal VR Development
TEAM
Project & Event Caritas Team
System & Hardware Fred Chan
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