Hello, my name is Nicole Chang. I am a digital media designer from Malaysia. 21 years old & currently, studying at Raffles College of Higher Education in Singapore. This website will be showing my research and development for my final project in digital media. Please feel free to read. =)
(Chang Cho Jing, 003DMEP417)
Overall, Farmlife has been able to achieve its basic objective of providing simulation to real-life farming as well as educating users about food sustainability and environmental pollution in the VR experience simulation game.
There are also significant rooms for improvements for the game. During user testing, users have noted technical difficulties in navigation and grabbing issues, as well as other challenges such as not knowing where to go and the progress of the game.
The game development has been met with several limitations, such as design limitations, usability limitations and time limitations. Time limitations have restricted the ability to keep improving the game until it’s optimal status. Design limitations have caused some user issues such as not knowing the directions and progress of the game, while usability limitations cause navigation and grabbing issues.
In the future, there are a number of game design and technology that can be used to improve the game. For game design, adding live map trackers, mission trackers, additional features and bonuses will significantly enhance user experience while playing the game.
Last but not least, technologies such as Post Processing Stack and Shaders could be adopted to enhance the visuals even further.
There are a number of limitations met during the development of the game project.
Some of the limitation for example, Vroid Studio that is used to create the NPCs has limited colour scale for different part of the body. As a result, the skin of the character is off when trying to design a different colour skin.
During game development and user testing, the dragging issue occurred multiple times. Sometimes, the screen will lag when user is moving around the game. Some users also noted that they can’t walk or move especially near corners which the character will move forward or backward automatically.
There are also some issues related to the usability of the touch controllers for example difficulty to grab, control and throw items during the game.
Motion sickness is a common problem reported by people using VR headset. Users will not be able to experience the game for a long time. Usually, less than an hour will cause some motion sickness to users.
Many design improvements can be added to the game to enhance user experience. Currently, there is a lack of guidance and instructions to users when they play across the missions. UI trackers such as a mini map, geo-location and mission trackers would significantly enhance user experience in the game.
(Aion PowerBook, 2018)
In the future, more features can be added to enhance real-life farming experience, such as watering plants, plucking herbs, and learning about food sustainability. Hidden Bonuses can also be included, for example, player can earn an achievement when they interact with villagers to learn about food waste and food sustainability. This can attract players’ interest and enjoy the game.
Additional maps and landscapes should be added so that players can explore more parts of the game, such as beach and forest. The current version of the game only has five NPCs, which does not give a village and community feeling. To improve the gaming experience, more NPCs should be added into the game.
In this game development, Post Processing Stack is not used due to technical issue and there is not enough time to verify the issue. In the future, Post Processing Stack can be used to improve the visual and graphic quality such as colour grading and ambient occlusion to produce a realistic look.
The shader is also another visual component that is very relevant to this game due to the soft texture it creates for graphics. Shaders are small scripts that can calculate the color of each pixel rendered, based on the lighting input and material configuration.
User testing was conducted with players to identify whether the game meets its objectives and other technical issues that arise during the game. There are in total of six questions follow by the results below:
1. Do you think Farmlife simulates real-life farming?
100% Yes
2. Did you face any technical difficulties while playing Farmlife?
100% Yes
3. If yes, what are the problems?
4. What do you think about the graphics, visuals, and audio development of Farmlife?
5. What is your feedback to improve Farmlife?
6. How would you rate the overall experience of Famlife?
Initially, the OVRPlayerController in the project scene was unable to track the floor. The camera also loses balance and spins uncontrollably. To fix the problem, an Oculus sample screen where there is OVRPlayerController is duplicated and renamed to a new scene. All assets in the initial scene were transferred into prefab and dropped into the new scene. The issue is then resolved using the sample scene.
In the Game Intro scene, the phone will start ringing, which is a call from the farm owner. Once player picks up the handset collider, the ringing sound will stop, and an audio (from the farm owner) will be triggered. To enable this, a script is attached to the handset collider, OVRPlayerController (both parent and child) is tagged to trigger the audio functions. However, when tested, the phone ring does not stop and audio does not play when player holds the hand set. It appears to be some issue with the tagging where the tagged object does not have a definite mesh and shape. To resolve the problem, OVRPlayerController is removed as the tag. OVRPlayerController child is opened and the player hands are selected to be tagged as it has mesh, object and shape. The issue is then resolved.
In Game Scene 1, the player will be able to plant a seed and harvest corn on the soil. To enable this, soil colliders and harvest colliders are added on the soil, soil collider is tagged to the seed while harvest collider is tagged to the player. These will trigger the features when player throw seeds into soil (plant seed) and harvest corn from the soil. However, when tested, plant seed and harvest corn features do not work. It appears that it is due the tagging issue, as the player will accidentally trigger the harvest corn collider (by removing the corn) when the player tries to plant seed. To resolve the problem, a sickle object is tagged to the harvest collider instead of player. The issue is then resolved as soil collider is tagged to seed and harvest collider is tagged to sickle object.
In Store Scene 1, player is tasked to purchase cotton (and other items if he wishes to). Once player puts cotton in the basket (by purchasing the right item cotton), the cotton will trigger to next scene where player can exit the store. To enable this, all items in the store are set as triggers with Basket script attached for audio source. Cotton has additional scene manager to trigger to next scene. The basket object is set as a collider. However, when tested, the cotton does not trigger to next scene when placed inside the basket. To resolve the problem, basket is swapped as a trigger (with Basket script) while store items are changed as colliders. The issue is then resolved when the cotton collider is dropped into the basket and next scene can be triggered.
A timer script has been used in this scene. The user will appears back in the room. An audio will be triggered, which is an audio source from Lean, the farmer, who will thank the user for helping out at the farm today. After the audio has ended, user will be transferred back into Main Menu.
In the last gameplay scene, the user will complete the third and final mission, which is to pass corns to NPC John, a villager.
User will obtain instructions from NPC Lilia again and when user collides a transparent GameObject near Lilia, a dialogue of instruction will be triggered.
User will grab the bag of corns, enabled through OVR Grabbable and go to look for John. A transparent GameObject collider is placed near John to trigger a thank you dialogue.
User is then free to explore around the village before returning to Lilia. Interact with NPC William (Fisherman). A transparent GameObject is placed near William which will trigger a dialogue about river pollution.
Finally, as user is near Lilia, a transparent GameObject collider will trigger to the ending scene.
Once user comes out of the store, user will see a canvas dialogue with a reminder to bring cotton to Hayler. A GameObject collider is placed a few steps from user’s position so that the dialogue disappears when user walks out. “Bring Cotton to NPC Hayler”.
A transparent GameObject collider is placed near Hayler to trigger a dialogue script when user is near Hayler. The dialogue states that Hayler will make the bag immediately. There is also a ‘Next’ button collider to continue the dialogue. Once the dialogue finishes, the cotton bag collider will appear, which user can take it using his hands, enabled by OVR Grabbable.
Lastly, user will have to return to NPC Lilia by bringing the cotton bag that is made by Hayler. When user is near Lilia, a transparent GameObject collider will trigger to the next scene using a scene manager script.
In the Store Scene, NPC Alice will welcome user and give instruction on how to purchase the items.
On the rack, there are different items – an antidote, herbs, cotton and corn seeds which user can pick up and put inside the basket. Antidote, herbs, cotton and corn seeds are all colliders enhanced with OVR Grabbable and Basket script with audio source and scene manager.
If user purchases cotton, scene manager will trigger to Store Scene 2, which is a next scene. To avoid user from forgetting to purchase the cotton, a transparent GameObject collider is placed near the door in Store Scene 1 to trigger a dialogue script to remind user to purchase cotton.
Store Scene 2 is the scene where user can walk towards the exit to leave the store. There is a transparent GameObject collider with scene manager to prompt to next scene.
Research & Development in DM 