Type
Individual work,
Academic
Duration
10 weeks,
March 2022 - May 2022
Tools
Unity, Maya, AR Kit,
Blender, Figma,
Photoshop, Illustrator
Petopia
A mixed-reality grief therapy
for people who lost their beloved pets.
01. Overview
How may the illusions created by virtual or augmented reality help people cope with the loss of their pets?
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Loss is universal, but approaches to dealing with grief after the death of a loved one vary. The ethical dilemma brought by technical triggered emotional resonance is an unavoidable topic. By focusing on the scenario of losing pets, the project explored the potential of using mixed reality technology as a tool to heal emotional trauma.
Petopia is designed into two parts: a mobile AR App and an Oculus VR environment.
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1. The user will go through a five-step healing journey in the mobile AR application according to Rando’s 6R grief therapy process,
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2. After finishing a therapy process, users will come to the ending point, the VR platform, Petopia Paradise. In this VR environment, users would be able to see the happy afterlife of their beloved pets and let go of their sorrow.
02. Design Process
What is Grief?
Grief is a “natural adaptive reaction”,
a painful but necessary mental recalibration to accommodate a new absence.
Denial
Avoidance
Confusion
Elation
Shock
Fear
Anger
Frustration
Irritation
Anxiety
Bargaining
Struggling to find meaning
Reaching out to others
Telling one’s story
Depression
Overwhelmed
Helplessness
Hostility
Fight
Acceptance
Exploring options
New plan in place
Moving on
How do people deal with grief?
Recongnizing
the loss
Reacting
to the separation
Recollecting
and reexperiencing the loved one who has died
Relinquishing
old attachments to the loved one who had died
Readjusting
to move into the new without forgetting the old
Ideation
Painpoint
Design Goal
Feature
Idea Moodboard
User Action
Alex's Using Scenario
Lossing
Visit Petopia
Customize pet
Summoning
Meet again
Relilve memory
Short seperation
Forgiveness
Say goodbye again
Let go
Implementation Process
Flower offering Interaction
Instantiate the action of a toy colliding with a rose. That is, when a toy lands on the ground, it will cause the toy to disappear and trigger the effect of growing a rose.
XR Interaction Toolkit for Oculus Quest
After trying to develop with Oculus Integration Toolkit, I restarted with XR Interaction Toolkit to build locomotion, grab, grip, trigger, and other interactions in the scene.
03. Production
Augmented Memory
Recollecting
and reexperiencing the loved one who has died
Recollecting
and reexperiencing the loved one who has died
Recollecting
and reexperiencing the loved one who has died
Recollecting
and reexperiencing the loved one who has died
Ending Point - Pet Meta-Park
Create a fantasy afterlife image with surreal plants for users to calm and mourn.
To create a sense of being empathized with, other pets are from other users who have experienced the same grief.
Throwing toys at pets could plant massive roses in the hereafter world for memorial.
To avoid addiction to virtual reality, users can only observe the happy afterlife rather than endlessly interacting with virtual pets.
Usability Testing & Reflection
