How I made a prize hunt in virtual reality using Unity
Here’s my advice on how to start off if you’re a VR enthusiast like me.
For the past few months, I’ve been really interested in virtual reality. I’ve been reading about it, experimenting with it, and wondering about it. And I finally decided to stop just thinking about it, and instead, build something in VR. But I’ve never made an actual game on VR before, so here’s what went through my head as I built this.
This is the ultimate guide for anyone who’s just starting off with VR and wants to make something awesome.
What is VR?
Before we dive in to how you’ll actually make this thing, let’s talk about what VR is in the first place.
I wrote an in-depth article on this subject if you want to check it out here. But, for now, let’s just understand the basics.
As I’m sure you know, VR is short for Virtual Reality. It’s basically a type of technology that allows you to be in almost a different world. It’ll usually be a pair of goggles or glasses, and when you put them on, you’ll be able to see something completely different from what is in front of you. Usually, the goggles will even have a headset built in, so you’ll be able to hear sound effects.
VR has a million incredible applications. It can be used for entertainment like TV or video games, in healthcare, in education, in retail, and much much more. It’s honestly the perfect piece of technology, and it can only get better from where it is now.
How to get started in VR
I used a software called Unity for this project.
It’s pretty well known, and for good reasons. It’s completely free, pretty user friendly, and has a ton of features. It’s also available for both Windows and Mac users.
Something really great about Unity is that it doesn’t require you to have a VR headset. This is really helpful if you don’t have one, as it gives you a similar experience in a simulation.
Unity can be hard to navigate, though. To help you out when you’re not sure how to do something specific, google exactly that. There will always be a question on a forum or YouTube tutorial for you to try out.
Quick Tip: Always google the version number you’re using when you’re looking for a tutorial. Every version is different, so what works in one version will likely not work in another.
If you don’t want to use Unity, there are a ton of other alternatives, like Blender, KeyShot, Adobe After Effects, and much more. If you’re still not sure, check out the article below.
Setting up Unity
Setting up Unity can be quite the task sometimes. It’s pretty confusing to set up, but here’s what I learned from setting up mine, and I hope it can help you out a little.
- Space — You’ll need to have a lot of space on your computer if you’re setting it up. I tried on my computer but I didn’t have enough space, so for the sake of time, I did it on my mom’s computer instead of clearing out stuff I don’t need. So make sure the computer you’re using has enough space on it!
- The Editor — The editor you use will take quite a while to download. I learned that the hard way — By freaking out because it wasn’t working lol. But! Have trust and it will work. You can use any editor you want, it didn’t really make a big difference for me.
- Understand before you do! — Keep in mind that the reason you’re building this is to learn. So, make sure you know what you’re doing and why, because it’ll really help you when you go back to Unity to build something else.
Unity Asset Store
The Unity Asset store is an amazing resource that you can use with Unity.
It’s a really good website that has all sorts of great designs you can use. It has houses, museums, gyms, schools, and so much more. Some do cost money, but there are plenty of free options, too. I downloaded a free apartment and imported it into Unity, and from there, I was able to move stuff around and customize it how I wanted.
Finding a good tutorial
I did this project by using an incredible tutorial I found on YouTube. It didn’t take any digging, either. There are thousands of really good tutorials that you can use, and most of them walk you through your project step by step, with an explanation of how you should do everything.
I used a tutorial for a VR escape room, but decided to put a different spin on it and ended up doing a prize hunt. This is the tutorial I used if you want to use it as well. It’s really good and walks you through everything you need to know.
My process
Here’s the process I went through to create my prize hunt!
- Found the tutorial
- Downloaded Unity
- Found and downloaded an apartment from the asset store
- Played around with it and got to understand the features
- Made clues and added them into the game
- Tested (like a million times)
- Added the video to the end
- Wrote you this article 😉
A video just for you
I decided I’d make a video summarizing this article and demonstrating the finished product, so if you think it’d be helpful, take a watch!
Well, that’s it for this article, but thank you so much for reading and I hope that it helped you out in navigating the wild world of VR!
If you have any questions, feel free to email me at anokhishah09@gmail.com, or contact me on LinkedIn here.
Follow me if you liked this article and I’ll be sure to keep posting as I make more!
