Magic of Everyday – A VR Experience
Magic of Everyday – A VR Experience on Presence and Inner Awareness
Overview
Role:
Designer and Developer
Year:
2023
Objective:
"Magic of Everyday" is a VR experience designed to help users rediscover the joy of presence through immersive interaction and guided sound. Inspired by the idle curiosity of childhood, this project encourages users to step into the darkness and observe the magic within and around them. The experience is audience-driven, aiming to foster mental well-being and mindfulness by guiding users through introspective exploration.
Technology
Unity Game Engine
HTC VIVE XR Elite
C#
Blender
Figma
Adobe Illustrator
Premiere Pro
Audacity
Miro
The Challenge
Design
Our goal was to create a seamless material transition from dull tones to glowing emissive effects symbolizing inner awakening. However, due to tight timelines and last-minute material iterations, we had to simplify this vision. Selecting the right assets and ensuring visual coherence became a race against time.
Development
Integrating Arctop’s real-time emotion tracking posed a challenge. While we successfully connected it to Unity to monitor focus and enjoyment levels, full integration wasn’t completed. Additionally, building for the HTC VIVE XR Elite proved difficult due to its new hardware features, especially color passthrough and unfamiliar workflows.
System Design
Immersive Environment
Users begin in complete darkness and are encouraged to move forward, guided by ambient soundscapes. Visual elements react subtly to movement and audio cues, gradually illuminating to reveal the environment and symbolic “inner light.”
Sound as a Guide
Audio was central to the experience design. We used layered ambient soundtracks to guide users emotionally, nudging them toward reflection, presence, and discovery.
Emotion Monitoring
The experience integrates Arctop’s biosensing to track mental states like focus and enjoyment, laying the groundwork for adaptive VR therapies in future iterations.
User Journey
With minimal UI, the journey relies on intuitive exploration and mood shifts. Each step forward reveals new light and feedback, encouraging users to remain present and reflective.
Key Responsibilities
Design
I led the visual narrative and environment design, balancing minimalism with symbolic depth. I also created the lighting flow and concept art, and helped define how color and illumination tied into user emotions.
Development
I implemented key interactions in Unity, integrated biosensor data via Arctop, and handled build deployment for the HTC VIVE XR Elite. I also contributed to troubleshooting real-time feedback mechanics and performance optimization for XR.
Project Highlights
Audience-Driven Experience
“Magic of Everyday” adapts to the user’s pace and presence, encouraging reflection without overwhelming the senses. The experience is self-paced, prioritizing internal awareness over gamified progression.
Biosensor Integration
We laid the foundation for emotion-aware VR, successfully linking Arctop’s brainwave metrics with Unity to monitor focus and enjoyment in real time, an important step toward therapeutic applications.
Team Synergy
Despite starting with no concrete idea, our team quickly aligned around shared values of mindfulness, presence, and aesthetic simplicity. We collaborated efficiently using Miro and a physical whiteboard, keeping creativity grounded in structure.
Results
The project succeeded in creating an emotionally resonant, meditative VR experience. Participants reported feeling calm, introspective, and “drawn into the moment,” validating our vision of presence-driven design.
Learnings
We discovered the power of simplicity both in design and process. Real-time haptics and color passthrough exploration opened up new possibilities, and the experience affirmed how impactful VR can be when guided by human emotion rather than rigid objectives.
Future Enhancements
Planned future development includes:
Full implementation of Arctop’s biosensing features
Spatial audio design using FMod and Resonance
Custom haptics and gesture-based interactions
Expanded scenarios for different emotional states
