Explore an abandoned cathedral...
When faced with the task of creating a 4-scene-minimum virtual reality project, I became very aware of two things: I knew exactly what I wanted to do, but there weren't gonna be any creative commons-licensed 360 images that would fit my vision. So, I taught myself how to draw with equirectangular perspective over the course of an evening then got to work. This miniature choose-your-own-adventure-style game includes 7 unique illustrated backgrounds with additional variants for 4 of them, and is heavily inspired by a Dungeons & Dragons one-shot I wrote about three years ago. The story focuses on the player investigating an old cathedral in search of an amulet sold to a group of arcane researchers that went missing, and having to complete some puzzles in order to get to it.
I was honored to find out that this project was presented at two design conferences in 2024: the UCDA Design Education Summit in Phoenix, AZ and the RGD Design Educators Conference in Vancouver, Canada! I received overwhelming support throughout the creation process, and it turned into one of my favorite projects I've done in the JMU Graphic Design program.
The sketch, linework, final render, and in-game view of one of my favorite scenes: the Alchemy Lab! This scene has a variant where the book is no longer on the desk, but it can only be accessed if the player chooses to investigate the room and take the book with them.