NAT GEO EXPLORE VR RUBEN RUNHARDT

ROLE: GAME DESIGNER
STUDIO: FORCE FIELD XR
TEAM SIZE: 40+
ENGINE: UNREAL ENGINE 4
CONTRIBUTED DURING: AUG 2019 – NOV 2019
RELEASE DATE: NOV 2019

National Geographic Explore VR is an educational VR experience. You capture photographs for the National Geographic magazine in two of the most iconic locations on the planet! Antarctica, where you kayak, climb a massive ice shelf and survive a raging snowstorm, and Machu Picchu, where you get immersed in history through amazing digital reconstructions.

Retrospective thoughts

I supported the team in delivering the first post-launch update: Machu Picchu. By the time I joined, the game had already released Antarctica and the photogrammetry of Machu Picchu was already in place.

 

Designing an educational experience was a breath of fresh air in between all the games. While I had dabbled with ‘serious’ gaming during my studies, the scale and fidelity of this project blows that out of the water.

 

As a bonus, I learned about Machu Picchu and the history of the Inca people, which is something I never expected to get out of this industry.

Gameplay Design Rapid Prototyping Systems Design AI Behavior EQS HTN State Machines Virtual Reality UX Documentation Level Design Combat Design Cross-Discipline Communication Team Leadership Mentoring Public Speaking Unreal Engine 5 Blueprints Modular OOP Architecture Sequencer Physics Animation Blueprints Blueprint Utilities Unity Godot JIRA / Confluence Perforce (P4V) Microsoft Office Google Workspace

Implemented level flow, fine-tuned player UX and updated objective logic, alongside sequence scripting for the Machu Picchu update.

Helped formalize a new workflow for ‘paper’ prototyping UX flow and cinematics. Employed it in this project and expanded on it in future demo projects, eventually presenting the workflow in all variations to the full studio design team.