Finding Maya

Concept for Maya´s bedroom

Inspiration

Talk to quirky objects and pass their tests to unlock clues and find Maya, a playful 6 years old. In this AI & VR escape room, it’s not the exit you’re searching for, but your inner child.

What it does

"Finding Maya" is a VR game inspired by escape rooms, with a stronger focus on engaging content. The game invites you to explore a virtual space to find Maya, the 6-year-old you're babysitting. Throughout the game, you'll interact with five different objects in the room, while Maya playfully hides and laughs. Each time you approach an object, you can strike up a conversation. These AI-powered interactions require you to use your words to convince the objects to give you clues to Maya's hiding spot. For example, the cheeky Monkey plush might ask you to share something silly, while the Bookshelf seeks an interesting fact. Each character tests you to ensure you’re not just another boring human but a playful teammate for Maya. The game design offers freedom to explore, avoiding the linear interactions typical of similar games.

How we built it

Building on our existing assets (Teleportation, Intro with calibration, full body character for the user, grabbing system and AI system) our process here began with an extensive brainstorming session. The team gathered to explore various themes and concepts, aiming to find a unique and engaging narrative that would resonate with the concept of casual and social game. Through our brainstorming, we identified two main ideas that stood out: protective parents and interactive objects. We decided to define the concept on the talking objects element as we realised we would have needed more time to properly tackle the other theme. With our core concept in place, we moved on to scriptwriting. Crafting a detailed narrative script aimed at making our story was coherent and emotionally engaging rather than just "fun to play". The script served as a blueprint, guiding us through the development process and helping us maintain a clear vision of the final product. We utilized AI prompting, which was an internal requirement since the beginning. This allowed us to create dynamic scenarios and dialogues, making the virtual world feel more alive and responsive to user actions. To populate our virtual world, we purchased high-quality assets. These included 3D models, textures, and sound effects that aligned with our artistic vision. Finally, we conducted a block out of our VR environment. This involved creating a rough, playable version of the experience using basic shapes and placeholder assets. The block out phase allowed us to test and refine the gameplay mechanics, narrative flow, and user interactions before committing to final details. It was an essential step to ensure that the foundation of our VR experience was solid and ready for detailed development.

Challenges we ran into

In the making of "Finding Maya," we aimed to create believable AI personalities for the specific objects within the VR experience. Our goal was to make inactive objects appear more alive, imbuing them with distinct personalities. Although we intended to enhance this effect through advanced animation techniques, time constraints prevented us from fully realizing this aspect. Nevertheless, the idea remains a future enhancement we are eager to explore. One of our primary challenges was adding a feature that allowed users to convince the AI to perform specific actions. This involved developing a new functionality in Unity, which required sophisticated prompting and coding. The goal was to create a convincing framework doable by any user but still complex enough not to be boring. Also, to provide a more seamless and immersive experience for users, we decided to leave conversations with AI more free-flowing. Except for the initial interaction, we avoided using introductory sentences when approaching new objects. This decision necessitated meticulous fine-tuning of the written prompting system to strike the right balance between creating believable personalities and maintaining effective game mechanics. By doing so, we ensured that interactions felt natural and intuitive, enhancing the overall immersion and engagement in "Finding Maya."

Accomplishments that we're proud of

With "Finding Maya," we stepped out of our comfort zone and did something totally different from our usual VR projects. The whole team poured their heart and soul into this, and it really shows. We created an open world where you can wander around and chat with AI characters, deciding where to go and who to talk to. It's all about giving users the freedom to explore and interact. Plus, we've got these cool missions where the AI knows when you've completed them and reacts accordingly. This makes the whole experience feel more alive and engaging. We're super proud of what we've accomplished together, and we can't wait for everyone to experience it.

What we learned

Working on "Finding Maya" taught us a lot. We realised just how tough it is to make inactive objects seem alive; it's a challenge we underestimated. We also learned that user experience (UX) is trickier than we thought, requiring more guidance and research to get it just right. Interacting with AI characters highlighted the importance of making sure those interactions are visibly reflected in the characters themselves. On the bright side, we discovered that giving different personalities to the objects works really well and adds a lot of depth to the experience. Each object having its own unique personality made the world feel more dynamic and engaging.

What's next for Finding Maya

With more time on our hands, we would definitely like to work on the look alive concept for the objects and refine the clue-giving mechanism by giving a more coherent experience to the user. Also, we would like to bring in more animations for the objects to really give the feeling of an enchanted room.