The University of Nebraska-Lincoln, normally, offers a technical elective every spring entitled "Exploring Virtual Reality" that pairs computer science and software engineering students with emerging arts students to create virtual reality games.

The course follows a sandbox format where they basically give you a quick introduction to developing games with C#, Unity, and SteamVR, and then they set you loose to break into teams and spend the semester developing your very own virtual reality experience. Our team decided to spend the semester building out a VR Space Exploration game in which you explore alien worlds and play a variety of minigames.

I worked on this project with Ethan Bütt, Conner Hallett, and Megan Whisenhunt.

What did I learn?

Through this course I learned the basics of modern game development, specifically with regards to virtual reality. It turns out that developing virtual reality games is not nearly as complicated as it seems out to be, thanks to existing technologies and frameworks such as Unity and SteamVR. I also got to work side-by-side with emerging arts students to understand the underlying effort that goes into rendering digital assets, and again sharpen my skills working in a collaborative environment.

Game Features

• Rebuild a high-powered telescope using pieces scattered around an observatory
• Gaze into the night sky with your repaired telescope and search for alien planets to visit and overcome
• Explore a vast planet where the sun does not shine and search for remnants of stardust to light up your world