MUshroom meadows: foraging in virtual reality (vr)

PROJECT OVERVIEW

During the Spring 2023 quarter of my MS in Information Management program, I collaborated with three other graduate students to research, ideate, design, & prototype a fun, collaborative, multiplayer VR game that provides novice foragers with a space to test their skills as they race against the clock to discover enough morsels to make a delicious herbivore delicacy.

ROLE: Product Designer

DURATION: 3 Weeks

TOOLS: Figma, Blender, & Google Suite

MY CONTRIBUTION: conceptual research, visual mood board, sound palette, visual design system, i/o map, & logic flow

PROblem space

Mushroom foraging is the activity of searching for and collecting wild mushrooms from their natural habitats. Though foraging can be a rewarding recreational endeavor, beginners often face the following challenges:

  1. Difficulties identifying edible species from poisonous counterparts.

  2. An inability to access a foraging area where mushrooms flourish.

  3. Lack of knowledge about how to collect mushrooms sustainably.

Design solution

Based on the analysis of the problem space, my teammates and I decided to create a fun, collaborative multiplayer VR game that’ll put your foraging skills to the test as you and your friends race the clock to find all the mushrooms to make a delicious herbivore delicacy. Check out the prototype / concept video below:

Mushroom Meadows Concept Video

Visual MoodBoard + Sound Palette

During the ideation process I created a mood board to visually capture the enchanting, adventurous, organic, enriching, and nurturing essence that the Mushroom Meadows VR game would embody. This collection of images, alongside a sound palette composed of Derek Fiechter’s Mushroom Fairies, also served as the inspiration for the product’s visual design system.

Visual Design System

COLOR PALETTE:

ICONOGRAPHY:

UI EXAMPLE:

ENVIRONMENTAL WORLD SOUND(S):

  • Nature Bird Chirping Link

  • Forest Footstep Sound Link

UI SOUND(S):

  • Button Click (Animal Crossing) Link

HAPTIC SOUND(S):

  • Danger Haptic Link

  • Action feedback haptic Link

TYPOGRAPHY:

EXAMPLE COMPONENTS:

Sound System BreakDown

FX SOUND(S):

  • Teleport Sound Link

  • New Quest Sound Link

  • Item Received Sound Link

  • Mushroom Hint Chime Link

  • Correct Mushroom Link

  • Wrong Mushroom Link

  • Plucking mushroom Link

  • Flipping book pages Link

  • Knife cut and scrape Link

USE CASES

I/O Map

LOgic flow: searching for a specific Mushroom

Reflection: WHAT I LEARNED

  • There are limitations to the experiences that can be emulated through VR. Though Mushroom Meadows draws heavy inspiration from real foraging practices, it cannot serve as a substitute that provides players with the comprehensive skills needed to confidently identify and safely consume mushrooms found in real life.

  • It is critical that all of the words in a voiceover are identical to the words presented in the interface. This ensures alignment in the information that is communicated to the user and also makes it easier to later translate and dub this content for a different market.

  • Sound and haptic vibration / feedback are elements that become difficult to integrate in a product after it has been released because of how it may impact engineering.

FUTUre work

In order to gauge how Mushroom Meadows might be received, I would conduct concept and usability tests with individuals who fit the intended user profile. Furthermore, as spreading knowledge of how and where to forage could potentially have long term ecological effects, I would conduct interviews with subject matter experts to gain a deeper understanding of foraging’s impact on the environment.