This project was done in collaboration with the company Enversed. In their VR centre visitors can experience a variety of virtual escape rooms and games. However, most of these experiences are only designed for two VR players. Therefore, when you are in a group of more than two people, a considerable part of your visit consists out of waiting your turn, while others experience VR. Simply adding more VR players has drawbacks as it requires more physical space to avoid collisions. Furthermore, it requires more computing power and therefore additional expensive hardware. The AsymDroid controllers were developed specifically for asymmetric VR (AVR), which is a genre where co-located spectators use non-VR interfaces to become co-players in a VR experience.

The development of these interfaces focussed heavily on keeping control complexity low, so users with less developed mental models for interacting with traditional gaming interfaces, such as the Sony Dualshock, can more easily interact with the gaming world. Within this constraint, I kept the interface’s functionality high by implementing hidden affordances such as motion controls, and haptic, visual and auditory feedback. As a form of transmedia storytelling, the controller was styled as a robot to mimic the virtual character it controls. To compliment these interfaces a competitive AVR game was developed similar to Pac-Man. One VR player has to maneuver themselves through a maze to find stars, while two non-VR players use the AsymDroid interfaces to control large robots that have to hunt their competition down.

These interfaces and game were presented in the Enversed VR centre during the Dutch Design Week and were received well by the public. It was seen as a fun way to engage spectators in a VR experience.