Aetheria: Weekend Retreat
Samsung VRJam2015
I started working with VR in 2015. I bought the Innovator Edition of the Samsung GearVR for the Samsung Note 4. That year I participated in the Samsung VRJam2015 with my entry Aetheria: Weekend Retreat. This is how I described it for the Jam:
Welcome to Aetheria, an alternate reality for the guidance and practice of meditation to achieve a healthier body and mind.
The Retreat Center in Aetheria is located on an island with a variety of places to discover. In addition to Guided Aetherial Meditations, there are multiple locations in Aetheria where you are welcome to practice your meditations with just the ambient sounds of nature, or along with soothing music of your choice. Exploration in Aetheria is encouraged as you explore what meditation can do for you. No matter where you are in the real world Aetheria should prove to be a relaxing place to retreat to.
This Aetherial Retreat is a Weekend Retreat themed in the Tea Garden. The Aetherial Meditations in this Retreat are based on mindfulness exercises and will be themed around the senses. You will be given a schedule to follow throughout the weekend, starting on Friday evening through Sunday afternoon. The schedule is a suggestion to encourage a good pace for learning and allow time for meditation practices at home, outside of Aetheria.
Aetherial Meditations are often made to augment reality, rather than to be virtual experiences alone. You will be given the option to incorporate real-world items with your meditations to enhance the experience.
Originally I had started with a tea-drinking meditation focusing on each of the senses, but it was difficult to do while in the headset. So I switched to chocolate. Upon later reflection and discussion with meditation practitioners and instructors, chocolate is a very "charged" item with too many connotations to be easily meditative, so some rework would be required.
It was seriously challenging to make "realistic" environments for the GearVR, especially on the Note 4. I got creative with skyboxes and pre-rendering panoramic views. At that time it wasn't common and proved to be difficult, but I resolved it to create a working demonstration of a Weekend Retreat with 5 meditations and suggested "homework" for users to try at home.
It did get a little write-up on VRBites:
