XR Brain Jam 2019
Our VR experience Mosquito Vs. Humans designed to raise awareness on how to save lives through mosquito prevention. It was one of the winners of XR Brain Jam 2019 organized by Games for Change.
My role
Designer, Developer, and 3D modeler
How was the
process like?
During any hackathon or game jam all the rhythm is frantic, iterations are constant and team work and constant communication is key to success.
Who is our user?
Educators, students, curious souls, VR explorers that are willing to know a bit more on how to save lives through mosquito prevention.
Outcome
Mosquitos Vs. Humans won best product potential at 2019 XR Brain Jam organized by Games for Change, and continues to spread awareness through Neurostorm Studios.
Unsurprisingly, one of my favorite game jams is the XR Brain Jam organized by Games for Change. This event started pairing neuroscientist with XR creators to demo and prototype all different kind of projects with one common denominator: exploring the connection of XR with our diverse brains.
In 2019 the XR Brain Jam opened its gates to not only neuroscientist but to any researcher that wanted to incorporate XR into their field. Our team paired with researcher Olivia Goldman who is a mosquito neurobiologist to find help the fight in mosquito prevention.
Why Mosquitos Vs. Humans?
We created Human VS Mosquitos as an entertaining way to create awareness about a serious topic since mosquitoes are the deadliest animal in the world. Every 2 minutes a child dies from an infected mosquito bite.
More money goes into researching hair loss than malaria — International attention and funding for executing and researching mosquito prevention is needed.
Thanks to PHD Olivia Goldman’s research on mosquito behavior we created a multiplayer experience where one player gets to play as human (from the mosquito patrol prevention) and the other players gets to play as a female mosquito with very clear goals: mate, bite a human and lay eggs.
Saving Lives Through Prevention
“Know the enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles you will never be in peril. When you are ignorant of the enemy, but know yourself, your chances of winning or losing are equal. If ignorant both of your enemy and yourself, you are certain in every battle to be in peril.” Sun Tzu.
Image by MPI
Multiplayer
MOSQUITOES VS. HUMANS is a multiplayer VR experience that aims to start a conversation on mosquito prevention.
Our game design highlights that mosquitoes are the most fatal animal in the world (killing half a million people per year) and educates players on prevention methods that can save lives. In the you can choose to play either to play as the "human" a junior mosquito controller ranger, whose job is to employ mosquito prevention measures and keep the citizens safe. Or you get to play as a "mosquito", hungry for human blood.
"Human" Player Goals:
Empty Stagnant Water
Locate Mosquito Eggs
Apply DEET repellent
"Mosquito" Players Goals:
Bite a Human
Find a Mate
Lay Eggs in Water
The game was built for the VR headset Oculus Quest, and we created a custom flying controller for mosquito controller that is entirely unique and created for this experience. The flying controller allows the "mosquito" player to fly with no dizziness effects.