ORPHANIDESIGN
Exploring the Design of Interactive Digital Experiences
15a78a5d-0d9c-4a37-aab6-bb360e6be55f_rw_1920.png

'MISSION 828' VR AT THE BURJ KHALIFA

‘MISSION 828’ VR EXPERIENCE
AT THE BURJ KHALIFA

Role: Designer, Programmer

 

DESCRIPTION

EMAAR Properties wanted us to produce a VR experience set on the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. Here, you play as a secret agent on a special mission to stop a cyber attack. You have to interact with the environment and solve a range of problems in order to succeed. The experience eases the players into the world slowly but is designed to increase the pace and tension as you progress. You’ll eventually reach the peak of the building where you’ll be viewing Dubai from 828m above the ground.

The experience takes influences from a number of action movies and was designed to be as immersive as possible whilst remaining comfortable. In order to enable interaction in a number of different ways, mechanics had to be created to make use of the HTC Vive controllers. Actions include climbing with suction gloves, punching though glass to gain access to objects, reaching over your shoulder to grab items from your backpack and firing and pulling yourself up to higher levels. Again, each was designed with ease and comfort as the top priority. The navigation system also had to be as simple as possible. A Gaze to move system was used where you look directly at a specific object for a few seconds, such as a doorway, to teleport to it. This allowed us to control the path which the player moved along in the world by highlighting each subsequent gaze object for them to look towards.

The external environment showing the city of Dubai is actually a 360 degree video which was filmed using a drone. A video backdrop provided a much more convincing vista for players when climbing the external walls of the building. There was also another dimension to the experience which used fans that blew air towards the player at key moments. These would be activated primarily to simulate the wind behaviour at that altitude and to really convince the player they were there. The experience takes place in six VR pods which are installed on levels 124 and 125 of the building.

In VR, you begin in the same area and then take the elevator up to the 160th floor in order to find a way to reach the top to ensure that you can successfully contact the satellite. The only way to get there is to climb up the side of the 200m high spire. Once at the top, there’s no time for photos as there are counter-agents in hot pursuit - you must quickly send the transmission to intercept the enemy’s signal and escape. You jump over the side, pull your parachute and land by the spectacular Dubai Fountain in all its glory.

Mission 828 is a fascinating example of how Virtual Reality can be applied in the tourism industry, especially to make the visit to sights and attractions even more attractive for visitors. The combination of an analogue experience and the implementation of a simulation, which offers you access to a virtual world, promises great growth and adaption potential in the future.

BRIEF

SPECIFICATION

  • Objective: Create a VR experience for visitors of the Burj Khalifa building in Dubai.

  • Core Gameplay: Solve various puzzles and navigate through the environment in order to escape the building.

  • Environment: As close as possible to the real building but made to look more cinematic.

  • Endgame/Reward: Get to the roof, intercept signal, and parachute to safety.

  • Target Audience: Non tech-savvy people unfamiliar with VR.

  • Play Time: ~4 minutes

  • Comfort: 4/5

TECHNICAL

  • Digital Medium: Virtual Reality

  • VR Platform: HTC Vive

  • Locomotion System: Gaze at each pre-set object along your path for 2 seconds to teleport to it.