Following my work on the DEAS EHAB game, and in a slight change of development scenery, I was hired for a new research project at Glasgow Caledonian University that involved creating a VR simulation app. In over around 6 months, I was brought on as part of a Kidney Research UK funded project to design and develop a training tool for dialysis treatment for the Oculus / Meta Quest 2. This project involved collaborating with the Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow to design and develop the app with the aims of providing an alternative method of training and support for patients, staff and carers involved with dialysis treatment - specifically peritoneal dialysis.

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The app is currently being developed using Unreal Engine 4 and being built for the Quest 2 due to its accessible nature, with the aim to provide patients and staff with headsets where training and support is required.

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Due to COVID-19, the majority of the design and development for this project has been carried out remotely, and initially required careful working from reference material and videos to understand the treatment and procedure. Using this material, the procedure was mapped out in a specific step-by-step manner, with the intention of translating the process to VR. From here, each of the individual procedure steps was implemented with consideration to the available VR interaction methods and user experience, to ensure that technical issues and difficulties could be minimised for patients using the app - especially since some users would be completely new to VR. Alongside recreating the procedure in VR, our artist recreated the machine, equipment, and bags required for the dialysis procedure, alongside creating a comforting bedroom environment where the VR training takes place.

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This project is currently ongoing, and at time of writing, is currently undergoing tests with users. Following these user tests, further development will continue, with plans to improve the user experience and add accessibility features in due time. For more information regarding this research project and its development, please contact Professor Vassilis Charissis.

Some of my roles and tasks for this project have included:

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• Viewed reference videos and documentation to produce user / interaction flows for the dialysis procedure

• Planned and designed the specific VR interaction actions required for each step (due to 1:1 not always being feasible in VR)

• Presented user and interaction flows and documentation to supervising members of the team

• Handled the majority of the development work using Unreal Engine 4 and Blueprints

• Implemented and modified the Advanced Framework VR asset for our particular usage

• Implemented a step system using Blueprints for quickly skipping, rewinding, or selecting specific procedure steps

• Implemented various functional UI screens and interactive prompts for VR usage

• Implemented art assets and environment from our artist

• Built and distributed builds for the Quest 2 for the team and user tests

• Optimised the level and some assets to improve performance for the Quest 2

• Produced additional 3D assets with Blender

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