Confined spaces

In this simulation, I worked on the development of the second exercise added to the experience. It was one of those projects that combines design, creativity, and a bit of “what if we tried this?”. The goal was to create a virtual reality journey through a sewer network, making users feel as if they were truly exploring an unknown environment.

One of the most interesting challenges appeared when trying to translate a real-world action into the limitations of virtual reality. In a real sewer, workers use a pole to check water depth before taking each step through flooded areas. However, in our experience, movement was based on teleportation, so we had to find a way to preserve that sense of exploration and safety without breaking immersion.

The solution was to adapt this interaction to the VR movement system itself. When the user activated teleportation, we added a “ghost” version of the pole that appeared at the destination point, allowing users to visually measure the water depth. This way, before moving, users could determine whether the area was safe to walk through or whether they needed to find another route, maintaining the logic of the original action within the possibilities of the virtual environment.

Alongside this interaction design, we also worked on building the environment, designing the entire sewer network and defining which elements, animals, and creatures would appear throughout the journey to create a more alive and immersive experience.

The most enjoyable part was seeing the first user tests: the screams, surprised reactions, and those “I’m not going through there” moments confirmed that we had achieved exactly the feeling we were aiming for. It was a very creative project that helped me continue learning about interaction design, adapting real-world experiences to virtual environments, and how small details can completely transform the user’s perception.