Works

Making fear something you can touch

TAG | A multimodal VR horror experience that pairs hand cooling with foot vibration, turning in-game events into physical feedback the player can actually feel.

VRUnity / OpenXRArduinoHaptic FeedbackPhysical Prototype
00

Overview

A VR horror escape experience combining hand cooling with foot vibration, turning in-game events into physical feedback the player can feel.

What I was responsible for

  • Building the hand-cooling mechanism and testing how to mount it
  • Building and assembling the 3DoF foot vibration platform
  • Building the Unity VR scene and setting up the in-game events
  • Integrating haptic feedback with those game events
  • Testing the hardware prototype and troubleshooting it
Team
4 people
Timeline
Feb 2025 – Jun 2025
Outcome
A complete, playable prototype
Tools
Unity, OpenXR, Meta Quest 3, Arduino, Peltier thermoelectric modules, servo motors, Figma
01

Demo

TAG key visual: a player wearing a Meta Quest 3 while seated, with the hand-cooling system, the 3DoF foot platform and the headset labelled as three modules
Three modules: the Quest 3 headset, the hand-cooling system, and the 3DoF foot platform

Watch the TAG demo video (YouTube, 1 min 42 s)

02

Design challenge

The project had to deliver a genuinely playable VR scene and a set of body-feedback devices on a small budget and with limited hardware.

The hand module needed to stay firmly in contact with the skin, and the foot platform had to balance the direction of the vibration, the stability of the rig and the player's safety. Through repeated rounds of assembly and testing, I gradually tuned how the devices were mounted, how the cabling was routed, and when the feedback fired.

Three build photos side by side: the cooling module on a wrist next to the wooden floor platform, the exposed servo motors and wiring on the side of the platform, and a participant being helped into the headset
A low-cost physical setup: a wooden base, servo motors and exposed wiring — every adjustment meant reassembling and retesting
03

What we built

  • Hand-cooling module: simulates the cold, pressing contact of a ghostly hand.
  • Foot vibration platform: three servo motors produce variation in direction and intensity.
  • VR scene: an abandoned hospital, with a key hunt and scripted horror events.
  • Complete prototype: a VR horror escape experience people could actually play.
On the left, the red iron door scene in VR; on the right, the player's arm wearing the cooling module in real life
Hand-cooling module: the temperature drops in sync with the triggering game event
On the left, the derelict bathroom scene in VR; on the right, the player's feet standing on the wooden 3DoF vibration platform
3DoF foot platform: three servo motors vary the direction and intensity of the vibration
Three photos side by side showing the player swinging their arms forward, left and right to move through the VR scene
Movement: players swing their arms back and forth to explore the scene and hunt for the key
A playtest in progress: the player is seated in the headset with both feet on the vibration platform, the in-VR view shown in the lower left corner
A complete prototype people could actually play
04

Takeaways

An interactive experience is not made of picture and sound alone. How the hardware feels, when the feedback fires, and whether it is safe to use all shape how players read the experience as a whole.
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