An Artist's Perspective
An Artist's Perspective is a standalone VR puzzle game for the Meta Quest 2, developed as my graduation project at HKU within the Interactive Media & Game Technologies programme. Over six months I designed, built and validated the experience from scratch. Concept to code to research paper.
The Concept
The player steps inside an abstract painting and finds themselves in a surreal, painterly world. To progress, they must explore the space, identify the correct paintings scattered throughout the level, pick them up and place them on easels at precisely the right position and orientation. The puzzle is solved not by brute force but by perspective. When the player finds the exact viewpoint from which everything aligns, a visual bridge materialises and opens the path to the next level.
Core mechanic
Puzzles are solved by finding the right perspective. When the player aligns correctly with the paintings on the easels, the abstract composition resolves and a bridge to the next level appears.
Design & Development
Every aspect of the project (game concept, level design, puzzle mechanics, interaction systems and technical implementation) was conceived and built by me over the course of six months. I designed the full puzzle structure and tuned the mechanics iteratively, always testing whether the experience felt intuitive and rewarding rather than arbitrary.
My Contributions
- ✓ Conceived and designed the full game concept and puzzle mechanics
- ✓ Developed all technical systems in Unity for Meta Quest 2 standalone
- ✓ Designed and implemented the painting pick-up and placement interaction system
- ✓ Built the perspective-detection system that triggers level completion
- ✓ Iteratively tweaked difficulty and pacing across all levels
Research & Validation
Alongside the game itself, I wrote a research paper validating whether the difficulty curve creates a proper flow state for players. I conducted user testing sessions with 8 participants and analysed the results to identify where the experience broke down. The findings revealed a number of specific adjustments needed to improve progression and maintain the intended flow, which I then implemented. The paper was awarded a near-perfect score.
Research outcome
User testing with 8 participants surfaced concrete pain points in the difficulty ramp. The resulting adjustments meaningfully improved flow, validated in the paper that earned a near-perfect grade.
Research approach
- • Defined a research question around difficulty ramp and player flow in VR puzzle design
- • Conducted structured playtesting sessions with 8 participants
- • Identified specific friction points causing flow disruption
- • Implemented design adjustments based on findings
- • Documented methodology and conclusions in an academic paper
Graduation
An Artist's Perspective served as my graduation project for the Game Development programme at HKU, within the Interactive Media & Game Technologies department. Completing it marked the end of my formal education and the foundation of the XR development practice I have been building on ever since.