Hired as a freelance programmer to join a small team to develop the already public Oculus game, Canopy Sim. Canopy Sim is a VR skydiving experience with multiple maps to explore. The player can aim to fly through a course of rings to improve their skydiving skills as well as achieve the best score. I worked on this project for about six months until I completed the mechanics I was tasked with creating. The game was made in Unity and my work primarily consisted of programming in C#.
Main Focus
Canopy Sim was my first freelance job working on a VR experience. On top of this, skydiving is something I am highly interested in. A challenge of this project was that I had never been skydiving. To account for this, I had many video meetings with my client who was an avid skydiver and followed his advice on how the experience should feel. Beyond this, I used my creative ability to visualize the experience in order to develop the feeling of freefalling. It was very rewarding when my client expressed that the experience I created gave him the same rush as when he goes skydiving for real.
During this project, I expressed my interest in skydiving and my client encouraged me to go it. For research, as well as for fun, I jumped from a plane for the first time.
The Process
For this project, I worked independently on large features and had weekly video calls with the project’s creator. I studied the code that was already written for canopy control and extended it with my own scripts to create the free fall mechanics. The free fall consisted of using the Unity physics engine to create a smooth experience of moving your hands in order to control the direction of your descent. We used Github to collaborate on the code and manage the progress of the game, and it was my first time using Git so extensively with a team. Specific features I worked on included the experience of freefalling from a plane or rooftop up until canopy deployment. I also reworked the tutorial scene to include teaching the player the newly added free fall mechanics. Additionally, I worked on general scene tune-ups throughout the entire project.
I consistently worked to meet project deadlines and push features that would meet the standards of the game for public release.
Completed Project
When playing Canopy Sim, the player starts at the airport with a menu to select to play the tutorial or a number of maps. After selecting a map, the player will find themselves in a plane or on a rooftop ready to jump and start their skydiving experience. On the way down, the player is met with visually stunning landscapes and has to navigate their way through a course of rings and land safely in order to gain the highest score.
Conclusion
Canopy Sim was a wonderful project that I am glad to have worked on. I gained a significant amount of experience working with other people on a fully released VR game. I learned a lot about maintaining a project on Github and coordinating with other developers. This project gave me confidence and enthusiasm to continue my path working on more freelance projects.