Shinkansen-Tokkaido Experience

This project was made as part of a User Experience Design Assessment.

The assessment was to produce an immersive, educational and interactive experience about one of the trains from the National Railways Museum. The project had to be suitable for the needs of the Museum's visitors and the Museum itself.  

I opted to produce a physical, semi-immersive, multi-sensory installation with 180° projection mapped surfaces, directional speakers, vibrating floor, and air flow emulators which will leave visitors stunned by the raw speed, sound and feel of a Shinkansen train. Users would also be able to control the speed, and travel along the most popular line, the Tokaido line, from Tokyo-Kyoto. 

I produced a proof-of-concept prototype in Unity. This included modelling a N700s Shinkansen myself using Blender. This was a difficult but fulfilling task, and I am proud of the likeness of my model versus the real train. 

I used heightmaps along the Tokaido line to represent the real terrain. I also developed an automatic splat mapper to take into account the height and steepness of the terrain at certain points and assign textures. 

Using Unity's Splines, I produced a script that would 'sow' (place along the spline) 3D assets to create the track and objects alongside this. I modelled the track, the electricity poles and the tunnel myself. Also added to the environment were trees, train stations and cities representing Tokyo, Kyoto and Hamamatsu, a city half-way along the route

The user can use W/S or Game pad Joystick to control the throttle and braking of the train. I produced a physics-based locomotive script that would follow the spline, and have a physics force applied to it. Using this, I could realistically map the speed of the train to real-life acceleration and deceleration values, as well as a top-speed. These realistic values could be applied in 'realistic mode', ideal for train enthusiasts. 

Basic sounds were added to represent the speed and braking of the train. 

Along the Journey, the user can experience a passing Shinkansen at full speed, as it passes a station. As the train approaches, a screen shake emulates a real-life implementation of vibrations. 

The prototype also has educational considerations, with recorded educational dialogue, with subtitles for accessibility, describing the history of Shinkansens, the train's journey and mechanical prowess. I also included a 'Child friendly education' mode, which include less technical information in this dialogue. 

The process was fullfilling, and I enjoyed considering accessibility concerns when designing the prototype and physical installation.