26 July 2021

A scene from the virtual reality model, based on the botanical gardens in Georgetown, Guyana

This project builds on our experiences learned while developing the Iwokrama Invisible River Carbon project, but this time focusing on the diverse and wonderful flora of the Iwokrama, which is vital to the sustainability of the rainforest itself and is used extensively by the indigenous peoples of the region. In this project, the player explores a VR modelled environment based on the botanical gardens in Georgetown, Guyana, which also ties in 360° footage. While exploring, they search for various types of important plant species by following tips given in their logbook (e.g. looking for seeds or leaves, or finding the right type of environment). Upon finding a plant, the player takes an in game ‘photograph’ that goes into the logbook to record their progress, and they learn about the plant’s importance to indigenous people. In this way, the game conveys an important message about the inherent worth of rainforests in a fun, immersive, and engaging gamified process.

Seads and leaves
Metal bridge
Sponsor wall
Wooden bridge
Images from the VR experience
Botanical gardens VR experience storyboard, which reads: user picks which plant they want to look for and reads basic description, learns which environment to look in, walks/travels to right environment (using map), unlocks information about leaf/seed/other clue, searches for and locates leaf/seed/other clue, unlocks further information and causes trail of clues to become discoverable, follows breadcrumb trail to find target plant, unlocks fun fact about target plant, photographs plant and is congratulated.
Storyboard
Construction of the environment
Development of the unique flora

This project was led by Dr Ryan Pereira in collaboration with Dr David Cole, Gordon Ross, Alexandra Matzari, and Dr James Spray.