The development of virtual space has become a reality at Lethbridge College.
The Metaverse Islands Project, in collaboration with Liquid Avatar Technologies, will give students the opportunity to develop functioning items in a virtual space. Items would be anything you can interact with and use such as a cup or door that require a certain amount of development in an online world.
Cherie Bowker, the chair for the School of Spatial Design Technologies at Lethbridge College, introduced teams, and discussed the role that Liquid Avatar Technologies has in the competition.
So far, the virtual space includes a large space of data in the virtual world supplied by Liquid Avatar Technologies. It is a where members of the virtual reality department have been building a virtual version of the college. Included in the project are 9000 plots of virtual land for building the Lethbridge College Island that has been donated by the company.
“If you attend Lethbridge College, come talk to me and you can get a piece of [virtual land],” Bowker said, “We’ve basically in the last two years been building this college virtually.”
Co-founder of Liquid Avatar Technologies, David Lucatch, was there on video call to answer questions and explain the challenges involved. Lucatch said that each week there will be a challenge for the teams to complete.
Each week, the challenge will be focused on three related objects sourced from the same raw material. An example that was given would be a tree, cut logs and a finished plank, which are all wood objects. Developing a new set of items will come with each consecutive part of the challenge.
The winner of the overall competition was promised a lucrative opportunity as well.
“The competition winning team will be awarded prizes in summer paid internship positions,” Lucatch said.
Bowker said that students love the 3D modeling involved, but the real difficulties come with having those objects interact in the programming.
“They’re not sure what they would be doing, but it’s pretty intense. You’re coding and that’s just a big part of the program to create anything that you would interact with or be able to pick things up. Anything you would do in virtual reality has a code,” Bowker said.
She said students find coding difficult, but they are working on giving people some extra support on that side of things. The variety of the teams will help with struggles like coding as Bowker presented four teams with a student from each program area. Interior design, architectural animation and virtual augmented reality students will work together on the Metaverse Islands Project.
“[Students are] focused on digital identity. They’re focused on metaverse creations. They’re hoping to launch and go live this year with [the virtual island],” Bowker said.
The opportunity to connect with the other programs is vital to forming industry connections according to Bowker. She said that she is “really excited” to see them engage with team members having a variety of skill sets. Many of the students have not had the opportunity to meet before the event kicked off.
Emmett Sehm, Interior Design Technologies student at Lethbridge College, says he is excited to work with students from other programs on the Metaverse Islands Project, which will take a plot of virtual land and develop it to some extent. They will be working this land like any developer would. Build a house and decorate the landscape, with potentially more complex constructions occurring.
“It’s been forever since I have been able to come out in person and actually interact with people and have had an event of any sort… I’m really excited to be working with a group of my peers for a project,” Sehm said.
Sehm says that developing plots of land like this has incredible implications, especially virtual life for people who are avid gamer like himself. He says he spends a lot of time in that space so seeing it change is compelling. Sehm went on to say having large scale plots of land and everything for development is revolutionary.
“I think the future of virtual reality will affect us all,” Sehm said.
He says being able to learn more about the virtual environment in the gaming sensors will be new for him as they are beyond his personal programs. Sehm looks forward to being able to work with a video student who has that valuable experience.
An announcement was made at the event kickoff with one lucky first year student joining the competition and being able to get their practicum finished early. The virtual island competition runs from April 18 to May 30 and fulfills the practicum requirements for all the students involved.
