A Cocinar
A Cocinar is a VR cooking game that aims to deepen players' understanding of Mexican cuisine through the lens of a Mexican-American character learning from their mother. Based on the developer's personal journey, the game invites players to discover more about Mexican culture through kitchen exploration, cooking, and authentic narratives. Recently shortlisted for a BAFTA Yugo Award, A Cocinar resonates with anyone who has learned about their homeland's traditions through second-hand retellings.
Organization
Personal Project
Role
Designer, Developer, Writer, Animator, Editor
Tools
Unity, Blender, Adobe Premire, Adobe Illustrator, Artifical Intelligence (EbSynth)
Date
2022 - Present
* It is available to play on Itch.io and it was also recently shortlisted for the BAFTA Yugo awards. *
Problem Context
“It is easy to distribute commodified Mexican cuisine across the global market because it acts as a(n)… economically successful representation of Mexican culture- despite the fact that its cultural signifiers… removed from their native context, are devoid of their original cultural meaning” (Taylor Griggs)
The initial objective of the first iteration of A Cocinar was to create a Minimal Viable Project (MVP) — a functional VR game featuring cooking mechanics, basic storytelling, and immersive audio. Initially conceived as a realistic cooking simulator showcasing recipes from across Mexico, the game gradually evolved into a unique experience, blending cooking gameplay with a narrative told from the perspective of the creator.
Locomotion:
Research revealed that vignetting during turning significantly alleviates VR motion sickness for continuous movement. Implementing this, along with thorough testing on turn speed and angles, proved highly effective in reducing motion sickness.
Cooking Mechanics:
In approaching the cooking mechanics, like cutting and cooking, my initial goal was to achieve maximum realism. However, I had to learn to balance realism with the constraints of the Unity game engine.
Realism vs Functionality:
In addressing the cutting mechanic, I opted for a pragmatic solution—utilizing pre-cut models. Since achieving a fully realistic cutting experience was not possible within the confines of a general game engine like Unity.
Yet, with the dethroning mechanic, I recognized the importance of immersing the user in the tedious nature of the task. This prompted me to develop a more performance-intensive mechanic, involving the manual removal of each thorn—an effort that proves worthwhile for the heightened sense of immersiveness.
User Interface (UI):
In VR, crafting an intuitive UI is vital for guiding gameplay. While Heads Up Displays (HUDs) are typical, studies show that a static HUD around the head, in VR, can induce motion sickness. In A Cocinar, all UI elements are integrated into the world space realistically, taking forms like a tablet or a watch.
Tablet UI:
The tablet serves as the platform for receiving messages from the player's mom, guiding them through dinner preparation as she can't make it home on time.
Wearable Wrist UI:
In line with common VR practices, A Cocinar incorporates essential menus—pause, mute, and game reset—into a wrist UI on the player's left side.
Multimodal Interactions:
Haptics:
To amplify immersion within the VR experience, I integrated haptic feedback. When the user touches an object, they’ll feel the precision of each action and experience tactile feedback for a heightened sense of interaction.
SFX:
For A Cocinar's cutting and cooking movements, I partnered with Alana Duvall, a composer friend, to create custom sound effects, like the crunch of cutting a nopal or the sizzle of pan-frying.
Voiceover:
The voiceover played a crucial role in gameplay, delivering instructions from the character's mom. The goal was to replicate the familiar voice memos received from parents.
User Testing V1:
I conducted informal user testing during development and formalized it upon completing the initial version. I found that while the game was technically working, it lacked character immersion.
In the initial A Cocinar version, user testing confirmed successful cooking mechanics but revealed a lack of character immersion. Thus, the second version aimed to enhance the experience by introducing additional game elements and immersing players in the character's world.
Gamification:
Replayability and skill improvement are crucial elements of a game, enticing players to return for more gameplay sessions.
Dethorning:
The dethorning mechanic served as an ideal skill development feature, introducing an element of risk as players cleaned the nopal, with the potential danger of pricking themselves with thorns. To highlight this risk, I incorporated the use of a red halo—a common visual cue in games to signify player damage.
Cooking:
Another opportunity for skill development arose during the nopales cooking process. In the initial version, there was no risk of overcooking, but in this second iteration, players must be attentive to the moment when all the nopales achieve a uniform deep olive color, preventing them from burning.
World Building:
During user testing for the first version, I observed users exploring the kitchen, attempting to interact with non-responsive elements like cabinets and the fridge. In response, I introduced additional interactions that, while not integral to the storyline, contribute to the immersive world-building experience.
Kitchen Exploration:
I remodeled the cabinets and fridge, stocking them with grabbable items. The concept aimed to expose users to aspects of Mexican culture not commonly found in American stores.
Character Building:
To deepen player immersion in their character, I devised a mechanic where specific items in the kitchen harbor embedded memories that unlock upon user interaction. These authentic videos are transformed with the help of AI to appear overexposed and blurry. So as to emulate the evocative quality of memory sequences commonly depicted in movies or shows.
User Testing
During the interviews I found that in this version of A Cocinar, users felt more engaged in the gameplay and immersed in their character.
