Image Credit: Cole, Danielle. “Death Row”, Carleton University BIT Degree April 4th 2024 https://capstone.bitdegree.ca/?page=imd
Who says it needs to be spooky season to play horror games? The medium of VR opens a new world of possibilities for what horror games can become, and that is why we sat down with Danielle Cole, one of the contributors of “Creating a Multi-Sensory Horror Experience with VR,” a SIGGRAPH 2024 Poster contribution. Grab your headsets, it is time to enter the multi-sensory VR horror experience!
SIGGRAPH: Your project “Creating a Multi-Sensory Horror Experience With VR” is a fascinating piece of work! Can you tell me what inspired you and your team to develop this work?
Danielle Cole (DC): Thank you! The team and I worked hard to bring our project, named “Death Row“, to life, but what really drove us was our love for horror games and the interactivity of VR. The inspiration came from our desire to integrate real-world props with video games. While studying together at Carleton University, we would often discuss some of our favorite games, like “Outlast”, “Still Wakes the Deep”, and “Phasmophobia”. We wanted to push the boundaries of the VR game genre, knowing that true terror comes from our bodily senses — sight, sound, and touch.
In “Death Row”, the stories revolve around these senses as well. If you’re someone who gets creeped out by whispers in your ear, the first story takes you through an experience where tiny creatures speak in each ear. With the power of spatial audio supported by the Meta Quest headsets, you can move your head closer or farther from the sounds, enhancing the experience.
The medium of VR opens up a new world of possibilities for what horror games can become, especially when it comes to directing the user’s attention to different story aspect, and also that all the senses can be engaged.
SIGGRAPH: The beauty, but also a complexity, of horror experiences, whether that be in movies, TV, or video games, is that visual and audio cues go hand in hand to help build suspension. Can you speak to how to how you balance those aspects to complement each other?
DC: In the early stages of design, we sent out surveys to anyone willing to participate. We asked questions like, “What do you find scary in games?” and “What do you enjoy about horror games?” The answers were mostly what you would expect — concepts like feeling alone or watched, darkness, and gore or body horror.
The most interesting responses, both from the survey and from testing the experience in VR, revealed that many people are most afraid of feeling “out of control”. Not knowing what will happen next and the constant suspense kept users engaged. To heighten this feeling, we carefully balanced audio and visual cues to keep players on edge.
In our second experience as part of the project, the user is trapped in a creepy bedroom. Many of the audio cues build up over time: a single creak, then low hums, until, finally, a visual monster appears in the room. A big part of what makes VR horror so effective is our ability to direct the user’s attention in 360-degree space. Many of our sound cues follow a pattern — first to the side, then behind, and finally in front of the user. We ensure the player is scared enough to instinctively turn their VR headset all the way around to check for danger.
Although horror experiences can be complex, we found it exciting if the players would experience the feeling of “Is something behind me?!” while in the VR helmet!
SIGGRAPH: Your work mentions that “Haptic feedback is provided by real-world simulations of in-experience objects to create unpleasant warm and gooey textures for participants to feel.” Can you speak about this process? What made you pursue this, and how did you know you had achieved what you were looking for?
DC: The whole experience of touching props, like the gooey texture, stems from the Rubber Hand Illusion. This phenomenon occurs when participants experience a fake rubber hand as part of their own body through sensations invoked on both the real and fake hand.
In “Death Row”, we create this illusion by building up fear around real-world props, making them feel scary. Of course, touching the props in real life, which include a tennis ball placed in slime and later a feather duster, is completely harmless. However, with the use of visuals in the VR experience, where the gooey texture represents a corpse in the horror game, we saw users overthink the props.
Our players would often hesitate to reach out because we built up suspense in the game, making them expect something disgusting. Another key factor in our success was the Meta Quest 3’s hand-tracking technology. None of our “touch” experience would have been possible if users had to hold a controller. Instead, players reached out naturally, and if they successfully moved the prop, the game’s story would continue. However, many became squeamish, saying things like, “Ew, I’m not touching that!” That’s when we knew we had achieved something truly frightening rather than something cliché. If we could make a tennis ball feel scary to touch, then we had made something truly scary.
SIGGRAPH: The world of VR is rapidly evolving, and we are seeing a growing admiration for the world of horror in film, TV, and video games. What is next for your work? Where do you see your work five years from now?
DC: Since we were students developing “Death Row”, our initial goal was simply to create something original. As relatively new VR developers, we hope to continue developing innovative VR games that incorporate props. I can truly envision a future where VR becomes a theater-like experience that you can enjoy with friends, whether in the horror genre or beyond.
There are so many stories to tell in VR, as the headset places the user right in the middle of the action. I hope to work on more VR projects that fully embrace the idea that, in VR, the story can unfold behind you, not just on the screen in front of you.
SIGGRAPH: What advice would you give to someone who is looking to submit their work to the SIGGRAPH 2025 Posters program?
DC: I would say that the Posters program is much more diverse than you might expect at first. I believe the industry as a whole is looking for works that push the genre, so why not try something weird? Our experience was gross and scary, but it came from our love of technology.
At the conference, I saw posters created by passionate researchers, covering topics ranging from anime graphics to GPS systems. In our case, we chose something that fascinated us and set out to develop our own take on it. SIGGRAPH was a fantastic motivator, pushing us to refine and polish our vision.
Feeling scared or inspired? The SIGGRAPH 2025 Posters contribution is actively accepting submissions. Danielle said it best: “I would say that the Posters program is much more diverse than you might expect at first. I believe the industry as a whole is looking for works that push the genre, so why not try something weird?” Submit your work by 24 April.
Danielle Cole is a VR developer and technical artist from Calgary, Alberta, passionate about telling stories through VR and technology. She studied at Carleton University’s Interactive Multimedia and Design program, where she developed video games like YOUniverse and Death Row, honing her skills in game development, VR, and immersive experiences. Now a full-time 3D/Technical Artist student at Sheridan Computer Animation, she continues to explore research in VR, game development, and animation, pushing the boundaries of interactive storytelling.
