Titanic Wrecked

Nelson Lu

Project Goals

The primary goal of this project is to provide a safe and affordable way to explore the Titanic shipwreck through an immersive deep-sea exploration experience inspired by recent events. The project allows users to:

• Control a submarine
• Dive to the Titanic shipwreck
• Explore the entire Titanic wreck site

Features and Controls

1. Diving: The dive process begins immediately since it takes time to reach the wreck site.
2. Controls:
   • Basic movement: WASD to move on the x-axis
   • Look around: Mouse
   • Dive down: Left Control
   • Dive up: Space
3. Depth Meter: The slider on the left side of the screen acts as both a depth and distance meter, indicating proximity to the shipwreck in both horizontal and vertical axes.
4. Visual Effects:
   • Bubbles: Simulate underwater ambiance around the submarine and in light beams.
   • Volumetric Light Beams: Simulate the searchlight cone but require an additional point light at the submarine's front for effective illumination.
5. Sound Effects: A looping background track simulates underwater sounds to enhance immersion.
6. Exploration: Users can explore the Titanic wreck, interact with illuminated areas, and see light reflections on shiny parts of the wreck. A box collider prevents the submarine from passing through ship walls.
7. Animated Seaweed: Seaweed on the seabed appears to move with underwater currents, adding realism.

Challenges and Solutions

• Lighting: Finding the right lighting was challenging; many tutorials used the Volumetric Light Beam asset, which is paid. A free educational version greatly simplified following the tutorials and achieving the desired effect.
• User Interface:
  • Depth and Distance Meter: Initially intended to separate depth and map indicators but combined them into a single slider due to development time constraints.
  • Orientation: Early tests showed a risk of players getting disoriented. The depth/distance slider mitigates this by showing relative distance to the shipwreck.
• Diving Experience: The dive duration was adjusted for a more immersive experience. Faster movement made close navigation difficult. Planned marine life and seabed features could enhance this experience further.
• First-Person vs. Third-Person View: First-person was considered for greater immersion but posed challenges such as requiring a detailed interior model and integrating UI into the cockpit instruments. The third-person view was chosen for simplicity and allowed exterior exploration of the submarine.

Future Updates

Planned improvements include:

• Environmental Details: Adding marine life (e.g., fish, sharks) and more seabed elements (e.g., corals, algae).
• Titanic Model: Enhancing the shipwreck model with additional textures and realism, such as algae growth and more intricate interior details.
• UI Enhancements:
  • Separate depth meter and map to provide clearer orientation and distance tracking.
• Improved Controls: Adjusting controls to allow horizontal movement with the left and right keys rather than just rotation, making navigation smoother.
• First-Person Cockpit View: Adding a cockpit view, especially for VR integration, to increase immersion and allow UI elements like the depth meter and map to be part of the submarine’s instrument panel.

Credits

• Models:
  • Titanic Shipwreck – Chevin
  • Titan Submersible – dylanheyes
  • Seaweed – rkuhlf
• Assets:
  • Volumetric Light Beam Free – Tsunami (Original Tech Salad)
  • AQUAS Lite – Dogmatic
  • Underwater Sound Effects – Pixabay