Senior Design Project for the University of Michigan-Dearborn by Kirk Daniel Caponpon, Zeinab Alrubaiee, and William Gilmour

This project aims to provide players with an immersive sailing experience within the comforts of their homes. It allows them to navigate the endless waters using real-world sailing skills and thought processes.  The game will be intended for VR usage with the full capabilities of simulating sailing, factoring in wind and sailing direction. By using the headsets, it will enable players to immerse themselves in the act of sailing and fully take control of a sailboat that navigates through predetermined courses, or provide a free roam option that would enable players to sail the waters without restriction. This will all be completed within Unreal Engine 5 while using Vive headsets to interact with the game.

Introduction

Purpose of product

To grant the player the ability to experience all the essential elements of sailing all within the comforts of their home. 

Operating environment

Unreal Engine 5.0.3

General functionality

A virtual reality game meant to capture all the essential elements of sailing, with an emphasis on wind interaction and maneuvering the sailboat with the tiller. 

 Special features

Player interaction where it allows the player to grip the rope or the tiller to move the sails or sailboat respectively. 

  Limitations

Since the aim of the project is to provide a sailing experience, typical game elements that would add a more challenging and enjoyable factor to it are severely limited. While we would have liked to incorporate more features, such as course navigation, some of which are timed, we only had the time to place the barrel collection. 

Installation

Physical requirements

• Computer requirements: 

Operating System Windows 10 64-bit version 1909 revision .1350 or higher, or versions 2004 and 20H2 revision .789 or higher

Processor Quad-core Intel or AMD, 2.5 GHz or faster

Video RAM 8 GB RAM

Graphics Card DirectX 11 or 12 compatible graphics card with the latest drivers

• Vive Headset

Copying & backup procedures

No copying and backup procedures are needed. The game always starts in the same location and makes no use of reloading any previous play data.

Software installation instructions

No installation is needed. Simply unzip the files and run the .exe file. 

Tutorial

Walkthrough of example session

Controls: 

Main menu:

Use the “grab” button to select “Start” to begin the game or “Quit” to quit the game. 

Gameplay: 

Move the rope left and right by using the “grab” button to move the sail in order to catch the wind, the wind direction of which is displayed on the compass attached to the mast of the sailboat.

Move the tiller left and right by using the “grab” button to move the sailboat in the opposite direction, the tiller is facing.

Crash into barrels scattered along the map to make the score go up by 100 points.

Press the appropriate button to unfurl the sail. Enjoy cruising through the seas!