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Team projectCharacter design · VR · Script · Storyboard

Little StarSeeker

A short VR experience, made with a hospital, to calm children during simple operations. I designed and built its owl mascot, and wrote the intro script and storyboard.

My role
Lead character / mascot: concept art, sculpting, animation, rig, script, storyboard
Setup
Team, with a hospital partner
Tools
Blender
Little StarSeeker
01

Brief & goal

A short collaboration with a hospital to make a VR experience that calms children during simple operations.

The goal was a space-themed experience that uses one of the hospital’s mascots to connect the game to the hospital.

From the intro script: the player sits inside a spaceship. The owl appears on a small telecom screen, guides a breathing exercise, and then sends the player to connect stars into constellations to find hidden astronaut cadets. Each completed constellation pops out a sticker.

Game showcase.
02

Design reasoning

The hospital had simple cartoon characters on its walls, and we had to extend them into the project. I redesigned the owl mascot to fit the outer-space theme.

I gave the character an orb-like, round shape to make her feel friendly and soft.

The hospital’s original mascot, painted on the ward wall.
My redesign for the space theme.
Shape study: building the owl from round forms.
Final round owl design.
03

Role & collaborators

Team project. I was mainly responsible for the lead character / mascot — concept art, sculpting, rigging and animation — and for introducing the child to the experience through the intro script and storyboard. The other team members are not named here; the hospital was our partner.

04

Tools

Blender
05

Process

  1. 01Artwork and mascot redesign
  2. 02Character sheet
  3. 03Sculpting
  4. 04Retopology
  5. 05Rig with shape keys for facial expressions
  6. 06Stretchy rig
  7. 07Script for the scenario
  8. 08Storyboard
  9. 09Animation
“Relax your shoulders and body first, make sure you’re comfortable. Now we’ll breathe together…”
From the opening script: the owl guides a breathing exercise before the mission starts.
Stretchy owl rig: drag to orbit, scroll to zoom.
Storyboard, page 1.
Storyboard, page 2.
Script, page 1 (Dutch).
Script, page 2 (Dutch).
PDFIntro script (2 pages, Dutch)↗
PDFLittle StarSeeker storyboard (3 pages)↗
06

Challenges

Draft
  • Take a two-dimensional wall mascot and develop it into a 3D character that can explain the experience and stay visually expressive.
07

What worked

Draft
  • The round, soft silhouette keeps the owl friendly, which suits an experience for anxious children.
08

What could have gone better

Story development and 3D modeling went well, but time management did not. We had a tight deadline and I wanted a stretchy rig with bendy bones for more cartoony animations. The project was for young children, so a strong visual look for the main character felt important. Afterwards I realised this feature should have been cut: it was not feasible in the time we had.

I learned to cut features in order to make the deadline.