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Soular: The VR Planet Creator

Walkthrough Video

Soular: The VR Planet Creator is a VR sandbox game built for self-expression and creativity. Users create a unique planet using their hands: raise mountains, dig rivers, place objects, and paint the surface, all through hand gestures.

Group coursework for the Virtual Reality module. The team brainstormed the game concept and mechanics together. My main contribution was programming and user experience design.

Why Soular?

Concept sketch for Soular VR Planet Creator

Our initial idea was inspired by Gravity Sketch, Tilt Brush, and Lego sets. In Gravity Sketch and Tilt Brush, you create everything from scratch. We wanted a game with enough structure to guide the user, while still leaving room for creativity.

Soular is similar to a Lego set, but more immersive: the user is inside a galaxy, shaping a planet in space. That is something you cannot easily do in the real world.

The game does not require controllers. Hands handle everything, so users can play anywhere and anytime as long as they have a headset.

Core Technology

Soular combines procedural generation, mesh deformation, and hand-driven interaction into a single creative sandbox.

Hand Tracking & Gesture Systems

Full hand tracking replaces controllers. Users sculpt terrain, place objects, and navigate menus through natural gestures.

Procedural Planet Generation

Each session starts with a generated planet base that users can reshape into something entirely their own.

Mesh Deformation

Real-time mesh deformation lets users raise mountains and dig rivers directly on the planet surface.

Water Shader & Vertex Colouring

Custom water shading and vertex colouring bring rivers, oceans, and painted landscapes to life on the sculpted terrain.

Saving Features

Created planets can be saved and revisited, so users can return to their worlds and keep building over time.