Liam Salas - UX/UI Design
In a team of three, I collaborated to conceptualize, design, and develop Letting Go, a virtual reality experience focused on therapeutic thought disposal, a process of acknowledging and releasing life’s stressors. Targeted at teenagers, this immersive platform supports stress management by fostering mindful emotional resilience.
Our team identified therapeutic thought disposal as the core theme for our virtual reality project, aiming to help users acknowledge and release stressors. As the lead concept developer, I proposed and refined the narrative framework that shaped the final experience.
We designed Letting Go, a VR experience placing users in a prescribed burning scenario, where they actively extinguish fires, symbolizing the intentional management of stressful thoughts. This immersive metaphor empowered teenagers to cultivate a proactive mindset for addressing stress.
The near-final version of Letting Go was met with highly positive feedback during user testing. Participants consistently reported feeling calm and found the act of extinguishing fires in the VR environment both relaxing and intuitive. As a pilot project for the Seattle Public Library, this initiative was a resounding success.
My first assignment with the Seattle Public Library (SPL) was to collaborate with a team to create a teen-oriented VR experience that explored themes surrounding Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). Focusing on the theme of "Thought Disposal," the project aimed to empower young users to manage stress through an immersive, therapeutic VR environment.
Thought disposal, in the therapeutic sense, is when you think intentionally about things that are bothering you and almost make “physical” room for it within your own psyche. Then, you make the active choice to not worry about it, hence “disposing” it.
Initially, our team explored broad stress management themes for the Letting Go VR experience, rather than focusing exclusively on thought disposal. I proposed an initial concept placing users in an overwhelming, high-pressure environment surrounded by papers quickly erratically circling the user, symbolizing overwhelming stressors. As users attempted to grasp the papers, more would appear, intensifying the sense of being overwhelmed. Upon ceasing efforts to control the environment, the scene would transition to a serene, calming landscape.
While this initial idea had its strengths, it was too convoluted to be viable. I revisited the ideation process and explored the concept of exposing the user to a “prescribed burning” scenario. The user would enter the world in a forest fire situation where their objective would be to put out smaller fires near them, attempting to calm the environment.
I developed the “prescribed burning” concept for the Letting Go VR experience, recognizing it as a powerful allegory for clearing mental stressors, akin to controlled forest burns that prevent uncontrolled wildfires and promote ecological renewal. Unlike the earlier paper-based concept, which risked confusing users due to its abstract mechanics, the prescribed burning scenario offered clear, intuitive objectives. By placing users in a high-stress forest fire environment equipped with a water bucket, the level design naturally guided them to extinguish fires, mirroring the therapeutic process of thought disposal. This approach enhanced both narrative coherence and gameplay clarity, requiring significantly fewer instructions for the user.
Development is where we spent the bulk of our time, especially because this was my first big unity project. Because we had a strong direction initially, we didn’t significantly change course throughout the project. This streamlined development, and below shows a small snippet of what that process looked like in the engine.
I took the lead on crafting the logic for how bushes catch fire in a semi-random yet natural way, aiming to make the forest fire scenario feel authentic. Rather than overwhelming users with a fully ablaze environment, I designed the fires to spark gradually, creating a manageable yet immersive setting. To make the experience more engaging, I tied the fire-spreading mechanics to the user’s actions: each fire they put out slightly increased the chance of new fires igniting, alongside a natural spread over time. This approach kept the experience dynamic, avoided sudden fire appearances that could disrupt immersion, and supported the therapeutic goal of empowering teens to actively address stressors.
The priority for this project, aside from making an enjoyable and therapeutic experience, was to make it as accessible as possible. After our day of user testing, we found that our target demographic had little experience with VR. Thus, we needed to design an experience that leaned into the simple, yet visceral nature of VR.
Near the end of development, we engaged local teenagers to test the Letting Go VR experience, receiving overwhelmingly positive feedback. The participants particularly enjoyed the intuitive act of extinguishing fires, which resonated as a powerful metaphor for managing stress. They also appreciated the thoughtful narration, which enhanced the immersive experience. Most significantly, the teens connected deeply with the therapeutic message of thought disposal, affirming the project’s alignment with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy principles. With testing complete, we focused on final enhancements, refining sound design and fog effects to polish the overall experience.
The final additions yet to be made were to add fog effects to enhance the forest fire visual effect.
This assignment was an incredible learning process where I improved my storytelling ability, Unity development skills, and virtual teamwork skills. However, the following two takeaways were the most impactful.
While the VR-based interactions in the experience are smooth and player-driven, the experience still over-relies on spoken narration to deliver story points.
We realized late in the process that we needed to provide the user with a clear connection between thought disposal and prescribed burning for the experience to be cohesive. As a result, we wrote more narration than originally intended.
The most powerful aspect of VR isn't necessarily how the environment looks. Rather, it's how it makes users feel when immersed in their environment. Our testers reported that they felt like they were putting out fires. Further, they didn't need any prompting to do it.
When someone is put in a problematic environment, if you give them the means to improve their immediate surroundings, they will instinctively do the most logical course of action.