Black Ice VR
UNCSA METL
Art Direction · Creative Technology · Spatial Audio Design · Environment Design · Motion Capture
A cyberpunk VR cinema experience in which a single user steps into the role of a memory slicer, uncovering the story of a girl named Rin one extracted memory at a time.
Overview
Black Ice VR is a cyberpunk horror/thriller VR cinema experience for Meta Quest and Pico VR. In a near future where memory editing is a service you can hire for, a young girl named Rin arrives at a memory slicer’s parlor asking to have something removed. As the user, you are that slicer. You move through sequences of her memories, extracting details and reliving moments, until the full weight of what she is asking — and who she actually is — becomes clear.
The experience was shown at SXSW, SIGGRAPH, and Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival. At SXSW we ran three headsets simultaneously at the booth to manage throughput while keeping each playthrough a single-user, private experience.
Concept and Approach
The design challenge was making a linear narrative feel like genuine investigation. Rather than passive viewing, each sequence was structured as an act of extraction: the user does something to access a memory, not just watches it play. This kept the framing of “you are the slicer” active throughout, rather than collapsing into spectator mode.
Spatial audio was central to how the story was told. Different memory states had distinct sonic environments designed in Wwise with layered spatialization, so the user could feel the emotional register of each memory before the visuals fully resolved. Interactive music states shifted in real time based on where the user was in the sequence.
The environments were built to reinforce the sense of accessing something that was not meant to be seen. Lighting, geometry, and audio all leaned into the clinical aesthetic of the memory slicer’s space versus the warmer, more fractured quality of Rin’s memories.
Production
Art directed the full production and served as creative and technical lead across all disciplines. Designed and built all virtual environments in Unreal Engine, and sourced and created hundreds of production assets across character models, props, audio, and video.
Designed and implemented all spatial audio systems using Wwise and Unreal blueprints, including 3D spatialization, interactive music layering, and real-time audio state management. The spatial audio work was covered in a post for the Audiokinetic blog.
Co-directed motion capture sessions at the UNCSA Vicon space, including setup for real-time scene reconstruction. Performed all mocap cleanup, retargeting, and animation integration. Sequenced the final experience across animation, music, and visuals, and designed visual effects throughout.
Exhibitions
- SXSW — Austin, TX, 2022
- SIGGRAPH — 2022
- Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival — Bucheon, South Korea, 2022
- Pico VR Platform — 2022
Press
- IMDB
- Audiokinetic Blog — Cybernetic Thrills: The Audio and Visuals of Black Ice VR
- Pico VR
- UNCSA News — VR Film at SXSW
Role
Art Direction · Creative Technology · Spatial Audio Design (Wwise + Unreal Blueprints) · Environment Design · Asset Production · Motion Capture Direction · Animation Integration · Visual Effects · Production Sequencing