Towards a Design Methodology for Virtual Environments
Clive Fencott · 1999
Virtual Reality (VR) is currently the subject of much academic research and virtual environments, particularly in the form of 3D computer games, are the subject of much commercial activity. However, the development process for VEs is not well documented or fully researched. In this paper the available literature relating to VE design is briefly reviewed prior to the presentation of a possible design methodology for VEs. The paper then goes on to discuss the weak points in the methodology and problems with inter-relating the various stages. Finally, future areas of research are identified. 1 Introduction Designing effective virtual environments (VEs) poses a number of problems, not the least of which being that the very term design itself has to be interpreted in two quite distinct ways in this context. First of all there is the aesthetic notion of designing something to create the desired perceptual responses and secondly there is the engineering notion of design as the creati...