I worked on the Unreal Engine development of Travel Back in Time to Kun'tewiktuk, an immersive VR cultural experience created for Membertou Heritage Park. The project was designed to transport visitors back to pre-contact Mi'kmaq territory and provide an interactive way to experience and learn about traditional Mi'kmaq life.
 

Rather than presenting the information as a traditional museum exhibit, the experience used virtual reality and interactive gameplay-style systems to place visitors directly inside a historical environment. Visitors could explore their surroundings and participate in activities including bow hunting, spear fishing, canoeing and drumming, turning cultural education into an interactive experience.
 

My work involved developing the Unreal Engine functionality and interactive systems required to make the experience work as an engaging VR installation. This included implementing the interactions and gameplay logic behind the various activities and helping create the systems that connected the visitor's physical actions and VR experience.
 

The project presented a different set of challenges from conventional game development. Because it was designed for a public-facing heritage installation, interactions needed to be immediately understandable to visitors with no prior experience with VR, while also being reliable enough to support repeated use by many different people.
 

The experience was developed specifically for Membertou Heritage Park in Membertou First Nation, Nova Scotia, as part of an effort to share Mi'kmaq history and culture through modern interactive technology. The project received federal funding through the Canada Cultural Spaces Fund, with the stated goal of using VR to transport visitors back to Kun'tewiktuk and allow them to experience traditional activities.
 

For me, the project was an opportunity to combine Unreal Engine development, VR interaction, gameplay systems and cultural storytelling into an experience designed not simply to entertain, but to educate visitors through direct participation.