Applying diegetic cues to an interactive virtual reality experience

Gaze and attention guiding for application in Cinematic Virtual Reality (CVR) has been a research topic with many contributions in recent years. One promising approach coming out of this research, are hints or cues that are placed within the context of the scene that is currently being viewed in VR. These hints are called “diegetic cues”. However, this approach, as many others, does not account for the possibility of interaction that modern VR technology brings with it. These interactions have the potential to move the viewer from a position of “impartial bystander” to one of “active participant” opening new possibilities for telling stories of various nature (e.g., fictional, or historical). This work, is the attempt to apply research from the field of attention guiding using diegetic cues to an interactive and narrative VR experience that was created using the Unreal Engine and newest VR-Technology. It was also attempted to use an alternative approach to narrative theory than the one being used in traditional filmmaking to explore the possibility of interactive storytelling. As a result, strong indications were found that the two diegetic cues that were implemented successfully enhance the experience of VR users in the interactive environment. The reception of the employed narrative approach also was generally positive.