Belonging: Exploring Audio-Visual Cues in Real-Time 6DoF VR Narrative

VR narratives provide viewers with the feeling of being immersed in a story environment by giving them the freedom to look around and change their point-of-view during the experience. Storytellers use various techniques to guide the viewers to important plot points in a VR narrative. Previous studies have examined various methods to design narratives for 360 \(^{\circ }\) VR films with linear and non-linear narratives. In this study, we look at the grammar of storytelling in a real-time 6 degrees of freedom (6DoF) VR experience. We created ‘Belonging’, a real-time VR narrative in which one has the freedom to experience the story by physically moving around in the environment and changing point-of-view as the story progresses. Through this project, we intend to explore design-related aspects of narrative and associated technical challenges for creating a compelling 6DoF real-time VR experience. In this narrative, we focus on the audio and visual cues that would effectively guide the viewers to the plot points.