Dinosaur Garden

Main Menu with Tutorial, Game Mode, and Learning Mode options.
A ready-to-hatch dinosaur egg. Touching the egg cracks it open to reveal a baby dinosaur.
A freshly hatched baby dinosaur exploring the garden.
Feed dinosaurs the right food when they get hungry.
A baby dinosaur waiting to be petted when feeling sad.
When petted, the dinosaur shows happiness through facial expression and movement.
When fully cared for, the dinosaur grows and leaves behind a collectible dino card as a keepsake.
Collect dino cards as you grow different dinosaurs.
Select a dino card to see your dinosaur appear again in full 3D, evolving from baby to adult.
Once all dinosaurs are grown, players can feed and pet them together in the garden.
Learning Mode lets players select a dinosaur and see its realistic, life-size model with audio narration and text details.
Explore the life-size animated dinosaur up close—walk around and view it from any angle.
Climb the viewing tower to get a better look at larger dinosaurs from above.

Inspiration

The inspiration behind Dinosaur Garden began with a simple question: “What if dinosaurs in VR didn’t have to be scary?” Most dinosaur VR experiences focus on danger, survival, or action. We wanted to create the opposite—a peaceful and nurturing world where dinosaurs are friendly companions rather than threats. Our goal was to build a VR experience that children, families, and newcomers could enjoy together, with no pressure or complexity. We were also inspired by the charm of virtual pet games and the excitement of seeing prehistoric creatures at true scale. Combining these ideas led to a dual-mode structure: Play Mode, where users hatch and care for adorable dinosaurs, and Learn Mode, where they explore life-sized species in an immersive environment. This blend of fun and education became the heart of the project.

What it does

Dinosaur Garden offers two complementary experiences. Play Mode Players discover seven mystery eggs, and when an egg is ready, simply touching it reveals a baby dinosaur. Each dinosaur must be fed according to its type—herbivores eat grass and carnivores eat meat—and comforted when it feels sad. By filling the Food and Happiness bars, the dinosaur grows to its adult form, rewarding the player with a collectible card. When petted, the dinosaur expresses happiness through facial expression and movement. As players raise different dinosaurs, they collect more cards, and selecting a card brings that dinosaur back into the world—first as a baby and then transforming into a life-size 3D model. Once all dinosaurs have grown, players can feed and interact with them together in the garden. Learn Mode This mode features nine life-sized dinosaurs. Players can walk around them, observe proportions, climb a tower for elevated viewing, and receive educational information through audio narration and text. It encourages learning through exploration instead of passive reading.

How we built it

We developed Dinosaur Garden in Unreal Engine, using stylized visuals to maintain comfort and performance. Key techniques include baked lighting, reduced draw calls, simplified shaders, intuitive gesture-based interactions, and a stable 72 FPS target. We focused on a gentle, clear user experience suitable for families and first-time VR users.

Challenges we ran into

Major challenges included designing interactions appropriate for young players, keeping dinosaurs friendly instead of intimidating, optimizing stylized content for standalone VR hardware, and balancing two distinct modes without overwhelming users. Each challenge pushed us to refine the design and polish the core gameplay loop.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We successfully combined nurturing gameplay with immersive education, built a collectible card system tied to meaningful progression, created approachable VR interactions, and achieved smooth performance on standalone hardware. We’re proud of crafting a wholesome dinosaur world that players find comforting and enjoyable.

What we learned

We learned how animation and sound bring creatures to life, how to design for comfort and accessibility, how to optimize stylized assets for VR, how simple interactions create emotional connections, and how a calm environment can significantly enhance user engagement.

What's next for Dinosaur Garden

Our future plans include adding more dinosaur species, garden customization, seasonal events, mini-games tied to each dinosaur, expanded educational content, and a customization system that lets players change dinosaur textures or skins. Our vision is to grow Dinosaur Garden into the coziest, most welcoming dinosaur sanctuary in VR.