Possessions VR | Devpost

Inspiration

We wanted to create a VR experience that feels natural the moment you enter it. Not another controller-heavy puzzle game and not a flashy tech demo. I was drawn to the simple idea that shifting your viewpoint can make an entire room suddenly make sense. That curiosity became Possessions VR, a calm and intuitive spatial puzzle experience built around touching, rotating, and aligning objects with your hands.

What it does

Possessions uses perspective into the core mechanic. Players explore small spaces with floating objects, grab them with hand tracking, and rotate them to find the exact perspective that makes the objects "click" into place. The environment itself is the interface. Every solved moment is an "aha" built on physical intuition rather than instructions.

How we built it

The project is built in Unity, using Quest's VR interaction framework, grab physics, and a bespoke perspective-alignment system. Everything in the environment is responsive to the player's viewpoint; objects are "correct" only when observed from the intended spatial configuration, which requires:

A custom solver to detect angle thresholds
Lightweight object-state blending for precise snapping
Hand-tracking gestures for interacting without UI clutter
Spatial audio cues to reinforce the moment of solving

We focused heavily on comfort and accessibility: no artificial locomotion, no UI-heavy menus, and no overstimulation. The goal was to craft a VR experience that feels instinctive and humane instead of overwhelming.

Challenges we ran into

VR is unforgiving. A tiny jitter ruins immersion. A frame drop causes discomfort. A gesture that "usually works" is still a failure. The biggest challenges included:

Building a solver that feels magical instead of mechanical
Designing puzzles that remain readable in 360 degrees
Making hand-tracking expressive without becoming fragile
Balancing visual clarity with performance constraints

Every improvement forced us to rethink how people naturally move in VR, and how to guide them without instructions or UI noise.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We managed to translate the core idea and create an experience that fits the VR design quite well, without forcing it to work; it simply feels natural. Players don't need to learn controls; they just reach out, rotate, and watch the world respond. The experience stays comfortable, clear, and approachable for new VR users. Most importantly, the game provides a subtle sense of discovery rather than sensory overload.

What we learned

We learned that VR rewards subtlety. The best interactions are the ones the player doesn't think about. The most satisfying puzzles are ones where players feel smart, not directed. And the most memorable VR moments come from giving players space to explore at their own rhythm. Possessions VR is the result of chasing that philosophy — one solved angle at a time.

What's next for Possessions VR

We want to expand Possessions VR into a full mixed-reality experience with environments that blend the player's real room with virtual props and puzzle elements. The goal is to build levels that react to the player's actual space, using anchors to attach objects, characters, and puzzle logic directly onto real surfaces.

We also plan to explore interactions that use real furniture within the puzzle system. By letting virtual objects sit, slide, or connect with physical tables, shelves, or walls, we can create illusions and perspective challenges that feel impossible on a flat screen. This direction pushes VR and MR toward more playful, spatially aware design, where your room becomes the level itself.

Alongside MR features, we aim to expand the library of illusion-based puzzles, improve gesture recognition for smoother hand tracking, and continue refining spatial cues, lighting, and sound for deeper presence. The long-term plan is to make Possessions VR a platform for quiet, inventive spatial play across both virtual and real environments.