JESSICA CAO
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  • Home
  • About
  • Projects&Games
  • 3D Art&Animation
  • 2D Art
  • Design
JESSICA CAO

Projects & Games


VR HomE
(Virtual-Reality Home)

VR Home was a project developed at Carnegie Mellon University's Human-Computer Interaction Institute. It seeks to explore the applicability of virtual reality to the home: in creating home-spaces and expanding upon existing home-spaces.

As a research assistant on the project, I carried out a variety of tasks. During the pilot-phase of the project in Summer 2018, I assisted in multiple aspects of the research, design, and prototyping process, from designing VR spaces, to programming prototypes, to 3D modeling, to helping run playtests. Pictured to the right are three prototypes we created during this phase: a meditation room, a greenhouse, and a "hearth" room. Each of these prototypes targeted exploring specific aspects of what make spaces feel like "home". For example, in the greenhouse we were interested in ritual and continuous return, and in the hearth we were interested in comfort and continuity between the virtual and real spaces.

Beyond the summer work, I assisted in data analysis and writing for a paper based on key-findings from the Summer pilot. I also continued to work as a research assistant on a tangential research question during the Fall 2018 semester. It explores how aspects of continuity, connection, and traversal within VR Home spaces affects users' comfort, understanding, and feeling of "homeiness" in virtiual reality home-spaces.
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Projects with CMU's Game Creation Society

SYNC WARS
A co-op tactics game in which you must collaborate with your partner to defeat enemies across multiple dimensions.
I was a co-lead on Sync Wars: I helped organize task distribution, tracked progress, and guided the general direction of the game. In addition, I also helped program many of the UI elements in the game, such as the health bar, Information panels, and parts of the move/attack indicators.
REFLECT
A puzzle-platformer emphasizing teamwork - with yourself! Work to reunite your optimistic and pessimistic sides and achieve balance.
On Reflect, I was a co-lead: I organized meetings and ensured that tasks were completed by benchmarks. I also programmed the switch mechanics, assisted in level design, and created a tileset for the game. 
Pair of Hearts
A game in which you play the role of matchamker, and help people find love. Made for Global Game Jam 2020.
I was a programmer on Pair on Hearts, working specifically on the timeline UI programming and the procedural generation of timeline events and outcomes.
DISSONANCE
A turn-based horror game that attempts to evoke horror through mechanics.
​For Dissonance, I programmed aspects of the enemy A.I., such as how the main monster targets units, breaks down doors, and moves about the map.
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KODAK
A short, atmospheric exploration game, in which your childhood memories may not be as you remember. Made for Global Game Jam 2019.
I was a 3D modeler on Kodak, fleshing out environment art within the game. I model many of the interior utilities and furniture of the house, as well as some interactable objects.
CLOAK AND DAGGER
A top-down, multiplayer online arena brawler where you are visible only under torchlight
For Cloak and Dagger, I was the environment artist, as well as being a colorer/shader for a large portion of the character animations.