The Team:

Working on a Transfr sim is different from a typical game development cycle because the majority of the team has educational expertise but lacks design and development experience.  In addition to a few other stakeholders, you have the Instructional Designer, who is writing the VO to be aligned with the curriculum, and the Subject Matter Expert (SME) who assures that the experience is as accurate as possible.

The Problem

A less technical team with the added complexity of VR was the genesis of many design problems.  Creating a VR Sim is not quite as simple as just ‘making everything in real life virtual realit-ied’

Solution:

Guided interaction framework.. also known as a Game Design Doc!  Every interaction — scanning a wristband, picking up a razor, placing a lead — is built with two explicit branches: a “happy path” for correct behavior and an “unhappy path” with its own coach line for when the user stalls or fumbles. I wrote the interaction spec so every action type (pick up, attach, touch, slide, grab) had a defined fail state, with ghost-hand and attention-getter prompts that only escalate after the unhappy path triggers — so the coach helps without taking over. This was also the system that let non-technical writers on the team (Instructional Designers, SMEs) contribute real content: they could write coach VO for a clearly defined happy/unhappy structure without needing to understand the underlying interaction logic.

For example, the lead-placement system. The user has ten leads; each has one correct anatomical spot.  I designed the interaction so a picked-up lead can only be placed at its correct target, so the sim can’t reinforce bad technique. First lead is fully guided; the rest unlock together as a hurried “place them all” moment.  Which was the core learning I got from working with the SME- Medical Assistants are strapped for time; it’s constantly go! go! go!

Conclusion:

Getting to work with such varied professionals like Medical Assistants, Restaurant Chefs, Truck Drivers, and Boat Manufacturers was something I found incredibly valuable in this role.  And the reactions of ‘wow you made my career come to life’ was so rewarding.