SARAH GONG
Welcome to Pantopia Islands!
Pantopia Islands
The University of British Columbia, Personal project, 2018.
Giant panda is one of the endangered animals in the world. The ONLY place to see a real panda in Canada is the Calgary Zoo, while the ONLY place to hug a real panda in the world is the Dujiangyan Panda Base in China.
For virtual world users of all ages
Who are panda lovers but have not got a chance to see giant pandas in person
The Pantopia Islands
Is a 3D educational and entertaining virtual world environment
That provides opportunities to hug, hold, kiss, pet, feed, dance, swim, play, take photos, watch live videos, etc., with cage-free pandas.
Unlike real-life zoos
Ours enables users to learn panda ecology and conservation knowledge,
interact with pandas, as well as have fun!
This is a 10-week project for educational purposes at the University of British Columbia (UBC).
The platform is Virtual Commons for Education and Research (VCER @UBC), an online 3D virtual world similar to Second Life.
My contribution
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Planned the virtual environment by using sketches, storyboards and prototypes.
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Designed learning experience by elaborating learning objectives, teaching content and learning process.
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Within 6 weeks, self-taught and created most of 3D objects (e.g., pandas, bamboo trees, billboards, architectures and surroundings), as well as programmed animations and interactions.
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Presented the virtual class to 14 educators and the supervisor.
Key features
The Pantopia Islands consist of 4 places:
landing island, Pandastic island, playground and Pandagarten island.
01. Landing island
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A round island in the air
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Onboarding notecard
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A welcome panda
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Teleporting map
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Bamboo trees
Landing island
02. Pandastic island
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Knowledge about pandas’ ecology, e.g., population, habitat, food, lifestyle, breeding and diplomacy
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Videos about pandas’ life
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Take photos with cute pandas
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A welcome panda with notecards
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Teleporting map
Pandastic island
03. Playground
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A welcome panda with notecards
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Recreated scenes of panda conservation
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Teleporting map
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Bamboo forests
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Swim with pandas
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Play the swing with pandas
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Feed pandas
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Take photos with cute pandas
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Pandas playing around
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And some surprises!
04. Pandagarten island
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A welcome panda with notecards
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Teleporting map
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Panda cubs!
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Interact with panda cubs
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24/7 live panda videos
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Above all, “adopt” panda cubs!
Playground
Visitors chill with panda cubs
Notecard
Teleporting map
Adopted panda cubs
Pandas with interactions
Let’s start the journey!