VR Educational Game · Unity HDRP · 2020

The Darien Gap VR

An anthropology documentary game — recreating the jungle wilderness of Panama's Darien Gap in Unity HDRP, so players can explore the forest, discover archaeological scrolls, and learn from fieldwork that happened on the ground.

HDRP Unity Pipeline

GIS Real Heightmap

UC Berkeley Research

Enter the jungle

01 — The Project

Anthropology, rendered

The Darien Gap VR is an anthropology documentary project that translates real fieldwork into an interactive educational game. In collaboration with anthropologist Lucy Gill at UC Berkeley, we visualized research conducted in Panama's Darien Gap — a dense, roadless stretch of jungle between Central and South America — using Google Map data and a real-world heightmap to rebuild the terrain in Unity's High Definition Render Pipeline.

Players navigate the simulated jungle, discover hidden scrolls that reveal photographs of artifacts and findings from Lucy's team, and learn about the area through spatial exploration rather than a textbook. The goal was to turn academic research into something you can walk through.

Prof. Kristin Lead Prof. Annie Lead Amal Abdalla Designer & Developer Dr. Lucy Gill Anthropologist, UC Berkeley

02 — From Data to World

Real terrain, rebuilt

The world isn't invented — it's derived. We pulled satellite elevation data (SRTM30 Plus heightmap) and Google Map tiles of the exact Darien Gap region, then imported them into Unity as the base terrain. This gave the simulation the actual topography of the place: the ridges, the valleys, the river paths.

SRTM30 Plus heightmap of the Darien Gap region

Input — SRTM30 Plus

Heightmap Data

Satellite-derived elevation data of the Darien Gap. Whites and grays encode altitude — mountains catch light, valleys stay dark. Unity reads this as displacement for the terrain.

Google Map of the Darien Gap region between Panama and Colombia

Input — Google Maps

Geographic Reference

The highlighted area shows the specific region we rebuilt — sitting between Panama and Colombia, where Dr. Gill's team conducted their archaeological fieldwork.

03 — Walkthrough

The jungle in motion

A recorded walkthrough of the HDRP environment — lighting, water, vegetation, and real-time rendering at natural scale.

04 — Gameplay

What players do

The game loop is exploratory rather than objective-driven — players wander the jungle and uncover the research through environmental storytelling.

Forest interior with sun beams filtering through trees

Mode One

Navigate

Walk through a simulated Darien Gap rainforest. Light filters through the canopy, rivers carve the terrain, the air has depth — HDRP was chosen specifically for this atmospheric realism.

Mode Two

Discover Scrolls

Hidden throughout the jungle are glowing chests and scrolls. Each one opens a photograph or artifact record from Dr. Gill's real fieldwork — connecting the virtual space to documented discoveries.

Archaeological artifact with IFRAO scale and shells

Mode Three

Learn

Artifacts appear with their original field documentation — IFRAO color scale, scale bar, context. The game frames academic evidence the way an anthropologist would.

05 — Artifacts & Findings

What the scrolls reveal

When a player opens a scroll, they see actual fieldwork imagery from Dr. Gill's research — photographs of archaeological finds documented with proper scale references, turning the game into a window onto real scholarship.

Bivalve Shell Find Photographed with IFRAO color standard & 10cm scale bar

Stone tool on chain-link patterned surface

Stone Tool Documentation A lithic artifact recorded with reference scale and patterned backdrop

06 — Environment Gallery

Inside the world

A selection of in-engine captures showing the range of environments the player can traverse — from waterfalls and river crossings to rocky trails and open forest clearings.