Liminal 360 is a Melbourne-based VR agency that created an interactive VR experience recreating the Coops Shot Tower in 1890s Melbourne. The temporary installation at Melbourne Central Shopping Center allowed over 3000 users to experience what the Shot Tower was like during its early years of operation, in collaboration with a local historian. Creating a smooth-running, glitch-free VR experience with constant lines of users posed challenges, but the project exceeded its goal of 1000 uses and provided valuable lessons for Liminal 360.

1. Recreating history in Virtual Reality
A post-mortem look at the
Melbourne Central Coops Shot Tower Experience

2. Who is Liminal 360
• Melbourne based creative agency focussed
exclusively on VR
• Three teams: business, research and
creative
• Strong focus on neuroaesthetic design
• Working in real-estate, retail, design, medical
and more

3. And who am I!?

4. Coops Shot Tower
• Built in 1890 at the peak of Melbourne’s
golden age
• Remains iconic landmark – it’s the most
instagrammed building in Melbourne!
• Most people these days have no idea what a
shot tower was for

5. Even those who have observed Mr.
Coop’s sky sign can have little idea of
the business he conducts…
- Unknown author, The Illustrated Australian News
December 1, 1891

6. The historical content

7. The project – a collaboration
Virtual Reality
+
Historical Recreation
+
Brand Activation

8. The concept
• Temporary installation in Melbourne Central Shopping Center
• HTC Vive within a constructed installation
• Real-time, interactive experience of the Shot Tower in its first years of use
• Collaborate with local historical author Dale Campisi for historical accuracy and narration
• Target of 1000 uses throughout installation month of September 2016

9. So up I went!

10. So up I went!

12. Tools used
• Game Engine: Unity
• Modelling: Blender
• Materials: Substance Painter
• Audio: Reaper, Audacity

13. The Installation

14. The easy part: physical setup

15. The hard part: smooth running

16. No tolerance for typical ‘VR Glitches’
• Near-constant queues means there’s no time for:
• Re-calibrating the room
• Rebooting
• Closing and re-opening the app
• Re-pairing controllers
• Or basically anything at all other than perfect operation

17. Not to mention VIPs

18. Staff are everything – seriously!!!

19. ~3000 uses throughout September

20. Tripled usage targets – and much learning was had by all