AlUla Adventures

The first commercial release to use the new Spark XR Sensory Reality Pod is ‘AlUla Adventures’, a custom Pod experience created by Spark XR in collaboration with Manga Productions, the leading content creation company in Saudi Arabia.

AlUla Adventures is a sensory virtual travel experience that ‘teleports’ users to a UNESCO World Heritage Site in AlUla. The user’s mission is to explore the AlUla area and discover hidden artifacts while outrunning a sandstorm! Even though users always stand still, the unique sensory technology provides the sensation that they are moving – at times driving, floating, and flying – they really do feel the wind in their face!

We considered the entire user experience when designing AlUla Adventures, including having no UI in the experience that would be foreign to the virtual destination – i.e., no menus or floating text for the user to make selections from. Instead, the process begins before the user even steps inside the Pod, using the touch screen located on the outer shell of the Pod. Here, users choose a language, sign a waiver and book a ticket to use the Pod. They then enter the Pod at the booked time, and the Pod automatically configures for their session. Thus, when a user steps inside their virtual experience, it is more believable from the very moment they are ‘teleported’.

At the end of the experience, users receive an email containing a link to their own journal that they created during their AlUla adventure — like a photo album from a vacation - allowing them to review all the artifacts collected - including the ability to share on social media – and once again discover the remarkable heritage of this incredible region, proving the value of the virtual travel experience — the email and interactive online journal acts as a reminder and souvenir of their journey! As with everything in the experience, the email and interactive journal will be in the language originally chosen by the user at the touch screen when they registered.

We collaborated with Synthesis VR to deliver the booking process, incorporating our own backend services for the email follow-up and interactive online journal.

More details about AlUla Adventures: www.alulaadventures.com

“You feel like you’re on your own vacation, because there are no other people there, it feels like you get to be there all by yourself which everyone wants when you’re on a trip, you want all of the tourists out of the way”

“It was extremely immersive. I felt like I was there. I felt like I was flying”

“I get motion sickness really easily, but I didn’t feel that at all”

“It gave me the option.. do you want to go down or go up to the rooftops.. I went to the rooftops, it was exciting, I need an excuse to go to Saudi Arabia to see this for real now”

“It was cool because you combine learning with, like, a game experience”

“The wind in my face.. the technology, being able to see my hands here and touch things.. it brings the desert to life, with the artifacts, it was exceptional”

“Everywhere I looked there was something to see, to find, even when I went under tunnels, I would peek up to see what was in there, and look through doorways”

“It felt like I was inside a videogame”

“More and more there will be places in the world we can’t visit, so boy, this is the next best thing”

Video of user reaction: here

The above are quotes from users of AlUla Adventures