History of Writing: A Dynamic Substitutional Reality System Case Study
This was the case study for my master thesis, the implementation of a dynamic SR system for abstract SR experience design.
What is Substitutional Reality?
Substitutional Reality (SR) is a paradigm within Mixed Reality (MR) in which every physical element of a user's surroundings is replaced by a virtual counterpart, thereby constructing a Substitutional Environment that is both tangible and immersive.
Consider a simple domestic setting: a user is in a bedroom containing four walls, a window, a desk with a toy figurine, and a bed. In an SR experience, each of these elements may be substituted by virtual counterparts: the bed could become a pile of hay, the window a medieval arrow slit, and the desk a stone altar, provided their spatial alignment and haptic affordances are preserved. Even the toy figurine, once tracked as a movable object, could be substituted and repositioned within the environment.
Essentially it aims to repurpose everyday physical surroundings into thematic virtual spaces.
Introduction
For my master thesis, I designed and implemented a dynamic Substitutional Reality (SR) framework to facilitate the creation of SR experiences that adapt to arbitrary physical environments. This framework was developed in Unity and C# with the Meta Quest 3 as the target platform.
In order to validate the framework, I created a case study experience titled "The History of Writing". The experience traverses several themed environments (Mesopotamian, Medieval, Renaissance, and Modern), and shows how each era approached writing (clay tablets, medieval manuscripts, renaissance printing press and eventually typewriters).
To address interoperability gaps often observed in galleries, the system supports substituting both static furniture and smaller, grabbable artifacts. For instance, a user can pick up and inspect a clay-tablet replica or a medieval manuscript. Each environment is seamlessly connected; in each, a purely virtual floating information panel provides context about the era and writing system and the respective writing apparatus can be picked up and inspected.
Video Showcase
A video showcasing the system in action.