Designed for a technical audience that needed training in surveying telecom sites, the Site Walker first-person game gives users a chance to identify equipment and key issues on sight in a virtual environment. Ultimately five different scenarios, plus an onboarding tutorial were completed, including both indoor and outdoor virtual settings. The experience was wrapped in a larger training program and allowed learners (users) to interact with each other socially to complete the scenarios. Users were previously introduced to the functions and identification of all equipment shown in the 3D setting. This immersive tool accelerates skill-building, reducing reliance on veteran guidance, and sharpens vision for key issues, mimicking real-world experience with less hands-on oversight.

The audience was identified as skewing toward an emerging generation of employee, highly literate with rapid digital interaction, and as new-to-title learners hired out of school. Our team aimed to cut paired survey trips, hastening solo work for cost savings. Serving a tech-savvy audience, we faced a need for realism—simplistic tools risked losing focus. The solution demanded vivid, real-world detail to build confidence and maintain engagement effectively. Some of the 3D assets could be acquired commercially, but others developed in-house.

I was the architect and principal designer of the entire experience, personally creating prototypes, the onboarding tutorial, and the first Site Walker scenario. I guided our team of seven to craft a first-person game, gamifying surveys with a scavenger hunt UI and particle feedback, which was a first of its kind in the company. This thrilling hit wowed clients, boosting solo readiness with vivid realism. I further directed the QA efforts, user testing, and play testing of the game-based learning intervention. The users were able to complete virtual site visits without need to travel, without a need to access restricted spaces, or be accompanied by more experienced personnel, slashing paired visits by two weeks. The approach earned multiple awards and was officially recognized by leadership for its significant reduction in cost in training.