Inspiration
I was inspired by how hands are not just controllers, but expressive tools for connection. While many VR apps track the whole hand or simple pinches, I noticed a lack of experiences that use individual finger articulation to form unique poses that resemble real-world object affordances—like curling fingers to form a lens or cupping them for 'nurturing' things. I also would like to create a casual but fun experience that encourages people not to take their surroundings for granted, also using the sensitivity of our hands to reconnect with the mundaneness of our daily environments.
What it does
Palmia is a cozy mixed-reality hide-and-seek game. Palmia is a mischievous nature spirit born from your own hands who loves to play. Your job is to find her hiding in your room, your real-world furniture and re-invite her to return home. To do this, players must master three magical hand gestures: The Lantern (fists): Your hand emits a bioluminescent light that changes color based on proximity to Palmia. The Spirit Lens (C-Shape): Curling your thumb and index finger creates a magical window. Looking through it reveals the glittering dust trail of Palmia’s flight path, only visible only through the lens. The Surface Scanner (V-Shape): Touching your physical furniture with both your index and middle fingers to discover Palmia's footprints, revealing the spirit's exact hiding spot. Once found, tapping the exact hiding spot can reveal Palmia. And then player will be guided to use Cradle Gesture (two hands cupped) to gently carry Palmia home.
How I built it
I built Palmia in Unity using the Meta XR All-in-One SDK. Interaction: I used the Interaction SDK to build custom Shape Recognizers, then carefully tuning finger flexion and curl values to allow for relaxed, natural hand poses. Mixed Reality: I leveraged MRUK (Mixed Reality Utility Kit) to scan the room and semantically label furniture. I wrote custom logic to filter anchors so Palmia only hides on valid surfaces. For the surface sliding mechanic, I utilized furniture bounding boxes to calculate paths across furniture have valid vertical top surfaces. While I experimented with complex mesh raycasting, I prioritized this bounding-box approach to ensure stable, smooth movement within the timeframe. Visuals: I used URP Renderer Features and Stencil Buffers to create the "X-Ray" lens effect, masking the spirit's trail so it only appears inside the C-Shape. Audio: I used ElevenLabs for Voice Cloning to generate Palmia's voice-over.
Challenges I ran into
My major challenge was leveraging MRUK to generate an intelligent navigation route for Palmia to hide. I had to balance the game mechanics with specific navigation points to ensure the "hiding" felt organic but reachable. Technically, the Magic Lens was a hurdle. On the Quest 3, the Stencil Buffer silently failed because the device defaults to a 16-bit depth buffer (0 stencil bits). Forcing 24-bit Depth Submission and setting URP Intermediate Texture to "Always" solved it.
Accomplishments that I am proud of
I am proud that I built this entire project in just 10 days as a solo developer, covering areas outside my comfort zone like Tech Art and VFX. Unique Concept: Using hand shapes as tools (Lens, Lantern, Scan) rather than just abstract inputs is unique to the Quest Store. Custom Onboarding: I created a tutorial system using Ghost Hand animations that I recorded myself, teaching the gestures intuitively without text overload.
What I learned
I learned that in Hand Tracking, "Forgiveness" is a feature. Strict gesture detection frustrates players; loose detection that relies on context (like palm direction) feels like magic. I also learned that "mundane" furniture can become magical when you are 'forced' in the gameplay to physically touch it to play.
What's next for Palmia
Dynamic Depth: Implementing Depth API support so Palmia can adjust to moving objects or uneven surfaces (like messy cushions) in real-time, creating a more dymanic hiding route. Gameplay polishing: Balacing gameplay (e.g., adding loops, make palmia visible and start another turn if players can't find palmia for a period of time) to mitigate players frustration when they have difficulty finding palmia Themed Environments: Transforming the user's home into a forest or underwater world where Palmia can hide in both physical furniture and new virtual assets. Themed Gestures: Updating the Lantern and Lens visuals to match these new biomes. Adding more customised gestures and features without adding too much learning curve. Lifelike Animation: Giving Palmia a full body with procedural animations for walking and flying to deepen the emotional connection. Visual Refinement: Polishing the VFX to push the "cozy" aesthetic further. Multiplayer: Hiding spirits for friends to find in a shared colocation space.
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