Home on Unusual Technologies

AI Tools

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Image Generation with DALL·E 3

We experimented with AI image generation to create illustrations, accompanied by questions for enhanced readability. For instance, a question like “Have you had a fall recently?” could be illustrated with a person slipping over. However, challenges arose in illustrating abstract questions like “Are you satisfied with your life?”

Our tool of choice, DALL · E3, produced visually appealing outputs, but they often fell short of effectively complementing the associated questions.

Aquamarina

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The Goal

The goal was to create a demo environment, mostly focusing on shaders, trying to make it as realistic as possible, from the distortion and fog of the water, to the particles and even the animation of the fish. There was a handful of mechanics to keep the player engaged, including hidden collectables, as well as a camera to take photos, and fish bait that allowed players to attract fish. The concept was kept simple, and the mechanics guided players into interacting with the game environment. The project was developed in Unity, C#, and Unity’s ShaderLab language.

AR Business Card

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

An In-House AR Business Card

With our ever-expanding range of skills and capabilities, it can be challenging to easily convey to potential clients what we do and what we’re capable of. Like many companies before us, we wanted to create a business card to hand out. However, as a software development company, we aimed to make it special and showcase our skills in the process.

As an in-house project, we developed the AR business card to both show and tell people what we do. Additionally, the app itself serves as an example of what we are capable of creating!

Blaze The Maze

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Blaze the Maze is the culmination of a 14-year development journey that began during a childhood obsession with the Maze Race mini-game from 24 Games for Windows 95. Over the last decade, the project consistently evolved, migrating from Adobe Flash through XNA and Unity, before settling on its current high-performance custom web stack.

During this transition, the game’s thematic identity shifted dramatically; early prototypes experimented with satirical concepts like caricatures of world leaders (including Obama, Putin and a dinosaur-themed version), before the team ultimately landed on the neon theme of Blaze The Maze in 2026.

Blockchain Lottery

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The Goal

In order to explore the potential of blockchains and cryptocurrency, we made a demo app exploring the fundamental concepts of Web3, from integrating wallets like Metamask into applications to smart contracts that run on blockchains like Ethereum.

The app was developed in Unity using a platform called Moralis, which is a blockchain node provider and also provides APIs and services to facilitate development of Web3-focussed applications.

In the case of this demo project, the application was made using testnet Polygon Mumbai. This uses the same underlying system as the live blockchain, but is designed for testing, meaning you do not have to spend paid cryptocurrency in transactions and gas fees.

Bosco Dental Studio

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The Task

A dental practice approached us with a unique request: they needed a custom application for their reception staff. The goal was to streamline the appointment scheduling process for patients who called in.

Previously, the staff relied on a well-established flow chart to guide their conversations and evaluate patient’s needs. Our task was to design software that would replicate this flow chart, but with a better user experience that accommodates all possible scenarios. This would ensure accurate note-taking and decision-making, whilst significantly enhancing the speed and ease of navigating the process.

Botsworth

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

An In-House GPT Discord Bot

Botsworth began with a desire to streamline internal communication and save our programmers’ time. As we do much of our communication on the company’s Discord server, we decided a Discord bot would help us with many small and repetitive day-to-day tasks. Through iterative improvement, we added more and more functionality to it over time, and the chatbot gradually took shape, evolving into a versatile virtual assistant capable of seamlessly handling tasks such as scheduling meetings, delivering updates, and even providing a touch of humour.

Bowling VFX

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Breez Dental

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Breez is a subscription-based SaaS

Dental notes and recordings are stored securely

Secure & Compliant Medical Apps

Developing applications for healthcare requires more than technical skill. It demands a deep understanding of data security and regulatory compliance. Handling sensitive patient data is a core responsibility, and we architect our platforms with security as the first priority.

Our work on the Bosco Dental Studio AI platform is a prime example. We developed an innovative SaaS solution to automate clinical note-taking for dentists, processing highly sensitive patient information.

Characters & Animation

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characters

Front render

Side render

Bottom side render

Half lambert half render

Lambert render

Jumper test

Side view

Back view

Lechar view 1

Lechar view 2

Lechar view 3

Client Portal

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Why We Built It

Our Scheduler handles internal project management, but the client side of that relationship was still handled through emails, calls, and shared documents. Quotes would go back and forth as PDFs. Approvals happened over email. Bug reports arrived in various formats across various channels. We wanted a single place where clients could see exactly where their project stands and take action on the things that need their attention.

Co-Cog

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The Objective

We teamed up with KSS and the NHS to make a more accessible and engaging app for those living with early-stage dementia. The results generate a traffic-light score, which healthcare workers can use to track if the user shows signs of deterioration between sessions.

Prior to this solution, the NHS was struggling to provide support, due to time restraints and available resources to conduct in-person appointments led to reduced support.

Co-Play

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Pose detection & segmentation

Douglas Kelly

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Douglas Kelly specialises in combining creative software design, development, and education. This expertise enables him to evaluate the feasibility of client visions and guide projects toward successful outcomes.

His background in pedagogy allows him to create software with training elements, tutorials, and compelling messaging. He brings an approachable teaching philosophy to every professional setting, addressing technical complexity without dismissing concerns, and is comfortable explaining intricate technical matters to clients of all backgrounds.

Dreamers Tower

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Objectives

The topic of the game jam was to make a “Boss Rush” kind of game or game mode, that requires beating a series of bosses in a row, often with a perma-death setting. I ended up going for a 2D platformer with similar game mechanics to games like Cuphead.

The game was made in Game Maker Studio, using their custom GameMaker language.

Screenshot From The Beginning Of The Game

ESCG Beacons

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Objective

Unusual Technologies created the app for iOS and Android using Flutter and Dart. The major challenge was getting the iOS version to run in the background of the user’s phone so it’s ‘awake’ to alert them when it detects a beacon, including when the phone is off. The most common solutions that many third-party apps, such as alarm clocks, seem to implement are also major battery drains.

F-Effect

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Objective

Our client was looking to move its brand of psychedelic videos into a 360 VR experience. The challenge was converting regular video into a seamless VR version. The project was a prototype for testing the feasibility of the business model and the how the experience was received in a VR setting.

New Dawn - Energy

Reasons For VR

Every experience in F-Effect tries to transport people to a state of euphoria in 15 minutes. The immersive qualities of VR was hypothesised to be more effective.

Friendly Fox Adventures

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Objective

We aimed to make an app targeted at kids that encourages outdoor play. The design challenge was getting kids away from the screen with the help of a screen. We aimed to use the familiarity of an app to get them outside and setup games that they would play in the real world. Additionally, we utilised AI to further ease them away from the screen and into appreciating what is around them.

Indie Game Marketer

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Location: Fully Remote / Flexible Hours

Position: Full-Time or Fractional/Part-Time

Compensation: £30,000 Base Stipend + High-Upside Active Revenue Share (Up to 30% post-break-even)

Experience: Open to exceptional, data-minded graduates who show drive and autonomy but you will be the whole department, so it will likely go to someone experienced.

Our Studio & Our New Chapter

For years, we have been elite technical creators. We use game engines to build highly polished interactive experiences, gamification systems, and immersive tech for museums and corporate clients. We know exactly how to build incredible software.

Isles of Generation

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The Goal

We aimed to delve into the methodologies employed in the procedural generation of realistic gaming worlds. This involved creating everything from expansive landmasses and diverse biomes to meandering rivers and quaint villages. This leveraged robust algorithms like Perlin noise, Poisson disc sampling, and A* pathfinding.

Whilst the game was wholly constructed in two dimensions, the principles harnessed could be seamlessly transposed to fabricate a 3D landscape.

Code snippet from the world generation

James Alvarez

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

James specialises in research applications with 12 years of software development experience. He has led numerous large-scale web-based projects alongside iOS applications and VR initiatives.

At Unusual Technologies, he focuses on enhancing web and mobile app components.

Junior Full-Stack Web Developer

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

About Us

We are Unusual Technologies, a team of creatives and programmers who bring immersive, high-tech, and bespoke solutions to industries ranging from academia and entertainment to the arts. Many of our projects are web-based from the ground up, and those that aren’t (native apps, Unity experiences, etc.) still often need a reliable and secure web backbone with dashboards and tools to support them.

The Role

We’re looking for a junior full-stack developer who can build and maintain web applications. You’ll be working alongside our senior developer, and over time you’ll also pick up infrastructure and DevOps skills (managing servers, networking, and security), but we don’t expect you to know any of that coming in.

LEGO Playtables

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Objectives

We were approached by seeper to create the Unity software that would drive the LEGO Playtables and handle user interactions with the use of a depth camera. This R&D project was used to assess the capabilities of the Zed depth camera as an alternative to the Microsoft Kinect which was nearing end of life. These cameras were used for hand tracking to enable touch interactions on the table. The project was also used to assess using a Linux environment for the installation for increased stability over Windows.

Lost Horizon

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

A Virtual Reality Clubbing Experience

In the rapidly evolving landscape of entertainment and immersive technology, the team at Unusual Technologies embarked on a unique project: creating a virtual replica of Lost Horizon, the beloved club in Bristol. This virtual club would be accessible to anyone, anywhere, through virtual reality headsets, allowing people to engage in live interactions within its virtual twin. We will explore how this innovative project came to life, the motivations behind it, and the meticulous process undertaken by the team.

Lovemore

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Objective

Lovemore was successfully developed and launched with minimal bugs and many hours of gameplay. Years after the initial developers had moved on, it was announced that Flash, the underlying technology the game was built on, would be depreciated due to security concerns. Thus, the aim was to port the game to a new platform so it could be exported as an executable and brought to other platforms, such as Steam and Itch.io.

Matt West

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Matt West is an experienced Software/Creative Engineer with over six years in the computer games industry. His specialty involves bridging the gap between software and hardware for creative immersive visitor attractions and experiences, which he has been doing for five years at locations across the world.

He is constantly innovating and striving to find the best solutions to bring magic to life.

Mere Mortals

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The Objective

We were tasked with developing an Ancient Greek themed ‘Survivor-Like’ or ‘Bullet-Heaven’ game, and an engine that would easily allow the client to add, remove, or change existing weapons, enemies, characters, and levels with a high degree of customisability throughout.

In the end, we wouldn’t be responsible for publishing, but would instead provide the client with and engine for them to continue to develop their own games with.

Moving Sound Pictures: The Abstract Painters

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The Abstract Painters

Unusual Technologies adopted a basic virtual reality (VR) project built by students with Unreal Engine Blueprints. We first fixed some minor bugs in the existing blueprints, then extended the functionality to set up an open sound control (OSC) protocol that allowed the program to network with different sound systems, ensuring it was robust and bug-free.

Adding our Special Touch

We didn’t just want to create a working VR project – we wanted to create an experience. In doing so, we realised we needed to venture outside the confines of blueprints. This led us to native C++, a powerful tool in our tech arsenal. Utilising C++, we were able to implement more complex logic and design patterns that the blueprint system could not accommodate. This allowed us to take the project to a whole new level, customising it to our specific needs and goals, allowing the client to meet its wider research goals.

OceanX

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Emulating a deep-sea dive in the OceanXplorer submersible, the project allows the user to discover the biodiversity of the ocean in correlation with data collected across OceanX’ missions. Using realtime 3D techniques (rendered in Unity), the ROV follows an animated trail, visualising the collection of data across time and space in an exploration-based virtual environment.

This project aims to provide scientists and researchers with a legible way to process, understand and experience data. Here, we have employed our expertise in software to show our commitment to our client’s vision – allowing the user to probe deeper below the surface and discover vital insights into ocean biodiversity and marine conservation.

Popup View

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Unusual Technologies was asked to create an editor expansion for Unity, that would allow AR content creators to easily upload their own work, via Unity Addressables to an AWS server. A variety of different AR triggers such as sound, geolocation and images could be used to trigger the AR experience. This could take the form of music, films, 2D and 3D animations, or anything else the content creator could imagine. Additionally, we also put together a prototype app to trial the content.

RAF Debate Table

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Interactive view

Projector setup

Voting results

Project Demo

Write-Up & Learnings

The Unseen Challenge of Taming the Touchscreen

When visitors interact with the Royal Air Force Museum’s large-scale interactive table, they experience a seamless and responsive display. What they don’t see is the significant technical battle fought and won to make that experience possible. The project, which aimed to support over 120 simultaneous touch inputs across eight separate displays, pushed standard technology to its breaking point, forcing a deep and complex re-engineering of its core software.

Scheduler

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The Objective

In the company’s early days, a spreadsheet was enough for managing tasks and projects. As the team grew, we looked for project management tools that could be heavily customised to match our workflows. We were also thinking about future products that would need to hook into a project management system. Building our own gave us maximum flexibility on both fronts.

The first version was prototyped with a MERN stack (React.js and MySQL). We later rebuilt it from scratch using Laravel, Livewire, and Filament, which let us iterate on ideas much faster. The application is deployed with Laravel Forge on an AWS Lightsail instance.

Seaweeds' Scrambled Spell

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Write-Ups & Learnings

Boosting Visitor Engagement: How Web AR Overcomes the “App-Installation” Barrier

In the world of visitor attractions, whether it be a museum, a national park, or a holiday resort, the ultimate goal is to create memorable and engaging experiences. In recent years, Augmented Reality (AR) has emerged as a powerful tool for achieving this, offering interactive and immersive adventures that can bring any location to life. However, a significant hurdle has often stood in the way of widespread adoption: the “installation barrier.”

Synergy

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The Goal

The goal was to provide a thought-provoking game that encouraged the player to reflect on the situation. Games that teach, train or encourage contemplation are not new. However, there are very few that do it well and produce a fun game that people want to play. Synergy represents an early attempt from us back in 2012.

Concept Art

We explored many different art styles. We found a representation of the player to be the hardest challenge. The early idea of a virus (as seen in the below pictures) seemed too aggressive, but we did not want a humanoid as players find it easy to detach humans from nature.

Tale Together

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The Objective

Many children have limited interaction with seniors outside their immediate family, and similarly, many elderly individuals in retirement homes have few opportunities to engage with younger generations.

To address this, our platform has communication and collaboration at its core. In addition to featuring video and audio chat, it includes a game centered around these principles, and is designed with a focus of adding more games in the future.

The North Pole Escape

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

An Interactive Escape Room Game

The game will start outside the log cabin, where players have to gain access to the cabin door to start the main game. Users then search for clues and work through a series of puzzles to unlock more rooms and get everything ready for Christmas Eve!

Living Room

Building The Gingerbread House

This is an art-heavy game so we sketched out our designs early on to get an idea of what each room would do. The game was heavily inspired by a series of old Flash Escape room games which are sadly no longer accessible due to the depreciation of Flash. However, there is a video of the gameplay here.

The Tarot Experience VR

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The Results

Early feedback has been positive with The Tarot Experience reaching the finals in the VR awards, and being the runner up in Best Lifestyle Experience in the Meta Horizon Start Developer Competition.

The Task

Our client had designed and prototyped a VR project in Unity. The project showed great promise, but the client lacked the in-house capabilities to complete it to the level of polish that was desired. To solve this, we were brought in to debug, optimise, add functionality and ultimately publish the project on Steam and the Meta store.

The Tarot Experience VR Marketing

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The initial strategy focused on the spiritual Tarot community. However, research revealed a critical bottleneck:

Market Data: Only 4% of the population owns a VR headset.
The Problem: Targeting only those who both own a headset and practice Tarot created a segment too small to sustain growth.
The Barrier: High pricing ($14.99) and long store descriptions were alienating the broader VR demographic looking for relaxation and novelty.

We moved away from “Spiritual Tool” and toward “Immersive Tech Experience.”

The Tarot Experience Web Reading

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The Task

The primary goal of this project was to promote and boost the online presence of the Tarot Experience VR. We were tasked with developing a simple web-based tarot reading site to allow users a free sample of the VR experience.

Using the latest AI technology, the app procedurally generates a reading tailored to the users question, creating immersion and adding improved utility to the original VR experience.

The Results

Since release, our client’s site experienced an exceptional surge in activity, with a remarkable 2,500 questions asked. This uptick aligns with an impressive increase in engagement metrics, including over 3,000 site sessions on our Free Reading page alone. Moreover, our client’s platform boasts a robust retention rate, with 800 to 900 returning users actively revisiting our site. These figures underscore our success in driving user engagement, highlighting the effectiveness of our strategies in achieving key performance indicators.

Visual Effects

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Lightning & Photorealism

Surreal Environments

Particles & Mystical Effects

Videos

VR Home Builder

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The VR Home Builder is designed to be an application that integrates the immersive experience of virtual reality with the potential of augmented reality. With this innovative platform, users can not only envision their architectural plans in a more realistic manner, but also interact with them in a physical context.

The Tech

VR Home Builder transforms the design and construction process by blending virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). This tool leverages the immersive experience provided by VR headsets, granting users an in-depth, 360-degree view of their projects as if they were physically present within them.