MSc Serious Games & Virtual Reality School of Innovation & Technology
Junya Zhi
Junya Zhi is a Digital media artist and game designer with a passion for serious games. Specializing in 3D art, environment design, serious games design, VR and immersive storytelling, blending narrative, interactivity and technology into cinematic, emotional and educational experiences.
Holds an MSc in Serious Games and Virtual Reality from the Glasgow School of Art, and a BFA in Digital Media Arts from Beijing Institute of Graphic Communication (Outstanding Graduate).
Research interests:
Serious Games, Virtual Reality, Digital Media, Game Design, 3D Environment Art, Immersive Storytelling, Cinematic Narrative, Music and Sound Design, Music Education
Technical Skills:
♦ 3D Modeling: 3Dmax, ZBrush, Cinema4D, Blender, Maya, Rizom uv, Substance Painter, Marvelous Designer
♦ Game Engines: Unity 3D, Unreal Engine 4
♦ Graphic Design: Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Lightroom, Adobe InDesign, Sai2
♦ Video Editing: Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe After Effects, DaVinci Resolve
♦ Audio Design: Cubase, FL Studio, Studio One, Adobe Audition, Sibelius
♦ Programming: C#, Python
Selected honors:
♦ Second Prize at the 15th China Creative Challenges Contest (2021);
♦ Second Prize at the 2nd National University Digital Entertainment Product Application Design Competition (2022);
♦ Excellent Award at the 2022 Beijing University Student Digital Media Design Competition (2023);
♦ Bronze Award at the 15th International User Experience Design Award (UXD Award) Innovation Competition (2024).
Projects
Collaborative Work
🎻VR games for music education: focus on Italian musical terms learning
This project presents a VR-based serious game designed to support music theory learning, specifically focusing on musical terms and signs. Developed in collaboration with SymphoMe (symphome.com), a Scottish mobile platform for music theory, the project explores how immersive VR can enhance engagement with abstract and symbolic concepts. This study designs and evaluates a VR prototype aimed at addressing common learning challenges in music theory. The project seeks to provide a theoretical foundation for the development of more effective and interactive digital teaching aids, and offer evidence of the educational value of immersive VR serious games in the field of music education.
Existing studies indicate that VR technology can enhance learning motivation, immersion, and understanding of abstract concepts, but current applications are primarily focused on music performance rather than theoretical learning. Mobile music games can significantly increase user interest, especially in the introductory learning of basic music theory, but the interaction methods of two-dimensional interfaces limit users’ multi-sensory participation. While VR music education provides richer interaction modes, immersive experiences, spatial awareness, and multi-sensory experiences, but it also faces challenges such as cognitive overload, balancing immersion with effective learning, and avoiding the dilution of teaching content due to an excessive emphasis on realism or entertainment.
🎼Aria in Wonderland – a serious game for singing instruction
This game uses pitch detection as its main gameplay mechanic and is designed for music education.
Target Audience: Adults who enjoy games and music especially beginners interested in learning musical concepts
The world setting is a medieval fantasy adventure. The main plot is Aria (Played by player), a bard, who stumbles upon a lost music kingdom: Kingdom of Echo, accidentally become the Chosen One, asked by its High Priest to use her musical knowledge to help them save the kingdom.
My main contributions to the project included level design and gameplay mechanics planning, visual assets design (for Level 1), animation and video editing, story writing, music composition, sound synthesis and voice acting, along with partial involvement in programming tasks.
Level Concepts
-Level 1 Pitch
Backpack system to collect pitch-related items representing fragments of music theory knowledge
Collect at least 80 percent of items to complete the level and piece together a musical score
Gameplay starts with a tutorial followed by player-controlled movement using WASD keys to walk Spacebar to jump and singing to collect notes and trigger mechanisms for vertical movement
-Level 2 Rhythm
Singing along mechanic grouping several notes together
Inspired by piano minigame in Sky Children of the Light and violin playing in Nikki Infinite
Before starting there are UI text instructions
Background populated with many residentsPressing corresponding keys triggers resident singing
Players are guided to play a short melody
-Level 3 Dictation
Platforming level where players listen and choose the correct notes while navigating the map
🎹Virtual Piano – Leap motion hand tracking rhythm game
A exploration of a rhythm game using Leap Motion for an HCI class.
Music Credits：
Le Rouge et le Noir – L’Opéra Rock. (2016). La gloire à mes genoux [Song]. Universal Music France.
Stirling, L. (2012, November 6). Assassin’s Creed III (Official Video) [Music video].
🕵️The Cable – Short pitch for theme music – a Glasgow police drama
A woman walks the darkened night, where danger climbs,
Glasgow, like Gotham, thick with shadows and crime.
The bagpipe cries out, as police sirens chime,
As the people sing their mournful song,
While industry humming in the streets, all along.
A bottle shatters, alcohol or murder, a brutal twist,
Silent in the night, only rain in the dark, beat.
Or is it blood spilling, staining the street?
“The Cable” – a gritty, procedural police drama set in Glasgow. Multi-story format based around a large cast of central characters.
Directors brief – “the music – its got to be real, its got to feel grainy, rough-round-the-edges with a dark undercurrent. I’m looking for a classy, iconic theme that reflects the city and its people. Its got sound like a theme for a HBO programme, except with a Glaswegian twist.”
🏴☠️Hoist the Black – Original Music Composition
My short film is set in a world inspired by the Pirates of the Caribbean era. I created an original main character and used montage editing to piece together a brand-new story. Assignment of elective course Music for Picture.
My story has a clear dramatic premise and a focused central character. It blends real historical events with the political and fantastical elements of the Pirates of the Caribbean universe. Set in 1718, during the issuance of the Great Act, British government’s determined efforts to eliminate piracy, meanwhile witch hunts were still ongoing. My original main character is a witch with a crow as her familiar who becomes a pirate captain in order to escape persecution. The whole story is narrated from the perspective of a bard.
She is ambitious, fearless, and guided by her own sense of morality and purpose. As a gifted musician, she forms lasting bonds of friendship with mythical sea creatures like sirens and kraken through music. Tragedy strikes when her crew begins to fall in battle, and her childhood friends in a coastal town are executed by hanging (4th minute dialogue of my video, excerpted from Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End). Overwhelmed by grief and rage, she calls upon the power of the ocean and its creatures to revenge on the Royal Navy, claiming her place in a world that sought to destroy her.
The writing of lyrics, vocal performance, video editing, and composition were all completed by myself.
The video features my own original animation, along with clips from Pirates of the Caribbean (films 1 to 4), the Video Game Skull and Bones and the Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag cinematic trailer, etc. All source indicated in the top-left corner of video.
Third Party Video Source：
Patty Gurdy – Find Me Some Pretty Girls (Official Music Video)
Patty Gurdy – Brighter Days Come (Official Music Video)
Skull and Bones cinematic trailer
Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag cinematic trailer
Enemies – real-time cinematic teaser | Unity
Pirates of the Caribbean 1: The Curse of the Black Pearl. 2003. Directed by Gore Verbinski. Burbank, CA: Walt Disney Pictures.
Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man’s Chest. 2006. Directed by Gore Verbinski. Burbank, CA: Walt Disney Pictures.
Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World’s End. 2007. Directed by Gore Verbinski. Burbank, CA: Walt Disney Pictures.
Pirates of the Caribbean 4: On Stranger Tides. 2011. Directed by Rob Marshall. Burbank, CA: Walt Disney Pictures.
🐍Slytherin Common Room – 3D Modelling and Animation – 3D Max
My concept was to build the Slytherin common room from the Harry Potter series.
The entire room is located underwater with green being the representative colour of the room. It is generally attributed to be dim, but there is some warm room lighting and a secondary light source of blue natural light.
The style is realistic. Orderly, neat and tidy with traces of human use (a little messy but not much). The mood is tranquil, hallowed and serious. The structure of the room is based on churches, and films and games based on Harry Potter series.
👻E-pet pro – 7 day Scream Jam
This game is an interactive narrative experience that we created in seven days during Scream Jam. The player takes on the role of a character who accidentally gains the ability to control others’ thoughts. Initially, driven by curiosity and dark amusement, the player uses this power for small manipulations. However, as time goes on, the actions become increasingly extreme, eventually leading to harm inflicted on others. As the story unfolds, the player gradually realizes that they are also being controlled by a more powerful force, becoming entangled in a larger conspiracy beyond their control.
LABEL ERA – A Board Game About Label Effect
LABEL ERA – AKSO is a serious board game about the label effect, inspired by the profound impact labels have on individuals and society. Whether it is an unintended stereotype or an intentional social expectation, labels often become invisible chains that restrict personal growth. Through this game, we hope players will confront the complexity of the label effect, experiencing how labels can shape identity, limit choices, and influence relationships.
In the depths of the universe, the mysterious planet AKSO shines with diversity and harmony. One day, an unknown spaceship arrives, bringing a tempting gift — labels. At first, these labels celebrate individuality, but they soon turn into tools of control and restraint. Chaos follows, and AKSO’s society falls into anxiety. A quiet yet profound struggle begins — a battle between self and the labels that bind it.
Dear player, you will join four companions with very different personalities on a search for life’s meaning. Play as characters from diverse backgrounds, gather the resource “Stardust,” manipulate labels, form alliances, and shift the balance of power. Every choice you make can alter your abilities, shape your identity, and determine where you belong. Will you accept the chains of your labels, or break free from them to shape your destiny?
