Titans of Space

Titans of Space is an educational VR tour of the solar system from studio DrashVR, which on Cardboard became one of the most frequently recommended showcase experiences for new users, much as its original version had already done on early PC headsets. The player sits in a small capsule that gradually carries them past the Sun and each of the planets, with every body rendered at proportionally accurate size, meant to convey the true scale of the universe better than any image on a flat display or in a school textbook ever could.

Interaction is minimal; the experience runs almost automatically, and the player focuses on observing and listening to brief information about each planet, making it closer to a planetarium show or educational program than a traditional game. This simplicity was actually an advantage, since Cardboard without controllers and with limited processing power wasn't suited to complex interaction, while a slow, contemplative ride past the planets ran flawlessly even on weaker phones without risk of stutter.

Titans of Space was often cited as one of the first experiences that could explain to people new to VR why a stereoscopic view in a headset differs from watching a video on a monitor, specifically through the sense of the true size of planets standing in space around the player. It remains a frequently cited example that not every VR experience has to be a game in the traditional sense to be impactful, educational, and meaningful even for audiences outside the gaming crowd. Teachers and science communicators occasionally used it as a teaching aid when covering the solar system, since the feeling of standing next to a body many times larger than yourself could explain the almost unimaginable size differences between the planets of the solar system, and how small Earth is by comparison, better than any lecture.

Why play: For anyone who wants to understand why a view in VR differs from watching a video on a monitor; the sense of the true size of the planets works as a convincing teaching aid even for audiences outside gaming.