Inglenook VR
A Unity VR prototype of the Inglenook shunting puzzle: eight numbered carts, constrained sidings, and a train yard you manipulate with hands or controllers.
The puzzle
The constraints are the puzzle: one long siding, two short sidings, and a headshunt that only has room for the locomotive and three carts.
Why VR
The broader course project looked at collaborative learning, but this page focuses on the technical prototype: moving the Inglenook puzzle from a tabletop task into a VR train yard. The environment was built in Unity with Meta XR and Meta Interaction SDK.
The carts are numbered and color-coded, kept on the tracks by snapping them to invisible splines, and coupled with Unity joints when they meet. Teleport anchors let the user move around the yard, and the group made the main 3D objects in Blender for a consistent prototype scene.