(Un)Real Landslides: Game Engine Technologies for Process Simulation and Communication

The communication of landslide processes calls for innovative strategies that bridge scientific simulation and public understanding. Game engines are powerful tools for creating science communication experiences that appeal to audiences accustomed to the high-quality visuals of movies and computer games. Yet, geoscientists have limited access to such tools due to their technical complexity and the lack of specialised training. To address this challenge, we present domain-specific workflows and templates in Unreal Engine 5 (UE5). They are specifically dedicated to the creation of virtual reality and desktop applications supporting science communication and simulation.

MassMoVR is a modular, reusable Unreal Engine 5 (UE5) project template created to transform simulation outputs from the open-source tool r.avaflow, along with geospatial data, into interactive virtual reality (VR) and desktop experiences. It includes demonstration levels showcasing components and their use for simulation import, player setup, user interface setup, and environment and level design, including interactive objects, visual effects, and sounds. UnRealRocks is an experimental approach to the simulation of generic and real-world rockfall scenarios, utilising Unreal Engine 5’s native physics system and mesh-destruction capabilities. The experiments explore different modes of fragmentation and parameter configurations for the underlying physics and rock-mass geometries. In both cases, data preprocessing is a crucial step for aligning input datasets with game engine requirements and therefore a core component of the documentation and workflow guidelines.

Our work demonstrates that game engines can serve not only as tools for science communication but also as sources of inspiration and innovation in research. This perspective opens the way for communication and simulation to evolve as mutually reinforcing dimensions of landslide studies.