Zongxu Liu
(he/him)
Introduction
Hello everyone, I’m Liu Zongxu. I’ve always been passionate about cultural heritage, history, and immersive technology. Over the past year, I’ve honed my skills in 3D modeling and redesigning traditional characters, and applied my work to gamified demos.
This project is a Meta Quest 3 experience that explores how culturally specific research can inform Asian-inspired game character design. The project centres on an original Dunhuang-inspired character, developed through hand-drawn concepts, Blender modelling and Adobe Substance 3D Painter materials, while a third-party Gandharan Bodhisattva provides a historical point of comparison. Across two museum levels, players examine facial features, gestures, clothing, ornaments, posture and materials through interactive investigation points, images, videos and layered cultural explanations. Developed in Unity 6, the project uses first-person VR observation to challenge Generic Asian Fantasy and present Asian visual culture as a product of regional exchange, historical change and reinterpretation.
If you have any questions can send me E-mail! (｡・ω・｡)
Tracing Dunhuang: A VR Museum of Cultural Exchange and Character Design
This is a Meta Quest 3 experience centred on an original Dunhuang-inspired character designed to challenge stereotypical representations of Asian identity in games. Instead of relying on red-and-gold colours, dragons, lanterns or mixed “Oriental” symbols, the character is developed through research into specific facial forms, gestures, clothing structures, ornaments, postures, materials and historical contexts. Created through original drawings, Blender modelling and Adobe Substance 3D Painter materials, the character explores wider possibilities for Asian character design through Dunhuang’s diverse visual culture and history of cross-regional exchange. A Gandharan Bodhisattva provides a comparative reference, while interactive investigation points allow players to examine how Buddhist visual traditions changed across regions and periods. Presented at human scale in Unity 6, the VR experience shows how Dunhuang can inspire culturally grounded characters that move beyond familiar stereotypes and expand the visual possibilities of Asian representation in games.
