Terracotta Warriors: Secrets of the First Emperor’s Mausoleum
Overview
A groundbreaking 40-minute location-based virtual reality experience that transports visitors inside Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s mausoleum on the eve of his burial—2,200 years after his death. This unprecedented collaboration between Wevr, VIVE Arts, and Xi’an-based Horizon Technology brings one of the world’s greatest archaeological treasures to life through immersive storytelling and cutting-edge VR technology.
Launch Date: July 29, 2025
Location: Xi’an, China (next to Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s Mausoleum Site Museum)
Duration: 40 minutes
Capacity: Up to 150 visitors per hour
Platform: VIVE Focus Vision headsets
Engine: Unreal Engine
My Role: Line Producer
As Line Producer on this ambitious project, I coordinated production teams across six international locations to deliver this historically accurate, large-scale immersive experience.
Key Responsibilities
- Multi-Location Coordination: Managed teams in Los Angeles, Atlanta, Malta, UK, Taipei, and Xi’an
- Production Pipeline Management: Oversaw workflows between multiple development teams working across different time zones
- Cross-Cultural Collaboration: Facilitated communication between teams speaking different languages and working within different cultural contexts
- Technical Coordination: Ensured seamless integration of assets and systems from distributed teams
- Schedule & Budget Management: Kept the complex international production on track and within scope
Production Challenges
- Coordinating real-time collaboration across 6 cities and multiple time zones
- Managing cultural nuances and language barriers between international teams
- Ensuring historical accuracy while maintaining compelling storytelling
- Integrating work from Atlanta-based interactive developer MotR (led by Jack Ehrbar and Andrew Weidenhammer)
- Delivering a theme park-quality experience on standalone mobile VR hardware
The Experience
Two-Act Journey
Act I: Tomb Exploration Adventure
Visitors embark on an archaeological adventure complete with ancient traps, guided by a companion from the future. The experience allows exploration of previously unseen areas of the mausoleum.
Act II: The Emperor’s Legacy A magical transformation where archaeological artifacts come to life—terracotta warriors march in formation, and visitors witness the workshops where these eternal guardians were created.
Technical Innovation
- Massive Scale: Three stages, each over 2,000 square feet
- Synchronized Experience: 150 people per hour flowing through shared virtual space
- Real-Time Coordination: 100+ headsets connected via WiFi in synchronized adventure
- Historical Accuracy: Every element rendered to historically accurate dimensions based on extensive research
- Mobile VR: Entire experience built in Unreal Engine running on standalone VIVE Focus Vision headsets
Historical Significance
The Terracotta Army, discovered by local farmers in 1974, represents one of the most significant archaeological finds of the 20th century. Over 8,000 unique warriors, each with individual facial features, have stood guard over Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s final resting place for more than two millennia.
This VR experience offers something impossible in the physical world: the chance to step inside previously unseen areas and virtually witness the mausoleum as it was on the eve of the emperor’s burial.
Impact
- Cultural Preservation: Expanding access to one of humanity’s greatest archaeological treasures
- Educational Value: Millions of visitors expected to gain deeper connection to ancient Chinese civilization
- Technological Achievement: Pushing boundaries of location-based entertainment and immersive storytelling
- First-Time VR: Many visitors experiencing VR for the first time through this culturally significant project
Partners
- Wevr: Production and creative development
- VIVE Arts: Partnership and VR platform
- Horizon Technology: Xi’an-based immersive experience company
- MotR: Atlanta-based interactive developer
- VIVERSE: Technical framework development
