SEED WXP Student Story | Simone Builds a Complete VR Game with Zero XR Experience in 1-month

A secondary school student build a fully developed VR game in one-month.

It sounds like a tagline from a tech summer camp, but this is exactly how Simone, a student from Our Lady of the Rosary College who is about to enter Form 5, spent her summer. She did not take ICT as an elective, had no work experience, and had absolutely no idea what VR or XR was before she started. Yet in a real workplace environment, she figured it out step by step and built an immersive VR quiz game themed around the ancient imperial examination system from scratch.

This year, Simone completed a one-month workplace experience at XR startup VOTANIC through SEED's Workplace experience program (WXP). As a student enrolled in SEED's Cloud Computing course, she went from an introverted student with little knowledge of VR/XR technology to actively participating in the production of a full VR/XR game project, embracing feedback and taking on challenges along the way. Over the course of one month, she shattered her assumptions about startups and the tech industry, and walked away with growth in both technical skills and personal character.

Stepping into the Adult World for One Summer

This was Simone's first ever workplace experience. For many of her peers, the summer holidays are a time to relax and unwind. Simone, however, chose to seek out a learning opportunity beyond the classroom.

"I didn't really have much going on during the summer, so I wanted to make good use of the time and improve myself. I was also curious about what it would feel like to work in an office. It felt exciting, like stepping into the world of adults."

Heading into her first workplace experience, her emotions were mixed. She was excited to explore an entirely new field, yet also anxious about an unfamiliar working environment. She did not know much about VOTANIC before she started, but she walked in with an open mind. It was precisely that willingness to try that made her summer truly different.

Zero Background in VR/XR: From Complete Beginner to Clear Understanding

Before stepping into VOTANIC, Simone's understanding of XR technology was almost entirely blank.

"My idea of VR was basically putting on a big pair of goggles to play games. As for XR, I had absolutely no idea what it was." On a scale of 10, she honestly rated herself at around 3 to 4 before she started, which was essentially zero.

However, the foundational programming concepts, ICT theory, and logical thinking she had built through SEED's Cloud Computing course turned out to be unexpectedly useful. That foundation helped her grasp the underlying logic of an unfamiliar technical environment much more quickly and shortened the distance between knowing nothing and being able to get to work.

"If I hadn't taken SEED's classes, it probably would have taken me a lot longer to get up to speed. Since I don't take ICT as an elective, the Cloud Computing course gave me a basic foundation in programming and ICT, which helped me understand the principles behind VR/XR much faster."

She arrived knowing almost nothing, yet by the end she could clearly articulate the practical applications and industry value of VR/XR technology. That transformation is the most honest reflection of what one month of internship experience can do.

The Real Face of a Tech Startup

Before she started, Simone had fixed assumptions about both startups and traditional corporations. Startups, she imagined, were small and under-resourced. Large corporations, on the other hand, were places where everyone sat in front of a computer doing the same thing all day. Within her first week at VOTANIC, those assumptions fell apart one by one.

The real VOTANIC was well-resourced, fast-paced, and nothing like what she had expected. The team culture was flexible and open, with no obvious hierarchy between supervisors and colleagues. That environment helped her, as someone with a more introverted personality, settle in quickly.

For a secondary school student studying cloud computing, being placed inside a company where technology is the core of every business function was already a rare opportunity. The technical concepts she had encountered in class now had a real-world reference point. For the first time, she saw up close how technology becomes a product, becomes a service, and becomes the centre of everyone's daily work inside a real, functioning company. That kind of feeling simply cannot be replicated in a classroom.

A Shift in Thinking: Discovering the Real Difference Between School and Work

Within just a few days of adjusting, Simone gained a completely new understanding of what it means to take initiative. The workplace is not like a classroom. No one will notice when you are struggling, and no one will break down tasks for you step by step. She gradually came to understand that being proactive is the only way to find your footing at work. Try to figure things out yourself first, think it through before asking, and once you have asked, make sure you do not need to ask the same question twice. This seemingly small shift made her increasingly independent over the course of the month and gave her growing confidence in facing unfamiliar challenges.

In her early days, she also had to overcome another hurdle. The team communicated in a mix of Cantonese and English technical jargon, and she often only half understood what was being said, forcing herself to nod along. Instead of avoiding the problem, she listened carefully and cross-referenced what she heard with the tasks at hand, slowly working out the meaning of new terms and gradually keeping up with the pace of conversation. By the time WXP ended, she could follow discussions in meetings and speak up on her own. For someone who had been quietly pretending to understand everything at the start, this was a visible and meaningful transformation.

From Never Touching VR/XR to Building a VR Game About the Imperial Examinations

During WXP, Simone and her partner jointly developed an interactive game designed for a VR Cave, leading the entire process from concept to completion. Since both of them study Chinese History, they chose the ancient imperial examination system as their theme and designed a VR quiz game that incorporated Chinese History knowledge.

Throughout the development process, she used VOTANIC's proprietary XRCC platform to build 3D scenes and game logic through a modular, drag-and-drop approach, without the need to write complex code by hand. The game they designed used a physical controller to let players move a calligraphy brush left and right on screen, catching Chinese History questions that dropped from above and answering them, recreating the experience of sitting the ancient imperial examinations in an immersive way.

The development process was not without its difficulties. Early on, Simone and her partner designed a simple button-based quiz format, but received direct feedback from a colleague pointing out that this type of gameplay failed to take advantage of the immersive strengths of VR/XR.

"Hearing that was a little disheartening at first, because we had put a lot of work into the early stages. But I knew the feedback was there to help us improve, and honestly, the original design was too plain. It didn't really feel like a VR product."

Taking that feedback on board, she and her partner decisively set aside the old design and rebuilt the interactive format from scratch, allowing the game to truly showcase what VR does best. For Simone, this game was not just a work deliverable. It was the first time she had genuinely brought together her interests, her knowledge, and her technical skills. And what made it even more remarkable was that just one month earlier, XR had been completely foreign to her.

A Full Package of Growth: Technical Skills and Communication Skills, Both Levelled Up

After a month of real workplace experience, Simone started from zero and achieved genuine growth in her technical ability, communication, and way of thinking. "Going from a complete blank at the start to finishing a whole project by the end, the sense of achievement was real and huge."

Looking back on the month, she identified three key takeaways: she learned how to use the XRCC platform and could independently build simple 3D interactive games; she learned to accept feedback and found the courage to scrap work and start again; and the growth that surprised her most was the breakthrough in her own personality and communication. She had been extremely introverted going in, but by the end she was able to proactively chat with colleagues, report on her work, and ask questions when she needed to. That change was something even she had not anticipated.

This growth was inseparable from the foundation laid by SEED's Cloud Computing course. The ICT fundamentals and logical thinking from her coursework aligned closely with the operating logic of the XRCC platform, helping her get up to speed quickly. The workplace etiquette workshop provided as part of WXP also helped her adapt to the rhythm of the working world and develop habits of self-discipline and punctuality. Everything she had built in the classroom found its real use in the workplace.

Entering the Workplace Reveals That Mindset Matters More Than Technical Skills

WXP completely dismantled Simone's fixed ideas about the tech industry. She had assumed that working in a tech company required strong programming skills, but this month showed her another possibility. Tools can lower the technical barrier, but a flexible mindset and the willingness to try new things are what truly help someone find their place in the tech world. In her view, what a tech startup needs most is not someone with technical knowledge memorised by rote, but a mind that is willing to adapt and loves solving problems.

"At school, you just wait for the answer. At work, you have to be the one who goes and finds it."

That one line almost sums up the core of everything she grew through during her workplace experience. Working life was fresh and exciting, but it also demanded far more self-discipline than school. This experience helped her break old habits around irregular routines and begin facing each day with a more mature outlook.

What SEED hopes to create is exactly this kind of workplace experience opportunity. Not a simulated environment designed specifically for secondary school students, but a chance for them to step directly into a real, functioning company, face real briefs, real challenges, and real feedback. What this experience leaves behind is not just a completed project. It is the first time they know what the workplace actually feels like, and who they can be inside it.