enchanting visuals and light experiences
19 april 2026, sunday
I've wandered virtual spaces for several years at this point, and as time flies by, I think to myself that I have seen it all. Driven communities and talented individuals within VRChat continue to prove me wrong time and time again, and this month alone has been exceptionally busy for me as I have found a few hours out of my weekends to go to a few events.
contents...
TECHNO ABYSS.
Honestly, it's really no surprise to me that Techno Abyss is one of my favorite venues in the space. Crys, Digital, childofthebeast, and everyone who contributes to that space puts their absolute all into providing an exciting visual experience. The expanse of the worlds Abyss has their events in is large, with stone and metal and light being the main pillars that make up this world. Upon entering the world, you have to make your way to the main area, passing through the main door and into a large, round chamber with large wires crawling along the walls and a huge, shattered orb floating above the dance floor.
I found myself with my mouth agape as I kept looking up, feet planted on the dancefloor as strobes of light washed all over us. Every now and then, the lights would cut from keeping the whole room realistically lit to stripping everyone of all color and making us part of the outline of the world.
my friend lusheria and I becoming outlined with purple
I know I have mentioned a few times throughout my virtual reality blog posts that my favorite worlds have usually been ones that toe the line of intense immersiveness to otherworldly ethereal beauty. This world for Techno Abyss perfectly matches that, as the animation of the screens scrolling over the crowd, the orb floating, pulsing with its shattered pieces surrounding it, along with attendees spreading out in the large space made me feel like I was in a club event on a distant planet.
Personally I really love when screens and other objects are used to really add to the scale of a world. As we danced through the night, the screens in the world towered over us as they moved, swirled, and parted over and over. The screens didn't feel like projects of light, but manifestations of light coming to life, tuning in with the intense music and energy of the crowd present. When the chamber goes dark, when the outlines are all you can see throughout the venue, you can see that there are further recesses to the chamber than what we can actually see and stand on. My eyes trailed from the DJs and the screens to where light would hit across the room, finding myself hypnotized by this dance of realistic lighting and maximalist emissions and bloom.
a dancing crowd becomes one with the world, becoming silhouettes outlined with red light
fray djing while the holographic screen scrolls and towers over her
a closer shot of fray while she's djing, her features being lit by the soft reds and oranges of the world
This world invited my imagination as well, despite the event's focus being the music and the visuals and lights. The way the world reacted to the latter two made me want to view it all in different angles of the chamber. My friend Lusheria and I even joked about sitting on top of the moving screens, or finding a way to hover right in the middle of the screen so we could see it swirl and loop around us. Due to the chamber of the world venue being much larger than the average clubbing space in VRChat, people had plenty of space to break off into the corners or the sides of the dancefloor to sit or observe. It felt nice to not be crowded like a can of sardines when this world clearly is meant to be taken in.
RESIDENCE CATHEDRAL.
The residence compound, especially its cathedral, is a place I think of as sacred and healing. Attendees arrive in a foggy, seemingly abandoned complex of buildings, encouraging them to wander around the overgrowth of nature and cement. Once you've found the entrance to the cathedral, you'll see an angelic entity taking multiple forms above the pews, shifting and changing with the progression of the set playing.
Some of the floors and building material of the cathedral have collapsed, becoming beams for event-goers to either sit on or use to traverse to the higher floors. The screens in the cathedral and the angelic entity that comes to life within theme move freely from level to level, giving people from all view points unique perspectives. At first, I found myself settled on the left of the DJ, opting to get a full view of the screens and the angelic entity from below, craning my neck upwards to see it fly and soar. Swarms of light surrounded it at different intervals, as if it were summoning its power to wow us into submission. I was rendered silent, watching it pass over me quietly during a swell of munks' set.
the angel hovers above us
Once again I find myself in awe of meshes in worlds used to create an otherworldly experience. It is definitely further into the otherworldly experience, the presence and nearness of the angel coaxing attendees to look up at its greatness. Maybe feeling small and insignificant is what I like the most when going to these sorts of worlds haha.
light and shapes gather in front of the dj and vj decks
overhead lights in corners throughout the venue
A friend of mine, EvilToaster, also VJ'd during this event with vbm, the host and resident angel. I am a big fan of oblong and abstract shapes paired with strange sounds, and during my time here I got exactly that. Getting immersed in VR isn't always about the most realistic experience that copies the rules of real, tangible life, but also includes experiences like these where what you see and what you here are challenged. It's hard to describe how emotional this place gets me. It's both simple and complex. Either way, it all comes down to how I can sit here, be at peace staring at the lights, finding harmony and soothing energy from the music and atmosphere.
toasty vjing
When I talk to other people about immersive experiences, it usually comes down to what the venue / world's lighting is like. Like if when you're in a dark room, the lighting of your avatar becomes dim or practically nonexistent. This place executes that presence and absence of light very well.
Lights are placed in various corners, with many of them facing or pointing towards a wall, upwards from the audience. Doing so not only makes the venue feel larger, it allows for variances for how light plays on surfaces. You can see lights illuminating the texture of the walls, hovering over crowds briefly as if the lights were touching and caressing their faces, and flashing the room occassionally, treating light as a way to show contrast. It makes taking photos in here interesting, because I typically dither my photos before putting them in here, and I love how heavy and dark they look in here.
DIESELWORKS.
This place is fucking legendary. Let's just start there.
Dieselworks has been around for five years in VRChat with a fierce dedication to providing premiere, immersive, quite literally underground rave events. When you enter this world and venue, you find yourself in a dark, yet saturated urban environment. Finding where the main spaces in this world are is definitely a challenge, but I am not going to spoil how to do so in here. Half the joy of this world is really just letting yourself be lost for a moment, to let yourself think where your friends could possibly be, to maybe even ask them "hey where are you guys at?" This venue and world promotes the idea of enjoying music together so intimately, so that when you do arrive to the dancefloor, you have no choice but to get comfortable and up close with others.
There's always going to be a debate on whether or not venues and/or worlds in the VRChat music scene should have a space for people to have conversations or to socialize while listening to the music. I'll very bluntly say that there, the music and the dancing take precedence over conversation, and I think that is definitely on purpose. There is plenty of space just outside of the main dancing areas for people to converse, along with the aforementioned urban area.
At Dieselworks' "infrasoundz" event which occurred on the 14th of April, I came very specifically for dev's set. Getting on the dancefloor and giving quick hellos to everyone before locking into the music and the colorful lights above us and next to us - it's so so so fun to look around you and see other people be unafraid to let loose even in such a small, dark area. The lights in this world typically stay on with one color at a time, three rows of light on the sides of the dancefloor and overhead with changing brightness and intensity in time with the music.
What I believe VRChat's music scene will always need more of are spaces that really encourage people to immerse themselves in the environment they're placed in. Dieselworks very much succeeds at providing this, and I'd like for that to continue!
me at the end of the event :)