An experimental VR two player game I chose to make for a final assessment in a VR application development unit. The main feature is a unique movement mechanic I implemented for the VR player.
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Summary
This was an assignment I had to make for a VR application development unit. We were given a few weeks to complete it and the freedom to choose whichever theme we wanted until we met the programming requirements.
I wished to try something new and I did not want it to be another regular portfolio piece. My aim was to try a new mechanic and see how it could be implemented in a VR experience. Movement has been a big issue in VR especially when you consider the factor of motion sickness Movement is one of the core pillars which either breaks or makes any sort of games.
Movement Design
Most movement in VR feels static and linear. My implementation aimed to make it more dynamic and give more control to the player without causing motion sickness. The player moves by throwing a ball to the position he desires to move to. This makes the movement faster and also adds a layer of precision as well.
Many forms of movement have been developed but I always felt that there was a bit of delay and linearity in those forms of movements. This kind of forced many applications to design around these linear movements. This automatically puts a big restriction on many cool mechanics and also slows down the gameplay game. Hence I wanted to test an idea of a movement mechanic I had in mind which I hoped would give more control to the player and also make the moment to moment play a lot faster.
Movement is done by throwing a special item to wherever the player wants to go. Wherever the item falls on the floor, the player teleports to that location. The direction can be controlled by the player as he can throw the item wherever he wants to teleport to.
I successfully managed to implement this mechanic, it was fairly simple to do and worked out well. This mechanic could work well in a fast-paced VR game where the player would be required to move around the map/environment quickly without the risk of getting motion sickness. It would be interesting to see how this could be integrated with genres such as first-person shooter and other action genres. Probably could be also used to move other characters in a game as well.
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