Idea Generation and Research
Because the theme for the brief was ‘Incognito’, we thought VR would be a great way to incorporate this into our game due to the fact that it makes you feel hidden, taking you out of reality and into a virtual world. It was also good because of the fact that VR is fairly new tech, meaning it was a difficult but fun task for us to execute.
The next thing we had to think about was the gameplay and since the theme involves problem solving, we thought it would be perfect to try and use the interactivity aspect of Virtual Reality to create a puzzle game therefore catering to the clients needs.
I primarily used secondary research as primary research would not really have been too effective in my case, especially since there are many case studies already created. I began by creating a mood board to visually represent what the game would look like this includes aztec/fantasy images, VR UIs, mazes, etc.
I then had to make sure it would satisfy our target demographic which I found would be 14-25 year olds as they are the majority of people that own one or more VR devices, it also decided the Pegi Rating we should aim for and allowed us to target certain aspects of the game such as the addition of multiplayer which gives players the ability to socialize and play in their own way.
After this I did some market research and found that the annual growth rate of VR from 2020 to 2027 is 21.6%, there is increased demand for VR devices and that the VR gaming market size is forecast to reach $92 billion by 2027. (Ying Lin, 2021). This further enticed us into making a Virtual Reality game as it shows VR is gaining traction and so learning how to make a VR game would good to expand my skillset and have in my portfolio to be ahead of the curve and be able to hold my own weight if I am ever tasked to develop a VR project in future.
Our FMP idea was received well by peers and tutors and I was able to take a few suggestions into account and generally improve on the idea and concepts.
Planning and Pre-Production
Planning helped us reach final outcome as we clearly laid out and knew what our end goal was and what features were to be incorporated, we worked together to create concept art like a top down map, puzzles and what assets like the brasier would look like. To collaborate efficiently we would need somewhere to discuss and share our work, this is why we chose to create a discord server where we could keep track of what we have done and what we still needed to do.
Unlike the games made in my previous years, I have learned to set achievable goals within a realistic time frame before continuing on with production, in the case of Puzzled, this helped make sure certain mechanics, assets and gameplay aspects were ready in time. To help with this, I transitioned from using Unity’s built-in collab tool to GitHub, a proper version control solution that logs all past changes with dates attached and other features like branches, current changes to files & reverting. In addition, there is a 1GB cloud limit in Unity which is not the case with GitHub so we can keep adding as much as we want without suddenly worrying about not being able to collab.
Production and Problem Solving
Before starting production, we had to lay out what we would need in order to stay consistent with our creation/collaboration process. We came to the conclusion that the main software we would need is Blender for creating models, Photoshop for creating icons/images and editing textures, Unity to develop the game in and Audacity for editing Foley to generate sound effects.
To start production, one of the first things I did was get the basics down by importing and messing around with the UnityXR package, getting a working rig and adding support for popular devices like the Oculus Quest & Rift, HTC Vive and Valve Index.
Then while Puzzled was in progress, I made a few experiments that helped me research and solve problems, for example I needed a way to create hand poses for objects so that it looked somewhat realistic and didn’t ruin the immersion, this is where I researched into methods like IK, animations, etc. and eventually found a Unity package that helped me achieve this and sped up development as a bonus. There was also the addition of Multiplayer which took quite a while to implement as I had to compare lots of networking solutions in order to find the best one that suited our needs, I found that PUN 2 worked great but I still had a lot to learn and how to think a bit more critically so things would sync well across clients although some things didn’t work as they were supposed to which I will continue to work on and iron out.
In terms of VR, it has been a very fun experience learning new concepts and seeing how drastically different it is from developing a regular 3D game. I have learned a lot from mistakes during my experiments especially when implementing Multiplayer because I am new to networking and saw that certain things didn’t work so I learned to think differently in order to overcome them and create a decent online experience for the player.
– Maybe talk about Android vs PC (differences, optimizations, bugs)
Assessment of completed project
I am quite pleased with how the game turned out, there wasn’t much I would’ve done differently apart from implement multiplayer earlier on so that I more knowledge of networking to add or change features throughout instead of doing it last minute and having to adapt existing things for them to work nicely.
I also wish I had expanded my skillset in Maya to be able to create my own assets as ended up utilizing Unity’s prefab system or getting assets from the store until Mark made them in Blender and some weren’t made in time like the pipes puzzle.
I think we met a lot of our original goals and stayed on track, not adding or changing anything that would’ve negatively impacted the game or our process. I even implemented aspects like voice chat which I did not think would be possible with the game being in VR but also trying to complete it within the time frame. There were a couple outcomes that weren’t met though, one of which is we spent a lot of time getting VR basics, graphics etc. down meaning we didn’t manage to ‘re-invent the traditional metapuzzle’ and had to settle with the few puzzles we had. Secondly, there was no way to finish the game mainly because somewhere along the line, the implementation of multiplayer brought on a bug where the door to the combination puzzle would not open, meaning there was no point in creating a finish if they can’t get to it.
Since we made a Virtual Reality game and got Multiplayer working fairly well (bugs can be ironed out), the graphics look nice and there is a prospect of it becoming a fun puzzle game, I’d say that it appeals to the intended demographic which is also evidenced in the peer review below.
Overall, I think we showcased what is possible with just 2 developers and throughout the college years we never had a proper lecturer so we had to research as much as possible and teach ourselves but instead of giving up we still managed to create something in a completely new field (VR), with it being a valuable experience for us collaborating and overcoming challenges.
Peer Review
Daniel Warren –
“What are your opinions of the gameplay?”
– My opinions of the gameplay is that it seems more fun with friends and easier (by taking less time) and I love the noise the cubes make when going though the different elements/rolling.
“Does the game interest you?”
– The games does interest me to a degree but I understand that’s its in early stages. Maybe if you died to the spikes (I know you avoided them) you would be sent to the start again maybe with door to the spikes all being locked again?
“Any critical notes on the game, gameplay, or anything else?”
– Apart from that maybe torches being more bright as your gameplay, Mark’s was bright enough but Owen’s was pretty dark (which for more of his gameplay as it was funny seeing him just waiting. I also like the ‘To Be Continued’ meme at the end of the gameplay video.
Habil Khan –
“What are your opinions of the gameplay?”
– The gameplay looks pretty interesting and if I had VR I would definitely buy it.
“Does the game interest you?”
– Yes, it does.
“Any critical notes on the game, gameplay, or anything else?”
– Video was a bit long other than that the editing was pretty good!.
Nathan Sill –
“What are your opinions of the gameplay?”
– Very good for the time frame likely great given more time just the bounciness of the cube is off putting
“Does the game interest you?”
– Personally no I wouldn’t play it but I can see the appeal to others
“Any critical notes on the game, gameplay, or anything else?”
– Only thing I noticed is the bounciness that objects have but understandable given your time frame
The video below shows what we were able to create within the time frame however we do plan on working on it further to add more mechanics, gameplay aspects and fixing up bugs.