CGT Week 2: Taking Advantage of VR

01/03/21

Now that my inspirations have been chosen and my genre selected, it is time to figure out the advantages of VR and how I can incorporate them into my game.

Immersion

This is easily the most significant and apparent element when it comes to designing a VR game. Placing players in a game, where their point of view is the only one and their surveying of an area is key to accomplishing a goal, makes VR games immediately more atmospheric in comparison to traditional games.

I want to make my own game immersive, mainly with the use of lighting. The level I am making will be dark, with the only way to see being made possible by players using a torch to advance forward. This should make players feel more in control, but also more responsible for how things will turn out, as they are the ones who have to physically move their arms to get a better sense of where they are currently and where to go to next.

Unique Gameplay

The gameplay in a VR game is unlike anything that can be done with a controller or keyboard and mouse. Players will have to use their hands and head to interact with the world around them in order to reach the end goal.

I want to use mechanics in my own game that is enhanced by it being in VR. Aiming a gun, for example, just feels more natural when aiming in your own hand in comparison to pointing with a mouse or camera stick. This is why a lot of VR games at the moment are first-person shooters, as it allows game designers to take full advantage of VR's unique controllers and gameplay and this is something I really want to replicate in my own work.

A Sense of Place

This is probably the most polarising element when it comes to playing a game in VR, compared to traditional games. Players can feel a sense of disorientation or nausea, depending on what is going on in the game, whether that is a feeling of motion sickness or being so immersed and convinced of your surroundings that you fall flat on your face. This is the most difficult hurdle for people trying to adjust to VR and something I intend to use very carefully in my own game.

Since certain people are turned off by VR, as they have to stand up to get the most out of it, I want to appeal to those who do not like standing and are new to VR as well as to those who have experienced VR many times in the past. Ideally, you can complete the level in my own game by sitting down the entire time. You will still have to move in order to reach up and down for objects, but by being able to play from a sedentary position, it may ease the playing experience and allow for as many people as possible to engage in my game. I still want to have a sense of movement enhanced by VR, so I shall be designing my level around the use of verticality. For example, by having players fall down pits to progress and experience an uncomfortable sense of place, but also by having the triumphant feeling of escaping traps with players experiencing the physical feeling of rising to the surface.