Virtual reality gaming is just a fledgling industry, but indie studios are already pushing the boundaries.
For the first time at the PAX Australia conference in Melbourne, the indie “PAX Rising” section of the convention floor was filled with people boxing, fighting dinosaurs and solving puzzles in game demonstrations that no one else could see.
While there we many to choose from, here are five of the best Mashable spotted, as well as insights from the developers on their baby industry and the challenges of building games in VR.
Siegecraft Commander
Created by Sydney’s Blowfish Studios, Siegecraft Commander is a fortress-builder game that’s been adapted for VR.
Using HTC Vive hand controllers, walls and buildings can be launched with a satisfying slingshot motion.
“We haven’t done much to change Siegecraft Commander — the way it was for console and PC — to adapt it to make to work for VR,” Ellen Jurik, Blowfish Studios producer and game designer, told Mashable.
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IMAGE: BLOWFISH STUDIOS
Planning to release the VR game next year, the team are still working through the mechanics.
Jurik described the game’s approach so far as a touch screen-style of interactivity — moving the two hand controllers to zoom the world in and out, for example.
For those developing in VR, there is still plenty left to work out. “How do we make the controls accessible for people?” she asked. “What’s the best way to translate that … when they don’t have the mouse and keyboard that’s traditional for realtime strategy?”
Symphony of the Machine
Symphony of the Machine made the most innovative use of VR mechanics of all the experiences at PAX.
Created by Perth-based Stirfire Studios, the game’s challenge is to solve puzzles and bring rain back to a parched world. It will be available in early 2017.
Lisa Rye, creative director at Stirfire Studios, described it as a “mechanical rain dance.”
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Using a mirror to change the direction of a light beam, the game’s motions feel quite natural — something the studio worked hard at.
“We’ve been playing around with cardboard and various objects to try and get our heads around how the puzzles would work in physical space,” Rye explained. “One really cool thing with working with VR games is everything is about motion … you can visualise it in the real world.”
The developers also wanted to create a more meditative style of game with no time-based puzzles.
In Rye’s view, many virtual reality games are intense, with zombies and sharks in cages. “Those games are amazing, but you get so worked up by them,” she said. “They’re not a great place to enter VR.”
Kept
While the PAX demo was more about experience than actual game, Kept still charmed with painterly graphics.
Using an HTC Vive headset and controllers, the player can explore a forest environment while trying to catch a firefly in a jar.
Designed by the Sydney creative media company S1T2, it will be their first foray into video games. “We’re really interested in interactive narrative and we feel like VR is a new opportunity,” Jack Condon, lead developer at S1T2, told Mashable.
S1T2 is planning to release Kept episodically, with the first chapter coming out in about six months.
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Source: Mashable