03-26-2020, 02:54 PM
I struggle to believe that people have invested to join VirZoom without wanting either indoor relaxation or fun. And the 50:50 ratio between explorer and game use suggests many people joined because they want it to make exercise fun and/or distract them from the fact they are exercising. So, I do think the quality of gameplay is really important.
To take a positive tack, I'll just suggest what I think would make for a good game, but without talking about what mode of transport it involves, because I don't think that matters an awful lot and it's a distraction.
I'll start with what to avoid: Since some people struggle with intense VR, crazy aerobatics is probably out. Some people are seated forwards or use elliptical trainers so lengthy and sharp turns are best minimised. Again anyone with an elliptical trainer will massively hate having to aim precisely (they simply can't aim accurately due to the body motion) so maybe avoid having small targets to aim at.
And the difficulty I think is 'ok what's left then?'. And I think theres two answers 1. "having to constantly plan ahead". And 2. "The right sized penalty for messing up".
Planning ahead could mean a lot of things. It could involve lots of minor course corrections. For example if racing a spaceship through an asteroid field, it's not about massive sweeping turns, but rather many small course adjustments made well ahead of time.
Similarly planning ahead could mean planning how and when to fire a weapon, taking into account the speed of the weapon (like in winterstan the gun turns slowly) or speed of the bullets (so if you've got a machine gun with tracer rounds you'll need to aim the weapon 'ahead' of where the enemy is moving to. Or in a game where you're a mouse escaping a cattery you'd point your laser pointer strategically to draw the cats out of your way.
Whatever needs to be planned ahead, it's important that the user has to be continually planning ahead so their mind is constantly focussed.
As for the penalty for messing up, it has to be significant. Keep Flying is at the upper end of the spectrum - maybe even too much because it's demoralising to touch the ground 2/3rds into your game. Curvy racer is at the bottom. Jailbreak is probably just enough.
So by designing the game such that you need to really have your wits about you to avoid losing, and giving a real incentive to do so, you achieve an excitingly intense game without having to risk causing VR sea-sickness.
I hope this is all useful to the development team and not taken negatively!
To take a positive tack, I'll just suggest what I think would make for a good game, but without talking about what mode of transport it involves, because I don't think that matters an awful lot and it's a distraction.
I'll start with what to avoid: Since some people struggle with intense VR, crazy aerobatics is probably out. Some people are seated forwards or use elliptical trainers so lengthy and sharp turns are best minimised. Again anyone with an elliptical trainer will massively hate having to aim precisely (they simply can't aim accurately due to the body motion) so maybe avoid having small targets to aim at.
And the difficulty I think is 'ok what's left then?'. And I think theres two answers 1. "having to constantly plan ahead". And 2. "The right sized penalty for messing up".
Planning ahead could mean a lot of things. It could involve lots of minor course corrections. For example if racing a spaceship through an asteroid field, it's not about massive sweeping turns, but rather many small course adjustments made well ahead of time.
Similarly planning ahead could mean planning how and when to fire a weapon, taking into account the speed of the weapon (like in winterstan the gun turns slowly) or speed of the bullets (so if you've got a machine gun with tracer rounds you'll need to aim the weapon 'ahead' of where the enemy is moving to. Or in a game where you're a mouse escaping a cattery you'd point your laser pointer strategically to draw the cats out of your way.
Whatever needs to be planned ahead, it's important that the user has to be continually planning ahead so their mind is constantly focussed.
As for the penalty for messing up, it has to be significant. Keep Flying is at the upper end of the spectrum - maybe even too much because it's demoralising to touch the ground 2/3rds into your game. Curvy racer is at the bottom. Jailbreak is probably just enough.
So by designing the game such that you need to really have your wits about you to avoid losing, and giving a real incentive to do so, you achieve an excitingly intense game without having to risk causing VR sea-sickness.
I hope this is all useful to the development team and not taken negatively!