Double Destruction
Triangular Pixels are entering Oculus VR Jam 2015! With our title Double Destruction!
Hi everyone! Katie_TriPixels here.
We're entering the Jam off the back of our Gear VR game, Smash Hit Plunder - the demo is available on the store today!.
So Smash Hit Plunder had some rather interesting features already;
- Full 3D exploration and interaction just with a touch pad
- Player customisation and comfort features
- Shared screen where people can view your progress while you play
But for this game jam, we needed to up our game; Double Destruction does that - hopefully!
Download
To play this game, you will need a Gear VR and one other Android device (another Note 4 is fine).
The Gear VR player must install this APK (which is the same as the one on the Challenge Post link);
https://vrjam-submissions.s3.amazonaws.com/signed/03d46ff8bc9b/AgnBlxhSIGRfGO3zvD4D_DoubleDestructio...
And the non-Gear player must install this APK, on a reasonably modern phone;
http://triangularpixels.com/VrJam2015/DoubleDestruction_Accomplice_Final_1641_11thMay.apk
This has been tested on a Galaxy S4, Note 3 and Note 4. Remember to turn off Power Saving!
As a note, we discovered that other Gear VRs on the same network may also show up on our server discovery screen on the tablet. Best try and get the Gear and the Tablet on the same wifi alone if possible.
And here's a video of the multiplayer gameplay!
Vision
Your friend has been shrunk down to size! Defend them from tiny ghouls with your lantern while they run around the tabletop dungeon looking for a way to return to normal.
You will have to work together! Communication and teamwork are key.
Overview
The miniature dungeon raider (VR player) has to find all the Spirit Sources to return to normal using their ‘spirit’ meter on the magical book they carry. The problem is, they are being chased down by ghouls, and it’s pitch black.
It’s up to their full sized buddy (tablet player) to keep the path lit for the dungeon raider, while also using the very same lantern to also scare away ghouls. Of course they have a slight problem too, a lack of fuel – calcium carbide if you must know. It’s up to the full-sized player to guide the mini-raider to find fuel hidden around the dungeon in order to keep the lantern going.
Features
Asynchronous Multiplayer Gameplay
VR Player Features
* Much loved, accessible gameplay from the makers of Smash Hit Plunder
* Hunt using a ‘spirit’ meter to detect where Spirit Sources are hidden
* Find the lantern fuel, guided by the tablet player
* Avoid ghouls in the dark as you navigate the dungeon
Tablet Player Features
* See the VR Player run around the miniature dungeon as the ghouls hunt them down
* Guide the VR Player to the fuel hidden around the dungeon
* Scare away ghouls with your lantern
* Refill & relight the lantern with really tactile controls
* Adjust how much the lantern is burning in order to preserve fuel, but to also give out enough light to still give the VR Player enough to see, and to scare away ghouls
* Don’t move the lantern too quickly, you may put it out!
Why this?
We want to move beyond our Shared Screen to a genuine interactive social experience. VR can be a lonely place, more often or not you are the only person in that environment and you have a large device blocking you from the outside world. We want to break open that barrier with multiplayer that encourages communication and real consequences in the game between VR and Tablet.
We decided we wanted something that was approachable for non-competitive players. We’ve found that VR has a much broader range of audience than most other games. People old and young wish to experience and share it. Competitive multiplayer can be a friction point for a lot of non-gamers, especially when they feel overwhelmed by a particularly skilled opponent. We want to encourage players to help each other, work together.
The chances of players having two VR devices, let alone two Gear VRs, is very small – so we didn’t want to produce a mode which hard anyone will be able to enjoy. Again, this goes back to making a game that’s approachable and accessible, which also means that the hardware also needs to be as accessible as possible.
Challenges
Well making a whole multiplayer game in a month for one!
We're still not full time, just after hours work - so will be plenty of late nights.
We're going to have to use Unity 5, as we're poor indie devs. That one is going to be out of our hands how well it goes.
Dev Diary
Double Destruction Dev Blog 1: Coming up with the Concept – Influence & Approachable Design
Kicking and screaming – upgrading a GearVR project to Unity 5
Milestone 2
* We've converted to Unity 5! That took a very long time.
* Created wireframes and flow for every part of both the tablet and the Gear VR experience (see screenshots)
* 3D asset creation! New table, flag, cabinet, table cloth, fuel, ghost, and most importantly - lamp (see screenshot)
* Started creating the scene for the tablet player (see screenshot)
* Beginning of networking - got one server, and one client that looks for a server, and joins
Milestone 3
* Created video
* Gear VR: New dungeons - The Mages Guild, and Multiplayer Lobby
* Gear VR: Fuel and runes that can be found by the player
* Gear VR: New props!
* Gear VR: Magic book now has hot/cold runes spread
* Tablet: Scene finished
* Tablet: Lamp now works as expected, can be moved, can light, and be refuelled
* Tablet: Gear VR Mages Guild dungeon now can be seen on the table
Links
Smash Hit Plunder on Twitter
Triangular Pixels on Twitter
Katie on Twitter
Triangular Pixels on Facebook
Video
Download Again!
To play this game, you will need a Gear VR and one other Android device (another Note 4 is fine).
The Gear VR player must install this APK (which is the same as the one on the Challenge Post link);
https://vrjam-submissions.s3.amazonaws.com/signed/03d46ff8bc9b/AgnBlxhSIGRfGO3zvD4D_DoubleDestructio...
And the non-Gear player must install this APK, on a reasonably modern phone;
http://triangularpixels.com/VrJam2015/DoubleDestruction_Accomplice_Final_1641_11thMay.apk
