Night in the Woods

Intuitive to play Virtual Reality game on HTC Vive to ward off monsters till dawn arrives

Platform: HTC Vive
Team Size: 5
Role: Programmer/Producer
Development Period: 2 Weeks
Course: Building Virtual Worlds

Link

Introduction

As a fellow member of a construction worker team, cook and guard the food from monsters till dawn arrives. The game is designed to be played by naive guests (people who have never used VR before) with as minimum instructions as possible. The environment is designed to help understand the players what to expect. Several rounds of playtesting was done to iterate on the gameplay. The following features were incorporated:
  • Created a fenced lit patch of ground to indicate the player area.
  • Added objects like unfinished buildings and construction materials to help players understand the context.
  • A subtle sign board with visual cues to help players give clues on objects to concentrate and explore.
  • Spatial sound to help players prepare and focus on attacks.
  • A gradual increase in difficulty to help players get accustomed to gameplay.


My Contributions

I was a programmer in this project. The theme of the project was, "Make a game for naive VR users with no explicit instructions". My responsibilities included :
  • Programed the monster attack pattern.
  • Fine-tuning the combat system with the co-programmer.
  • Set up environment lighting after playtest feedback.
  • Programming particle effects for bonfire to respond to gameplay.

Design Challenges

  • Designing for naive VR users without explicit instructions was hard.
  • First-time headset users needed time understanding the environment and 360o views as well as walking within the area bounds.
  • Getting the players to look at the signboard for clues was a major task.
  • Getting the players to look to the ground and pick up things was to be established in the first few seconds of the game.
  • Programming a enemy that doesn't get too reptitive or too overwhelming was also a challenge.

Get in Touch

Contact Details

  • sudhamr@cmu.edu
  • Sudha M R
    Carnegie Mellon University, Entertainment Technology Center