DIG GAME VR
Project Overview
The game was developed as part of a Hackathon and attempted to answer the question; how do you do multiplayer VR with a single headset?
The game took the form of a digger operation game where each player would receive half of the controls or information, and they’d be forced to communicate with one another to operate their vehicle, where it was their task to pilot their underground digger looking for minerals. Collecting as many as they could within the time limit.
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This project was developed in Unreal Engine 4.
Mechanics
Sonar Pulse
Due to the Pilot being blind the Periscope and Sonar Pulse are used by the Co-Pilot to have an unobstructed view of the environment around the ship.
Sonar Pulse : The Periscope projected a Sonar effect on the entire environment when utilized by the Co-Pilot. This allowed the Co-Pilot to only see the objects in the environment intermittently, requiring more coordination from both players. This effect was repurposed from an earlier game jam project.
VR and peripheral Implementation
The Pilot naviagted via a flight stick while the Co-Pilot was equipped with the VR Headset.
Goal : By limiting what both players could accomplish the goal was to force co-operation between them. The Pilot could move the digger but could not see the enivronment or their objectives meaning the Co-Pilot would have to tell them where to go with precise commands. In game the Pilot's flight stick movements were mapped to a virtual recreation, something the Co-Pilot could see by looking down with the Vr Headset.
Cockpit and Instruments
To further their understanding of the environment the Co-Pilot had access to some rudimentary instruments and their surrounding environment.
Artificial Horizon : Although limited in view the Co-Pilot was able to see an artificial horizon on their dashboard, not too dissimilar to those found in crafts such as plane.
Depth Gauge : Similar to the Artificial Horizon this instruments allowed the player to guess roughly how deep they were.
Modelled Interior : To facilitate these real instruments the Co-Pilot could see the entire interior of the vessel was modelled.
Simulated Tunnelling : Out of the front of the vehicle a small view could be seen by the Co-Pilot. Through it a scrolling parallax texture was utilized to simulate the digging effect of the craft. This was done to save time rather than creating a whole environment.