Creating Floating Island Puzzler VR

Corey Featherly
Aug 25, 2017 · 5 min read

Introduction

Puzzler is a short VR game created for players that are new to VR. Puzzler challenges users to solve a familiar type of puzzle in a new way. The puzzle requires the user to mimic the orb selection pattern presented to them. Through the course of the design process documented below, an island floating in space environment was designed and created for the game, the final product of which is shown below.

The Playspace

Outcomes

The game takes place on a group of floating rocks above earth. The player starts on a small floating rock, and when they press the start button they slide over to the main rock. There, the orbs light up in a random pattern that the player is challenged to repeat. If they succeed they are given the option to restart the game.

Story of the Process

The puzzler game was created as part of the VR Developer Udacity nanodegree. The project specified the core game mechanics, but given those core game mechanics the design and implementation of the game was left to the developer. The game was created in Unity.

Setting the Scene

The first step was to brainstorm and select an environment for the game, which resulted in the original design sketch below. This is followed by a screenshot of the resulting implemented game scene.

Scene Design
Initial Scene Implementation

User Interface

With the scene created, the next step was to create the user interface. The selected user interface design sketches are shown below, along with final UI screenshots.

Start Menu Design
Restart Menu Design
Final Start Menu
Final Restart Menu

Finishing Touches

Finally, the required core game mechanics were implemented, and finishing touches such as spatial audio and audio visual feedback were put in.

Puzzler is targeted to players that are new to VR, so a simple dash forward movement mechanic between the game’s three waypoints was chosen to minimize simulator sickness.

Additionally, various enhancements were made to the game during the course of its development based on iterative user testing, as documented below.

User Testing Outcomes and Iteration

Target User Persona

At the outset of the project “Dennis”, the imaginary target user persona was created, and is documented below.

Dennis Wants to Give VR a Try

Age: 36
Occupation: Best Buy Geek Squad (and freelance *nix admin)
Name: Dennis

Quote: “I’m into new technology, and although I haven’t tried VR before I’ve heard about it and I’m anxious to be impressed.”

Description: Dennis grew up playing video games and he believes in technology’s ability to entertain. He follows tech trends and has heard about VR, so he is anxious to try it out for himself and is hoping it will meet his expectations and be “cool”. Dennis is pretty much brand new to VR.

Iterative Test Process

A description of the iterative user tests performed and the corresponding results are documented below.

UserTest1: The Scene

Description: User described mood as creepy, and said they felt normal sized. User became bored with the scene quickly and said that it was too “still”.

Result: In order to make the scene more interesting and add motion, an asteroid field was added that sends asteroids flying past the user, and an earth spin animation was added.

UserTest2: The UI

Description: The test user described the UI as uninspired but functional, and said it felt uncomfortably close. They also said the scene felt lonely.

Result: Moved menus back a bit, and added “Unity Chan” character to keep the player company while they play.

UserTest3: Movement

Description: The test user described movement speed as about right. They’re anxious to be able to interact with the orbs. No additional recommendations.

Result: (none)

UserTest4: Final Game

Description: The test user enjoyed the game and was happy to finally be able to interact with the orbs. No additional recommendations.

Result: (none)

Breakdown of Final Piece

The final product successfully realized the original design, and the goal of giving new VR users an approachable experience.

Full Final Scene

Iterative user testing input was crucial to making key game enhancements, like adding “Unity Chan” to keep the player company.

Our Friend Unity-Chan

User testing also resulted in the addition of the asteroid field, which gives the user a good taste of spatial audio from moving objects.

Ominous Asteroids

The scene of a low planetary orbit succeeded in providing an environment that is interesting but not uncomfortable.

The Planet Below

Conclusion

Floating Island Puzzler succeeded in its mission of providing new VR users with a simple, safe, fun, and interactive VR experience to introduce them to VR. It provides users with an opportunity to feel presence in an environment they would not otherwise be able to experience.

References & Credits

A special thanks to all of the freely available Unity assets and libraries that made this project possible!

SteamVR

GoogleVR

Unity Chan

EarthRendering Free

Rocks and Boulders

Gem

Deep_In_Space

Horror Sfx

Udacity VR Developer Nanodegree Project Assets

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