Making a VR Game From Scratch #3: The Final Idea
My name is Kirill, and I am making a VR game hand-in-hand with a community. You can take part in the process, choose features, try new versions or share ideas. Leave your mark in the VR industry. Or learn from my mistakes. Everyone involved will be mentioned in the main menu, game environment or even get exclusive in-game items. So, let’s see where it goes.
As you remember last time, I created a poll with 17 ideas you sent me earlier. I asked you to help me choose the coolest one by rating those ideas. There were two criteria: Excitement and Originality. And more than 50 of you guys voted, yay!
I combined the points of those two criteria and got the final score divided by the number of voters. It helped me a lot.
That’s what I’ve got.
As you can see four ideas made it to the TOP-3. Here they are (the whole list of ideas is here).
3-rd place
7.86 points
Idea 17 by mark.lipiezcki@gmail.com
Multiplayer game. Priest vs. Poltergeist. VR player is a Poltergeist. Flatsceen player is a priest. It’s a close combat inside a mansion, where the Priest has to destroy 5 Altars and the Poltergeist has to stop him. Poltergeist can fly through walls and grab and throw things and interact with things, creating traps. The Priest can protect with a Bible or attack with a Cross. Poltergeist can’t die.
2-nd place
8 points
Idea 12 by raganvald@gmail.com
A VR version of Black and White (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnLOPAcAdnc). Where you play as a god over your people.
Idea 8 by katanalevy@hotmail.com
3rd person stealth game where your hands provide the movable cover for your character.
1-st place
8.08 points
Idea 5 by reversethecurse03@hotmail.com
Game set in the environment of the Roman circus. Multiplayer race with multiple chariots. Can have single seater chariots or multiseat chariots with the rear man controlling a bow or throwing spear. Front driver controls the reins with the rift controllers.
These are the most original and exciting VR game ideas. But what about the rating by each criterion alone you would ask? Well, here it is.
Excitement Criterion
1-st place — Idea 12: a VR version of Black and White.
2-nd place — Idea 16: Peace Walker VR.
3-rd place — Idea 13: a farming simulator with upgrades, unlocks, etc and NPCs.
4-th place — Idea 17: Multiplayer game with a Priest vs. Poltergeist.
4-th place — Idea 5: Multiplayer race with chariots in the Roman circus.
Originality Criterion
1-st place — Idea 8: 3rd person stealth game where your hands provide the movable cover for your character.
2-nd place — Idea 5: multiplayer race with chariots in the Roman circus.
3-rd place — Idea 17: Multiplayer game with a Priest vs Poltergeist.
4-th place — Idea 1: Skateboard through cities while attached to cars and buses and doing grinds on guard rails.
4-th place — Idea 7: Singleplayer Narrative based around a camera that can control different objects in a testing center. The player wants to take photos of some objects while excluding others.
Without further adieu I will say that I chose to make
Idea 17 — Priest vs. Poltergeist.
The author of this idea will make it to the credits, main menu, get exclusive in-game items and much more perks. Now I’m reaching him to make this happen.
Why did I chose this one? Well, first of all, it has a neat balance between Originality and Excitement. It means it’s a good start for iterating and improving towards an awesome game. Second, let’s look closer at others.
A VR version of Black and White is tough to make, it won’t fit into 3–5 months definitely. Chariots VR race game already exists, and players are not that excited about it. A third person stealth game where your hands provide the movable cover for your character is a very novel idea; however, somehow it didn’t make readers excited.
The third reason and a very significant one is that Priest vs. Poltergeist can be played in a local multiplayer, using one PC. One player is in VR, and the other one is behind the monitor. That should be super fun and eventually let your friend or a partner play with you.
What’s next?
Now I can start coding. Finally.
Next stop is a prototype — something you can play and say whether you like it or not. It will take me 2–3 weeks and will be super buggy with no art, but it’ll show the potential of the idea.
Also, badillin@gmail.com suggested that the VR player should be the Priest so that the Poltergeist can scare the crap out of him. You know, immersion and all that stuff. So, looks like I should do both characters for VR and we’ll see which one is more fun.
Since making a prototype will take some time next post will be more about the Game design of the Priest vs. Poltergeist. I’ll describe the gameplay and all the features so that we can discuss it.
What can you do for now? Join my player forces! Let’s play Priest vs. Poltergeist together when the prototype is released. Your feedback will be vital! And we’ll have a lot of fun. Fill out this form to take part in playtesting.
Priest vs. Poltergeist ver. 0.002 is already released! Join the forces on Discord to play it and take part in the dev process.
