07/10/22 - Control Ideas

Movement

For the movement of the game I intend to use a mix of direct travel and teleportation (between areas). The main movement will be direct travel as the terrain is going to be mostly flat with a few ramps for stairs. This fits with the style of the game being flat streets with only slight inclines for front decks etc. A teleportation option may be included in the menu if I have time to help cater more towards new VR players as the direct travel can cause motion sickness.

Button Control

For the interaction controls of the game I intend to keep it relatively simple and intuitive, one example of this is using the grip button to pick up items. I don't want the user to have to remember many different button presses to do specific things so my idea is to have a pick up button (grip) and an interaction button (a) to make up the vast majority of the games controls. Others may not require any button presses and be realistic to the player such as knocking on doors to unlock them - this is reflective of real life and will be easy for the player to remember.

Another idea I had was for the player to have a device that would make it easier to control certain in-world items like packages. This could be a gravity-gun like controller that could be used to move and select items. This could also help overcome some issues with VR such as spatial awareness of objects and how close they are by having the player pick them up from a further distance and throw them without the disconnect between the real-world and virtual physics of throwing. The further distance to pick up from would be very useful for many players and when I first observed my friend playing VR, he would drop items on the floor and be unable to pick them up afterward causing us to restart the Unreal VR demo.

Height Adaptivity

One idea I had to help cater towards all users is certain items being placed relative to the players height. These items could include the levers and buttons the player will use to interact with the game. This could be done by taking the players height input and transforming the items to be an appropriate height (say 3/4) relative to the players height, this will make the game more accessible to a wider audience.

Tutorial

For the tutorial element of the game, I want to introduce all controls to the player in an intuitive way the futuristic setting I have planned allows a simple method of giving visual clues to the player without ruining the immersion of the game. My idea is to have a set of tutorial goggles that the player can put on at the start of the game (tutorial area) which would highlight items and give useful tips either using words or animations of the buttons/actions; this aligns with the futuristic design of the game/demo to aid in realism. This can be done using transparent texture overlays with bright colours that can easily catch the users eye.

Reset and Exit

One important note I picked up from the lecture was to have reset and exit options for the player to make the game easier and more intuitive. For the reset button, I plan to place it on the gravity-gun-like device mentioned earlier in the button control section. This makes sense as the packages of the game are the only items I have in my plan that could be manipulated enough to create a mess and/or become inaccessible to the player. Having the reset option on the device that manipulates the moveable items is a close relation that the player could easily remember.

For the exit, I plan to have it in the menu area of the game (the van driver seat area), this would be realistic to the player and make sense from a gameplay standpoint as most games have the "exit game" option available only in the menu.