Expanding Ones Portfollio
As a 3rd year in my final semester at University one of my subjects tasks us with creating a project that innovates on my current portfolio, that said looking at my portfolio there are clear areas that I'm lacking in. At a glance I don't have any 3D games published however one is in development for my capstone project. Even so that's still an imbalance so my project should be 3D. Granting me four games for my portfolio as I finish my bachelors two 2D and two 3D. The next is publishing a game. I have never published a game in a public setting, there whatever I make it should be published.
Time for the real nitty gritty details, what platform should I create this game for, Should it even be a game?
I see two options for me: A mobile game or a VR game.
First I’ll give a rational on why a Vr game would prepare me better than a mobile game. Coming from a unity standpoint I have built a mobile game before (admittedly 3 years ago) and the process wasn't too different to building a PC game. The only real difference I saw was a change in resolution/aspect ratio and User Inputs. Now I'm sure I'll look back on this and realise the exact same thing is true for VR, but the statement that I've never created a VR game Stands above the fact that I have created a mobile game Even if it's not in my portfolio.
The virtual Reality industry is growing, and Australia seems to be in a good position to take the forefront, whether it be in gaming, gamification or Vr aided professions. VR could be the next major step for comeral technology.
VR as a growing industry
Vr is growing globally at a rapid rate a report on the Virtual reality market published by grand view research has valued the market size as of 2020 at 15 billion USD with a forecasted 62 billion USD by 2027. Making it a very appealing industry to learn as it seems to be here for the long haul
What kind of Vr project?
So VR, but what? A game, system, Gamification? Well, Doing some research into what different generations want to see VR become, it seems that the younger populace is interested in VR as a gaming platform, that doesn't mean that that's the direction that VR is heading but that what people are looking for. So I'll create a VR game.
What Kind of Vr game
Sticking with the theme of creating something new. I have never created a game that didn't have a main character, with this in mind I came to the conclusion that I want to create an autobattler much like TFT or Dota Underlords. There is one pretty major issue, how?
How can I create a VR autobattler? If I was using TFT as a reference It would be a nightmare to create within a four week time frame. I needed to look at it from another angle. If I stick with an autobattler there will need to be some ground rules to keep it deliverable within the time frame.
Simple AI
Must be Singleplayer
This criteria seems to destroy the idea of creating an autobattler, but it doesn't, however the solution brings its own problems.
With my heart set on an autobattler. Let's look at criteria-1, simple AI. I'm proposing the addition of another genre to make this criteria work.
The image shows a timeline of attacking and moving, so I propose, instead of creating an AI that an army runs off, why not just make a timeline of events that the army follows. This brings me to the addition of a genre, Rhythm.
Rhythm games already have this timeline in place through the use of beats and a song. Not only will create a simple AI but it will also create a more visual and interesting experience when viewed in VR.
The next problem is the game must be singleplayer to save time, so what will the player Fight. The first thought is another army but that wouldn't create a challenging game from experience playing TFT (it's almost impossible to lose against the AI) . So I propose to have a single enemy that the player fights through the song. Think of it as a boss battle, where the boss could be a visual representation of the song.
There are a few problems with this idea so far:
What does the player do? It's an autobattler that goes for a songs length
How does the player place units?
What does the boss do?
How will the characters move?
Fortunately my next inspiration has the answers.
The original plants vs zombies final bossfight consists of a conveyor belt bringing you plants every now and then, you could then plant them into a grid where they would then start attacking the boss.
So let's go through the issues
First and second what does the player do and how do they place units? They get units from the beat that they can then place then onto a grid where they will start attacking the boss to the beat at any time.
What does the boss do? The boss attacks the grid in different shapes, again to the beat
How do characters move, characters can't move this creates a more strategy driven game that was the original intent on creating an autobattler.
With all this in mind
I want to create a Vr rhythm game that pits the player against a boss, a visual representation of the song. Players will need to take units from the beat and place them strategically to defeat the boss.