How about some crawling passages? So small narrow and winding passages (ventilation shafts) at ground level? For people who are even fatter than me, you could do this optionally or adjust the height: So 40 cm/crawl on all four or 100 cm simply crouching movement. Without controller movement this is certainly very immersive, exhausting and funny :-)
By the way: I'm still of the opinion that your game lacks a little challenging gameplay. So I do tasks like looking for keys or something like that. Otherwise I find the progress so far really good. Keep up the good work!
You know what, we should try it! I will add a crouching section and see if people like it. I will add an option to switch it off.
As for the challenge, please give me some time ;) Earlier I wanted to add a very unique puzzle to each section but the game evolved into more open world. Though, I still want to add some puzzles and challenges. Keys are something pretty standard but I think that there is always some place to have them in game.
Nice of you to consider the idea of crawling. I'm looking forward to it, if it works! Had there still more stupid ideas: Small holes or ditches or holes with acid over which you really have to jump. Or movable laser barriers on the ground that you have to jump over. For this the game would have to calibrate the average HMD height while playing. What I also like very much is the maze with the many movable elevators above the gorge. One could also do such a part with independently movable platforms without railings. If you don't timed the crossing to the next platform correctly, you fall into the canyon and die. An idea for the key search: You could discover random numbers on walls or ceilings in the level. Somewhere there is a door with a code lock where you have to enter all numbers in unimportant order to get to the next area. For this you wouldn't even need an inventory system.
The jumping wouldn't be that easy to do. I mean it could work in maybe 90% of cases but if it wouldn't be detected, it could be frustrating. Especially when you were low on health. If I would make it less likely to treat something as a jump, you could stand on your tip toes and pretend you're flying all the time ;) This could be a bit fun, though. But still, these ideas can be done, but just turned around. Instead of jumping over them, duck below them. I actually want to have small holes in the walls with tentacles (or something like this) trying to grab you. So you have to stick to the other wall or try to shoot the thing.
Jumping from a platform to a platform could bring a bunch of new problems. To keep things calibrated to the play area, when platform moves, I disallow switching platform you're standing on - you can move around freely but for the game, you're anchored to the platform. The problem would be that you jumped, you think you landed, but the other platform already started to move and the game prevented you from landing. You would fall through the floor of platform that started to move. I wanted to avoid falling down but I will reconsider it. Detecting whether someone is leaning over or standing beyond the edge is possible. I would just need to tweak it to make it more likely to consider that the player is leaning. To allow standing on the edge etc.
There is one thing that I like about that key thing. Memorisation. Although because you have to choose from a fine set - numbers to be precise - it can be solved with a brute force approach. But this could be done in a different manner. You have to find some strange, alien like characters, icons, signs, something like that. In the level, just as you described. Then, at some point you have a board with all those characters, and others. If you press the right one, it just lights up. If you press the wrong one, you are damaged. This way you could scale the difficulty of the puzzle. Not only by having a different number of signs, but you may also have a larger board of signs to choose from. (or I could just add alphabet to the numbers, at least for the prototype). So, yeah, I like the idea and I will add that to the list :) Thanks :)
You're probably right about jumping, you could certainly cheat by standing on your toes. I just tried that, though: When I jump, I get about 15 cm higher than I would do with tiptoes. Of course it's exhausting! The normal HMD height would of course have to be calibrated quite accurately (automatically or manually). Ducking would of course be much easier to realize, we know this from a lot of VR games where you have to avoid some traps.
The problem with the platforms is almost too complicated for me, I can't think of anything. You know your engine better and know what is possible and what is not. Just by the way: I didn't mean jumping from platform to platform, but just walking or jumping slightly. Just like you do with elevator platforms. You can also fix a kind of pole in the middle of the platform in the ground (about 1 m high) to which you have to hold on, otherwise you are not anchored and the platform continues without you with an unsightly result for you.
The idea with the alien letters is not bad, but I know from experience that you can remember something like this only badly because it is too abstract. Letters would be better, maybe just a short anagram. What would work as well would be alien symbols and a virtual notepad where you can note down the symbols. I have already seen something like this in some VR puzzle game. If you could build such a Stargate with a dial, it would fit well into the concept of impossible corridors. :-D
But if you run and jump, the head does not move so high. I don't know if there is a 100% reliable way to detect jumping by tracing just head and arms. But the traps requiring ducking are on the list.
The jumping/going between platforms... I will have to think about it. I still have some other issues to solve, for example walking through walls. On a similar note there is walking over the edges. Falling down will be an uncomfortable experience. Having it in game, could add tension. Although people get nervous in higher places anyway.
I don't want to have completely abstract symbols that would be hard to remember. But having circles, triangles, combinations of them, reinforced by colour, should be easy to remember. I'd rather avoid letters (mostly because of the lore).
1) After reading a Reddit post about the game - "Eh, it sounds cool".
2) Went to the download page and saw screenshots of the game - "Really, this looks like shit".
3) Less than 20 seconds after pressing play - "Get outta here...This Is Awesome!"
I was giggling the entire time. This would definitely be a great game to demo on the Quest. Hell, now I want one myself. By no means am I knocking the game but imagine a game created by a larger studio with the same concept and better graphics! I did enjoy the simplistic art style though as it allowed me to SS at 2.0 set my AA quite high.
Note: It felt a bit weird and made me uneasy for a few minutes but turning off your guardian boundary fully immerses you. After a while, I found myself running through the corridors while playing the challenge mode. I bet I looked stupid as hell in front of my window but I was enjoying myself far too much to even care.
Now imagine that something similar happens to me :) I work on many separate parts of the game, I put them together and from time to time I just play the game and sometimes I giggle. Of course, there are moments when something doesn't feel right, but that's when I can modify it, throw it out or add something to it.
As for the graphics, there are certain things that I would love to change and improve but I don't want to be driven away from the gameplay itself. There is also one important thing to mention here. Every single mesh you see in the game is procedurally generated. This is really important when it comes to the level as it adjusts to the play area. For enemies it allows me making them different. Each one slightly different than another. Right now the differences are not that great but the more elements there will be available to add/alter, the more enemies should differ... while staying recongisable.
While working on the game, I want to share as much knowledge and experience as possible. Because I would also like to see more but coming from other people :) And as for Tea For God, there is a lot of stuff coming. Foremost, the gameplay! But also the lore and the story (which I don't want to focus too much at the moment but it slowly evolves)
weird question. i heard some horn song thing in endless mode, and it sounded really close too. I died fighting a tank robot that was blocking the way before i could reach it. anyone heard this too?
I want to focus first on a single player roguelite. Initially I considered adding multiplayer or at least trying it out but it feels almost as a separate game and I don't want to work on two different things.
what if there where small portable portal windows that you could hold or stick on walls. like hold one end and stick the other around a corner to poke you gun out. i could see that in some PVP game mode
Sounds interesting. I would have to modify or hack a few things to allow for putting portals anywhere (portals do not like to cross with other portals ;) ). I wonder how it would actually work in a PvP mode. It could be fun when doing so but annoying when being shot at. With all those hands appearing on different surfaces and shooting at you. It would have to be carefully designed and well playtested to make sure it is fun. For now I don't plan a PvP mode, but I will write down that idea.
I wanted to have small enemies appear through portals on walls but these would just function as holes, not as something that appears and disappears. Still, could build something around that idea.
No. At the moment, there is no need for that :) There are reasons that for I consider running a kickstarter, but that's quite some time into the future.
find the experience mode is less an experience than challenge mode. In experience mode you cant die and there is no risk, but in challenge every thing can kill you in an instant. I remember pressing the button on one of those electric dog things so it was on my side only to have it walk on a bomb and set me back at square one. Btw. love the art and set pieces. I could go on and on about all the cool thing you packed into this pre alpha demo. good job on the game and id love to buy it when it comes out. ps, don't put it on the epic games store.
Thanks :) there will be more things coming in following months and they will be published here. The robots that you turn to be on your side - you will be able to control them. A bit. If you want to. I should add that in few months time (with other ideas).
While I understand why Epic wants so many exclusives in their shop, I am not a big fan of the idea of exclusives. Unless there is a very good reason for them (technical limitations?). I expect that at some point in time, the situation will change but before we get there, we should expect some games to be available at EGS for a limited time. If Tea For God appears one day in Epic Games Store, it won't be the only shop that the game would be available at.
I also have a recommendation. Don't add a tutorial, having the player figure every thing out is way better. like the feeling of figuring out that the big electric tank robot has a panel on its back you can open and shoot. That was cool.
I want to have some tutorials. Although everything could be figured out by some people eventually, I'd still want to present some basic concepts. Energy management, crafting etc. Enemies and anything you may encounter inside? That's for the players to figure out :) The way I add new NPCs is that each one has to have something unique to it. And some of them may have quite peculiar features. An example: the shield mushroom you can find, can be used as a shield of course. But also it can be used as a medkit to replenish your health when it goes low. And you can refill it.
I don't know why but I can't seem to move. I tried all of the ways I know to move in VR games. Is it broken or is it just simple and I'm missing something?
The game is fully 100% roomscale. You walk in the game by walking in real life. The map shapeshifts to fit within the space of your room (assuming it meets the minimum VR space, which is something like 2m by 2m)
My 8 year old son also loves this game, he got along with it immediately. He now has a few hours playing time behind him and even manages the challenge. He is also "special", so don't wonder about the noises he makes:
BTW: When will the next beta be released? Would be ready to take the heavy burden of a beta tester on me, if necessary ;-)
If it hasn't been mentioned yet: The game would definitely be a big seller on the Oculus Quest. The automatic room measurement of the quest makes it perfect for this.
Yeah, he's having a great time. Since he has big problems with his fine motor skills, the operation of an analog stick is very difficult for him. The game is a pleasure for him because it offers a natural way of moving. Even if he sometimes runs against the walls, but children are very soft, thank God :-)
Quite soon I am switching to full-time development (from almost none-time) and I plan to keep it this way. Releases should happen then every few weeks and I should be posting some other info on the devblog.
I'd love to work on Oculus Quest version but I'd have to wait for it to be released first, continuing development on PC and BTW, I really like the setup you have :) I was wondering whether to buy tpcast for vive or for oculus and ended up getting vive but... oculus touch controllers feel so good in hands. Well, I do most of the development using Oculus :)
Yes, the touch controllers are god! I once played Serious Sam 3 BFE VR with Vive a year ago, what a crap! The Vive wands are a garbage compared to the Touch. I'd like to buy the Pimax 5k+, but not before there are some nice controllers (knuckles) on the market and there's a wireless solution for the unit. There is no return to the cable after 1.2 years of playing wireless. :-)
I'm already looking forward to the next version. I wish you continued success!
I have WMR which is like if the vive wands and touch controllers did an off brand fusion dance. their ok but i have tried oculus and agree with you that touch controllers are the best on the market
Literally signed up just to leave you a comment. Me and my kids love what you've done here. I have a special needs 13 yo who doesn't really do video game , but when he jumped into this room scale game with very intuitive play he's had a blast literally shooting every robot. Keep up the good work and please leave an Experience Mode in all your versions if you can for those who just love to go from point A to B shooting the "robot bad guys".
As for real game-play if your taking input... I personally hope you add targets/switches/enemies/reasons to duck or evade things out the corridor windows. Maybe make longer bay windows with energy pulses passing through or surveillance or something. I often find myself staring out the windows in game and even leaning over a bit too far only to end up outside the portal and having to jump back in occasionally. Again keep up the good work. I just wish I didn't feel so bad killing the scared little cowering spider-bots for energy.
I am for sure keeping experience mode. I want to allow players to modify lots of things with few presets already in. And personally even though I do like challenge when I play a game, I sometimes wish that games would allow me to just go straight through the gameplay sections to allow me to learn the story. Or to allow me to enjoy some bits of the gameplay without worrying that I will have to start from last checkpoint if I do something wrong.
And good suggestions. I already have similair things planned to add - I will be going full time with it very soon and then there should be some updates coming with new stuff. New levels, mechanics and new enemies. That "feeling bad about killing those little guys" is one of the things I wanted to have and that will be part of the gameplay and story. So that's actually good that you feel bad about that :)
Finally getting the hang of doing speedruns in this, longer challenge mode in 3 minutes. Not completed challenge mode in my normal cautious manner, keep running out of bullets and getting worn down in health by the electro balls and un-noticed attackers but the decision not to get out my guns and to dive past dangers in the passages instead grants me some quite easy victories haha.
The thing is that I kind of expect speedrunners to make want to do runs and therefore I am considering a special mode for speedrunning (fixed seed and size) but also I want to allow people to speedrun in normal mode. And it should work as in any other roguelite in which you can speedrun (or even are encouraged to do so, check Dead Cells) but with each level it gets harder and harder up to a point when one hit kills you. Having pieces in which you have to fight enemies (for any reason, make it standard arena "kill all to proceed" that I'd rather avoid, or train sections that may last for a while and you are attacked) and you will have to get prepared for them.
I like your thinking! Hmm, in "Sir You Are Being Hunted" the seed is displayed in the settings so you can copy it down to input it another time yourself or share with others, a super simple option I guess, but very practical, fun when its something I played with friends a lot like that. That said suppose copying text into a chat or text document is less convenient in vr than with keyboard and mouse...
I don't know yet how to make it convenient in VR. My current thinking leads to me have "store of nice seeds" where you can store whatever you like and want to share. And also put things from friends there to check them in game. Access to that would be from VR with just "start"/"store" and outside VR there you would have a table with values to copy, etc.
One thing that might be problematic is that everyone may have different playarea. Currently I round up playarea size a bit to make it more probable that people will share same size. But if you have 2x2 and your friend has 3x3, they may check your seed but if you try their seed out, you may end up hitting a wall.
This is so obvious and elegant solution. I wanted to add size to the seed thingy separately but making it part of it, makes more sense. Thanks :)
But still, it should be allowed to play seed with different size too, as the general layout of the level will be the same, just the details will be different. But taht would be an option and if it confuses people, I should drop it.
Been playing on and off since I seen it posted on Reddit. Just tried today after getting a 3rd Oculus sensor for 360 tracking - Wow! No shake in the back corners, just a seamless experience.
Is there anywhere where we can see if you’ve posted a new version/update? A version number/release date/etc?
I will be posting info here and at the main blog (and probably via tweeter). The reason there is no udpate yet is that I have pretty busy time right now with other things. Good news is that in few weeks I should move full time to work on Tea For God.
Awesome :) I do like tracker music . I still haven't decided on style of the music for Tea For God, though. One of the ideas is to go into synths (I love what's going on in Prelude!)
Just rambling, but I've always had this idea to have dynamic tracker-driven music in a game where the music is rendered live and the in-game action can affect the music, like jumping patterns, mute/unmute channels, change instruments, etc, to give a truly dynamic music experience rather than using layered pre-recorded tracks. It would probably be a huge undertaking to link the music and the programming that tightly, but it would be soooo cool, haha! Definitely an idea unique to live-rendered formats like tracker music.
I had a similiar idea. But to do it in opposite manner. To synchronise visuals to the music. Of course music would be generated on the fly, tracker way, this would give the most control over particular sounds. And when you posted this message, I started to think, how it would fit into elevators. Imagine all (at least all empty) elevators moving in sync with music.
Very cool idea, like many games that sync to the music but a step further. There are definitely a LOT of interesting doors that can open using tracker-based music. For the record, the video above was running OpenMPT with a bunch of VST plugins, while recording in OBS, and still hitting 90fps on my 6-year-old Core i7... trust me, it struggles with a lot of games, so the fact that it could do all that without a hitch is a testament to your design... very efficient! I could easily rework the music to ditch the VST plugins for compatibility with general IT playback plugins, which would even further reduce CPU overhead to negligible.
Now there's an idea. A section with platforms, so you can see a lot where enemies dance in sync and they shoot in sync with the beat. I have no idea if I will have time to do that, but I will have to try it out. For time being I plan to work on pure gameplay features alone to get to proper vertical slice. Then I might work on music system a bit.
The game is using multithreading a lot. Because of that it can hit 90fps. The bigger the level, the more workload there is - all NPCs moving around, etc, but there is a lot of cheap optimisations, ticking some stuff every second or third frame etc. With 90 fps some enemies have logic running at 30fps. Which is what is happening for some of the normal games ;)
Hi Void Room, I've very much enjoyed the game and am excited to see future updates! Additionally I want to help/say thanks, please change the page settings to "Name your own price" I intend to donate. I'm a student/ VR dev myself so no big sum, however if you would allow me to give some of what others have given me on this platform I would be very happy :)
If you happen to be after a hand with any modeling / animation let me know, I'm more frequently a soft edge kindof guy can show you some of my recent hard edge though if you ever get curious.
I read your rating and I really like the idea of running from the doom. Recently I was thinking about adding hunter robots that would be impossible/very hard to kill but maybe something different would feel better. A ticking bomb is too simple but something between these two could work nicely (very small robots that alter/rearrange the environment foot by foot going after the player and then disassembling your body? stuff like that). And sound desing will be changed. While some of the sounds I plan to keep (robots, turrets etc), some will be thrown out and everything will have to be modified to set proper sound levels because that's just messed up.
Modeling/animation is something I plan to keep doing myself. The biggest reason is that all models and animations are procedurally generated and I develop systems for that all the time. For sure I am planning to release source files for the assets eventually and add some documentation - because I am sure, that if enough people would be playing this game, there will be modders that will add new characters and environments - and whole game is created around that thought - to allow to add stuff easily.
For time being I am arranging my stuff to start working full time on this.
Interesting, yeah I like your attitude for modding / customisability, the system has scope for adaption to so many game types I think so that will be great!
How complicated would it be to implement local multiplayer with someone on the pc? I've found this is something easy to set up in unity but near impossible in Unreal so curious about how this would be in your engine? Since the magority of the time I spend with vr is socially with friends any vr game that integrates multiplayer is often my automatic favourite, 'Carly and the Reaperman' for example. I can imagine this working in the context of this game with the pc player either being a small assistant like the electro dogs, after you've poked their watsit haha, or maybe multiple pc players in splitscrean playing as different robots competing to be the one to kill you so they can take your place in vr. Final idea being that they play it like some kind of RTS/tower defence, placing the hazards you face etc. - probibally all a bit of a side track from your vision, if it happened to be something not too complex to implement with the way your engine works though maybe that's something I try do mod in myself one day haha.
For now I only plan allowing to mod content, add new stuff, modify existing, not game types or creating completely different mechanics. Although reading recently, how some developers work with limitations (Earthworm Jim's flying washing machines due to lack of scripting, etc) I still could get surprised.
As for local multiplayer - I was thinking about it, as in general, it seems to be easy thing to add (at least for prototyping). But with impossible spaces it gets trickier. I was thinking more about being out of the action, seeing map, hacking things, releasing enemies etc. I don't know why I haven't thought about direct control of other characters (sidekicks! and imagine that I play Kirby StarAllies with my kids). For sure it won't be top down as it is in other games and what allows for multiple players to compete or help. If it would be added, it more likely will be FPP.
It's not on the main list of things to do but I do consider it as something that may happen later. For sure I'd like to explore this in future.
Same goes for normal multiplayer. Both coop and pvp could work pretty well.
I see cool! Glad to hear that about local, and Gosh I had discounted the idea of normal multiplayer as sheer madness, randomly walking round a corner into someone else with equally startled flailing arms would be quite an experience if you didn't know it was coming!
I absolutely see what people mean by having an adjustable buffer within the guardian boundaries... I just redid my room for better size and coverage and walked into a wall! Here's a video explaining and showing the issue:
Adjustable buffer and calibration are going to happen but that should only be used to add that extra buffer if you don't want to get closer to wall in case you have mirrors, windows, displays, tv, china there.
But this is a bug. This should never happen, corridor should never, I mean NEVER, be this far and make player hit the wall. There is a narrow buffer that allows a corridor or a room to violate this rule, but only up to 1cm. And what you encountered is a dangerous bug.
I assume that it happened to you once? If so and you remember when, could you send me a log file (they are in _logs). I store info about seed, play space etc to allow me to reproduce such bugs and fix them.
From your previous video I noticed that you have Oculus, right? Other person also repeated similair bug with Oculus and I might have something not correct when reading play space size. When I looked into it, it was just using single method to get the size, but maybe it gets the maximum size. Luckily I have Oculus as well, so I'm going to do some weirdly shaped play spaces to test it.
Awesome! Glad to hear you'll be addressing this with some options. As far as this happening, it's been consistently close to the edges, but I had just rearranged my living room to increase my play area (specifically for your game, haha!), and I guess I pushed the boundaries really right up to the edge.
For Oculus, there seems to be two play areas; one is the actual area you map out, irregularities and all, and the other is the largest rectangular area that the system can fit inside the irregular shape. The floor inside your main menu maps to the rectangular "sub-area" it seems. I made manual adjustments using Guardian Boundary Editor, and I may have moved the rectangular area too close to the actual guardian boundary. So I wouldn't blame your game entirely for the mishap as I may need to make more adjustments, but you can definitely see the overlap in the video is a bit too much regardless.
Even if you pushed the boundaries right to the wall, the game should not make a corridor embedded this far. As I said, it should be max 1cm. I'll be adding some automatic tests to validate room generation to make sure that all accessible areas are placed within play area.
If it is possible to send a log for when it happened, it would make it easier to fix it.
Thanks for confirming it is actual safe area being used, I was getting a little bit paranoid that it may sometimes read larger one.
Just a stupid idea: Could it be that it has something to do with the Guardian Boundary Editor? We both use that tool and have the same problems. I have often had it that the field surface went beyond the blue borders, mostly with the elevators.
I will try it out but it sould not matter. In the Richard's video you can see how far beyond guardian boundaries does the corridor reach. And he said that the area in menu is the same as safe area (which is also guardian boundary).
That said, manipulating guardian boundary with GBE may still make it easier to repro.
It was the most important reason why I decided on my own engine. Fast portals rendering, sounds, navigation, AI, object interaction, physics (although physics is most problematic as I decided to do it quite experimentally with soft collisions).
I've seen people doing portals with both Unity and Unreal but I heard that it slows down significantly. Not mentioning about other things. I think that it might be possible to do it with existing engines although you would have to heavily modify bits of it. This of course means that every bigger update could induce chaos.
For what is the switch on the terraces good (output / status). Turn off the satellite antenna? What for? BTW: I have about 30 long sessions behind me now. Very often I do not get any further and move in a circle (come back to the same place after 5 minutes). Am I in a dead end and have previously gone somewhere wrong?And sometimes I walk through a snow-white labyrinth and find a very small blue square room without an exit. On the left is a kind of shutter/blinds. Once I saw how it had closed before I could enter the room.
One more question: If I had a playspace of 4.5 x 4.5 m, would the corridors be wider and longer? I'm just about to expand my cellar and that would be quite a motivation, i am sometimes a little lazy :-) Oh, and still no crashes experienced. Everything is running smoothly. Congratulations to your engine!
That switch is used to turn off solar panels (that's what they are). It was rather proof of concept but that will be used in a modified form in final game. With explanation. In demo it is only useful in challenge mode - it is required to turn off at least one panel to open the door. During night door is open but flying robots are more aggressive.
In case you'rd lost, there are arrows on hand displays that help to navigate.
Yes, corridors will be longer and probably wider. I have to tune tile size automatically adjusted and expose few options.
Thanks for the info about the crashes :) there are few and I have some logs to go through and to fix bugs :)
I'm seriously impressed with what you've done here. As it is I'll probably get several hours of gameplay, and it's going to the top of my list for games to show off to friends on my Rift.
Things I love:
Well-modeled arms help immensely with immersion
Automatically detecting my playspace from the Guardian System
Super smooth performance
Doesn't feel like I'm playing in my little office space
Possible improvements I noticed, many of which you're likely already aware of:
Oculus Touch controllers let you model much more complex hand motions, like pointing and sticking your thumb out. Implementing that hand modeling to the fullest really helps with immersion
There needs to be a pause menu of some kind. The first time I opened challenge mode something never loaded and I couldn't press the button to open the door. The only way to fix this was to quit the game completely, since I couldn't pause and restart or quit to the main menu
As others have mentioned, explaining the way the HUD elements and holsters work would go a long way to improving the initial experience. Also explaining the different types of enemies
I don't think the default guns should automatically retreat, or not so fast. It's really annoying trying to shoot someone as the gun slides away. Maybe detecting when the index finger is still on the trigger could work when using Touch Controllers if you want it to be automatic
A graphics menu would be nice, if only to turn on supersampling. Without a menu in-game I'll have to use Oculus Tray Tool to adjust it manually.
Don't drop guns behind bars, or not so far that I can't reach through. It pulled me out of the game when I leaned forward to grab a gun just out of reach and had the guardian system pop up to warn me I was at the edge of my playspace
1. Oculus touch controllers and hand gestures - that is definitely going to happen. Both for immersion and for pushing buttons and stuff.
2. Pause/menu is going to be added, I will only have to get controls for that properly. The thing with not being able to open doors might be related to bugs in level generation. If you could send me logs you have (if you encountered it, stop the game and send me a log) I could check what's going on.
3. I will add tutorial :) but at this point of development, lots of things may still change and lots will be added. I will have to find a way to simply explain what is there already though. To be able to get proper feedback.
4. ATM guns won't retract if you hold grip button. That might be not clear BUUUUT I am still going to test few things with controls so this may change and if I won't be sure which one is better, I will choose the most liked solution as default and other will be available through options. System to auto detect prefered approach would be great - if I get time and idea how to do it properly, this is going to be added.
5. There are some options in xml file, super sampling is not there, yet. But yes, graphics menu will be there. When menu is added :)
6. Guns behind bars is bug/feature-not-yet-final. I have no system yet to handle loot properly and that's why items that could be picked up are spawned in unreachable places. This will be addressed properly. In general, you should not try to reach places that you can't move to. There is other problem with that, bars I mean. When I was showcasing my game, few people moved their head beyond bars and one kid, when he saw long empty corridor, he started to run. I stopped him when I noticed what he is planning to do. I will be adding something that prevents going through walls/bars.
Thanks for the detailed reply! I hadn't realized I could use the grip to hold the default gun in place. I'll definitely be using that. The level failing to load has only happened once so far, but if it happens again where are the logs being stored so I can grab them?
Played a couple times - very impressed! I'm not usually one to comment, but you need to know, this is so unique and has *something* 80% of other VR games don't have. You've got something really great in progress here - keep going! (I know it's very early, so I'm sure you know, but players could use some tutorial/explanation for the ammo/energy and control stations/levers.)
Watching a video while writing this that said you wrote the engine from scratch, or didn't use Unity/etc. 100+ more impressed points for you!
Really, really cool! Thanks for putting it out there - and again, keep going!
The tutorial will be there for sure as there is quite few things to explain. I want to keep systems simple but having them all at once thrown at you is quite overwhelming. Introducing them one by one would help to understand. ATM with experience mode players should not worry about these but in challenge (which hints how "normal" difficulty level), it might be crucial to use them.
It's currently more of a prototype / proof of concept. I plan to put it on Steam as early access but when there will be more content and more gameplay systems. For a while I plan to keep it free.
Just played it 40 minutes, one of my best VR experiences so far in 2 years Oculus. Despite my little playspace, it worked almost 100%. The game is really fun and actually playable. No crashes or similar. Have already paid a lot of money for VR games that were worse in the development stage.
I have two improvements there:
- My playspace is not completely square (and small). Would be cool if you have a calibration function.
- Make the demo endless, it is always sad when I'm done :-)
That calibration function sounds good. What would you prefer to have? Game handles rectangular spaces but may handle them not efficently and calibration function would be useful there. I will think about it.
The next update will add option to make it endless :) Or it will be endless with a possibility to exit/stop.
The problem with the playspace is that you use the blue walls as a base and not the green playspace. The blue walls are exactly on the real walls, which makes it easy to run against the walls which is very uncomfortable. For this the Guardiansystem is not thought or suitable. It is also the first game where I turn off the Guardian system, because you are always so close to the walls and that bothers a lot when it is displayed. Incidentally, i have had games that temporarily disable or fade in the Guardiansystem permanently. I can think of several options for calibrating: 1. A slider which reduces the entire playspace by xx percent (easy to implement) 2. Run through the playspace with a controller as in the oculus setup or press the trigger once in each corner. 3. You blend in the playspace on the ground and you change the size with the help of some points as in an image editing program when inserting a graphic.
Do not make the game endless, but more difficult with each level. With permadeath and a high score at the end which is stored in a highscorelist. That should give enough motivation to continue playing. How about incidentally with selectable settings? For example, the current sci-fi setting with robots and laser weapons and a second setting with swords or knives in a dungeon. A space station would also be possible, since you only have to change the background with stars. Just an idea for the future... If there is interest, I could translate the English texts into German, if at some point there is a bit more text or a tutorial (necessary, I still have not understood many things).
I will have to check how I get play area size. What you said means that I get it using min and max of Guardian Boundary corners which makes it bigger than it should.
1. Sliding is easy.
2. That would be doubling what there already is for both Oculus and SteamVR.
3. This one is interesting. To display boundary, play area that is read from settings and play area calibrated by the player. Slider from point 1 could be here as one of the tools. I added that to my list.
I am thinking about at least two endless modes. One would be purely endless, to explore and travel through the world. But still it would be possible to end it (that's related to the story and I don't want to get too much into details right now). The second one would either force player to move towards the end (think of FTL where it pushes you to the last level) but you can just make it longer if you want. Or as you said, to push the difficulty level.
The settings for sci-fi, medieval etc. would kill me ;) I like the idea but I won't be able to handle it. Not yet. What I'd like to do is to focus on this game, create few other ones that happen in different settings and then work on a Inception-like game reusing stuff from other games - then I could use all that settings.
I have localisation system in place and I will be grateful for your help with translation :) but that should come when there will be more game in this game :) Thanks :)
I would love to be able to fine tune the play space the way you can in Beat Saber. My play space is set up so you can face the back wall without a problem, but if you try to put your back to it you'll be pulling against the cable, so I'd want to be able to shrink the playspace so it doesn't extend so far in that direction for this game.
I plan to add a way to calibrate play area :) I haven't thought about such cases and wanted just really simple "grow/shrink" but few people already suggested that, so it is on my todo list :)
← Return to game
Comments
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
This is absolutely fantastic. I can't wait to see what the future holds for this project.
How about some crawling passages? So small narrow and winding passages (ventilation shafts) at ground level? For people who are even fatter than me, you could do this optionally or adjust the height: So 40 cm/crawl on all four or 100 cm simply crouching movement. Without controller movement this is certainly very immersive, exhausting and funny :-)
By the way: I'm still of the opinion that your game lacks a little challenging gameplay. So I do tasks like looking for keys or something like that. Otherwise I find the progress so far really good. Keep up the good work!
You know what, we should try it! I will add a crouching section and see if people like it. I will add an option to switch it off.
As for the challenge, please give me some time ;) Earlier I wanted to add a very unique puzzle to each section but the game evolved into more open world. Though, I still want to add some puzzles and challenges. Keys are something pretty standard but I think that there is always some place to have them in game.
Nice of you to consider the idea of crawling. I'm looking forward to it, if it works! Had there still more stupid ideas: Small holes or ditches or holes with acid over which you really have to jump. Or movable laser barriers on the ground that you have to jump over. For this the game would have to calibrate the average HMD height while playing. What I also like very much is the maze with the many movable elevators above the gorge. One could also do such a part with independently movable platforms without railings. If you don't timed the crossing to the next platform correctly, you fall into the canyon and die. An idea for the key search: You could discover random numbers on walls or ceilings in the level. Somewhere there is a door with a code lock where you have to enter all numbers in unimportant order to get to the next area. For this you wouldn't even need an inventory system.
The jumping wouldn't be that easy to do. I mean it could work in maybe 90% of cases but if it wouldn't be detected, it could be frustrating. Especially when you were low on health. If I would make it less likely to treat something as a jump, you could stand on your tip toes and pretend you're flying all the time ;) This could be a bit fun, though. But still, these ideas can be done, but just turned around. Instead of jumping over them, duck below them. I actually want to have small holes in the walls with tentacles (or something like this) trying to grab you. So you have to stick to the other wall or try to shoot the thing.
Jumping from a platform to a platform could bring a bunch of new problems. To keep things calibrated to the play area, when platform moves, I disallow switching platform you're standing on - you can move around freely but for the game, you're anchored to the platform. The problem would be that you jumped, you think you landed, but the other platform already started to move and the game prevented you from landing. You would fall through the floor of platform that started to move. I wanted to avoid falling down but I will reconsider it. Detecting whether someone is leaning over or standing beyond the edge is possible. I would just need to tweak it to make it more likely to consider that the player is leaning. To allow standing on the edge etc.
There is one thing that I like about that key thing. Memorisation. Although because you have to choose from a fine set - numbers to be precise - it can be solved with a brute force approach. But this could be done in a different manner. You have to find some strange, alien like characters, icons, signs, something like that. In the level, just as you described. Then, at some point you have a board with all those characters, and others. If you press the right one, it just lights up. If you press the wrong one, you are damaged. This way you could scale the difficulty of the puzzle. Not only by having a different number of signs, but you may also have a larger board of signs to choose from. (or I could just add alphabet to the numbers, at least for the prototype). So, yeah, I like the idea and I will add that to the list :) Thanks :)
You're probably right about jumping, you could certainly cheat by standing on your toes. I just tried that, though: When I jump, I get about 15 cm higher than I would do with tiptoes. Of course it's exhausting! The normal HMD height would of course have to be calibrated quite accurately (automatically or manually). Ducking would of course be much easier to realize, we know this from a lot of VR games where you have to avoid some traps.
The problem with the platforms is almost too complicated for me, I can't think of anything. You know your engine better and know what is possible and what is not. Just by the way: I didn't mean jumping from platform to platform, but just walking or jumping slightly. Just like you do with elevator platforms. You can also fix a kind of pole in the middle of the platform in the ground (about 1 m high) to which you have to hold on, otherwise you are not anchored and the platform continues without you with an unsightly result for you.
The idea with the alien letters is not bad, but I know from experience that you can remember something like this only badly because it is too abstract. Letters would be better, maybe just a short anagram. What would work as well would be alien symbols and a virtual notepad where you can note down the symbols. I have already seen something like this in some VR puzzle game. If you could build such a Stargate with a dial, it would fit well into the concept of impossible corridors. :-D
But if you run and jump, the head does not move so high. I don't know if there is a 100% reliable way to detect jumping by tracing just head and arms. But the traps requiring ducking are on the list.
The jumping/going between platforms... I will have to think about it. I still have some other issues to solve, for example walking through walls. On a similar note there is walking over the edges. Falling down will be an uncomfortable experience. Having it in game, could add tension. Although people get nervous in higher places anyway.
I don't want to have completely abstract symbols that would be hard to remember. But having circles, triangles, combinations of them, reinforced by colour, should be easy to remember. I'd rather avoid letters (mostly because of the lore).
1) After reading a Reddit post about the game - "Eh, it sounds cool".
2) Went to the download page and saw screenshots of the game - "Really, this looks like shit".
3) Less than 20 seconds after pressing play - "Get outta here...This Is Awesome!"
I was giggling the entire time. This would definitely be a great game to demo on the Quest. Hell, now I want one myself. By no means am I knocking the game but imagine a game created by a larger studio with the same concept and better graphics! I did enjoy the simplistic art style though as it allowed me to SS at 2.0 set my AA quite high.
Note: It felt a bit weird and made me uneasy for a few minutes but turning off your guardian boundary fully immerses you. After a while, I found myself running through the corridors while playing the challenge mode. I bet I looked stupid as hell in front of my window but I was enjoying myself far too much to even care.
Now imagine that something similar happens to me :) I work on many separate parts of the game, I put them together and from time to time I just play the game and sometimes I giggle. Of course, there are moments when something doesn't feel right, but that's when I can modify it, throw it out or add something to it.
As for the graphics, there are certain things that I would love to change and improve but I don't want to be driven away from the gameplay itself. There is also one important thing to mention here. Every single mesh you see in the game is procedurally generated. This is really important when it comes to the level as it adjusts to the play area. For enemies it allows me making them different. Each one slightly different than another. Right now the differences are not that great but the more elements there will be available to add/alter, the more enemies should differ... while staying recongisable.
Whoa! Amazing work! The technical wizardry is brilliant, and I really like the art direction, too. Can't wait to see more!
While working on the game, I want to share as much knowledge and experience as possible. Because I would also like to see more but coming from other people :) And as for Tea For God, there is a lot of stuff coming. Foremost, the gameplay! But also the lore and the story (which I don't want to focus too much at the moment but it slowly evolves)
This game is excellent! Tons of potential.
Thank you. There is still a lot to add and I have lots of ideas what to have here and things should connect to each other :)
Wow that was great. Keep up the good work.
Thanks :) That's the plan ;)
weird question. i heard some horn song thing in endless mode, and it sounded really close too. I died fighting a tank robot that was blocking the way before i could reach it. anyone heard this too?
multiplayer?
I want to focus first on a single player roguelite. Initially I considered adding multiplayer or at least trying it out but it feels almost as a separate game and I don't want to work on two different things.
what if there where small portable portal windows that you could hold or stick on walls. like hold one end and stick the other around a corner to poke you gun out. i could see that in some PVP game mode
Sounds interesting. I would have to modify or hack a few things to allow for putting portals anywhere (portals do not like to cross with other portals ;) ). I wonder how it would actually work in a PvP mode. It could be fun when doing so but annoying when being shot at. With all those hands appearing on different surfaces and shooting at you. It would have to be carefully designed and well playtested to make sure it is fun. For now I don't plan a PvP mode, but I will write down that idea.
I wanted to have small enemies appear through portals on walls but these would just function as holes, not as something that appears and disappears. Still, could build something around that idea.
I could see why that could be a tough thing to code in, especially culling out half of your arm and duplicating it at the other side
This shouldn't be a problem. In worst case I would just put the arm into a separate actor. It's worth trying, even for SP.
do you have a kickstarter?
No. At the moment, there is no need for that :) There are reasons that for I consider running a kickstarter, but that's quite some time into the future.
For now, I prefer to have free builds :)
find the experience mode is less an experience than challenge mode. In experience mode you cant die and there is no risk, but in challenge every thing can kill you in an instant. I remember pressing the button on one of those electric dog things so it was on my side only to have it walk on a bomb and set me back at square one. Btw. love the art and set pieces. I could go on and on about all the cool thing you packed into this pre alpha demo. good job on the game and id love to buy it when it comes out. ps, don't put it on the epic games store.
Thanks :) there will be more things coming in following months and they will be published here. The robots that you turn to be on your side - you will be able to control them. A bit. If you want to. I should add that in few months time (with other ideas).
While I understand why Epic wants so many exclusives in their shop, I am not a big fan of the idea of exclusives. Unless there is a very good reason for them (technical limitations?). I expect that at some point in time, the situation will change but before we get there, we should expect some games to be available at EGS for a limited time. If Tea For God appears one day in Epic Games Store, it won't be the only shop that the game would be available at.
I also have a recommendation. Don't add a tutorial, having the player figure every thing out is way better. like the feeling of figuring out that the big electric tank robot has a panel on its back you can open and shoot. That was cool.
I want to have some tutorials. Although everything could be figured out by some people eventually, I'd still want to present some basic concepts. Energy management, crafting etc. Enemies and anything you may encounter inside? That's for the players to figure out :) The way I add new NPCs is that each one has to have something unique to it. And some of them may have quite peculiar features. An example: the shield mushroom you can find, can be used as a shield of course. But also it can be used as a medkit to replenish your health when it goes low. And you can refill it.
I don't know why but I can't seem to move. I tried all of the ways I know to move in VR games. Is it broken or is it just simple and I'm missing something?
The game is fully 100% roomscale. You walk in the game by walking in real life. The map shapeshifts to fit within the space of your room (assuming it meets the minimum VR space, which is something like 2m by 2m)
My 8 year old son also loves this game, he got along with it immediately. He now has a few hours playing time behind him and even manages the challenge. He is also "special", so don't wonder about the noises he makes:
BTW: When will the next beta be released? Would be ready to take the heavy burden of a beta tester on me, if necessary ;-)
If it hasn't been mentioned yet: The game would definitely be a big seller on the Oculus Quest. The automatic room measurement of the quest makes it perfect for this.
You can tell he's having fun. Isn't it awesome when they connect with things like this.
Yeah, he's having a great time. Since he has big problems with his fine motor skills, the operation of an analog stick is very difficult for him. The game is a pleasure for him because it offers a natural way of moving. Even if he sometimes runs against the walls, but children are very soft, thank God :-)
:D Wish I remembered more from my german classes.
Quite soon I am switching to full-time development (from almost none-time) and I plan to keep it this way. Releases should happen then every few weeks and I should be posting some other info on the devblog.
I'd love to work on Oculus Quest version but I'd have to wait for it to be released first, continuing development on PC and BTW, I really like the setup you have :) I was wondering whether to buy tpcast for vive or for oculus and ended up getting vive but... oculus touch controllers feel so good in hands. Well, I do most of the development using Oculus :)
Yes, the touch controllers are god! I once played Serious Sam 3 BFE VR with Vive a year ago, what a crap! The Vive wands are a garbage compared to the Touch. I'd like to buy the Pimax 5k+, but not before there are some nice controllers (knuckles) on the market and there's a wireless solution for the unit. There is no return to the cable after 1.2 years of playing wireless. :-)
I'm already looking forward to the next version. I wish you continued success!
I have WMR which is like if the vive wands and touch controllers did an off brand fusion dance. their ok but i have tried oculus and agree with you that touch controllers are the best on the market
Literally signed up just to leave you a comment. Me and my kids love what you've done here. I have a special needs 13 yo who doesn't really do video game , but when he jumped into this room scale game with very intuitive play he's had a blast literally shooting every robot. Keep up the good work and please leave an Experience Mode in all your versions if you can for those who just love to go from point A to B shooting the "robot bad guys".
As for real game-play if your taking input... I personally hope you add targets/switches/enemies/reasons to duck or evade things out the corridor windows. Maybe make longer bay windows with energy pulses passing through or surveillance or something. I often find myself staring out the windows in game and even leaning over a bit too far only to end up outside the portal and having to jump back in occasionally. Again keep up the good work. I just wish I didn't feel so bad killing the scared little cowering spider-bots for energy.
Hey thanks! :)
I am for sure keeping experience mode. I want to allow players to modify lots of things with few presets already in. And personally even though I do like challenge when I play a game, I sometimes wish that games would allow me to just go straight through the gameplay sections to allow me to learn the story. Or to allow me to enjoy some bits of the gameplay without worrying that I will have to start from last checkpoint if I do something wrong.
And good suggestions. I already have similair things planned to add - I will be going full time with it very soon and then there should be some updates coming with new stuff. New levels, mechanics and new enemies. That "feeling bad about killing those little guys" is one of the things I wanted to have and that will be part of the gameplay and story. So that's actually good that you feel bad about that :)
Finally getting the hang of doing speedruns in this, longer challenge mode in 3 minutes. Not completed challenge mode in my normal cautious manner, keep running out of bullets and getting worn down in health by the electro balls and un-noticed attackers but the decision not to get out my guns and to dive past dangers in the passages instead grants me some quite easy victories haha.
Ha! That's quite impressive :)
The thing is that I kind of expect speedrunners to make want to do runs and therefore I am considering a special mode for speedrunning (fixed seed and size) but also I want to allow people to speedrun in normal mode. And it should work as in any other roguelite in which you can speedrun (or even are encouraged to do so, check Dead Cells) but with each level it gets harder and harder up to a point when one hit kills you. Having pieces in which you have to fight enemies (for any reason, make it standard arena "kill all to proceed" that I'd rather avoid, or train sections that may last for a while and you are attacked) and you will have to get prepared for them.
I like your thinking! Hmm, in "Sir You Are Being Hunted" the seed is displayed in the settings so you can copy it down to input it another time yourself or share with others, a super simple option I guess, but very practical, fun when its something I played with friends a lot like that. That said suppose copying text into a chat or text document is less convenient in vr than with keyboard and mouse...
I don't know yet how to make it convenient in VR. My current thinking leads to me have "store of nice seeds" where you can store whatever you like and want to share. And also put things from friends there to check them in game. Access to that would be from VR with just "start"/"store" and outside VR there you would have a table with values to copy, etc.
One thing that might be problematic is that everyone may have different playarea. Currently I round up playarea size a bit to make it more probable that people will share same size. But if you have 2x2 and your friend has 3x3, they may check your seed but if you try their seed out, you may end up hitting a wall.
You could create seed files with embeded metadata on playarea size and not allow loading seeds that were created in larger playspaces.
This is so obvious and elegant solution. I wanted to add size to the seed thingy separately but making it part of it, makes more sense. Thanks :)
But still, it should be allowed to play seed with different size too, as the general layout of the level will be the same, just the details will be different. But taht would be an option and if it confuses people, I should drop it.
Been playing on and off since I seen it posted on Reddit. Just tried today after getting a 3rd Oculus sensor for 360 tracking - Wow! No shake in the back corners, just a seamless experience.
Is there anywhere where we can see if you’ve posted a new version/update? A version number/release date/etc?
I will be posting info here and at the main blog (and probably via tweeter). The reason there is no udpate yet is that I have pretty busy time right now with other things. Good news is that in few weeks I should move full time to work on Tea For God.
This game really needs music....
So I made some...
https://soundcloud.com/rchrdcrg/tea-for-god
Seriously, I'd be glad to rework this into a game soundtrack!
Very cool track! :>
Awesome :) I do like tracker music . I still haven't decided on style of the music for Tea For God, though. One of the ideas is to go into synths (I love what's going on in Prelude!)
Well if you care to check it out, I've done some more work on the music... got a main theme, lead-in/waiting room, and gameplay theme!
You can see I'm pretty serious about the idea, lmao! But regardless, I'm just having fun making new music... thanks for the inspiration!Just rambling, but I've always had this idea to have dynamic tracker-driven music in a game where the music is rendered live and the in-game action can affect the music, like jumping patterns, mute/unmute channels, change instruments, etc, to give a truly dynamic music experience rather than using layered pre-recorded tracks. It would probably be a huge undertaking to link the music and the programming that tightly, but it would be soooo cool, haha! Definitely an idea unique to live-rendered formats like tracker music.
I had a similiar idea. But to do it in opposite manner. To synchronise visuals to the music. Of course music would be generated on the fly, tracker way, this would give the most control over particular sounds. And when you posted this message, I started to think, how it would fit into elevators. Imagine all (at least all empty) elevators moving in sync with music.
Very cool idea, like many games that sync to the music but a step further. There are definitely a LOT of interesting doors that can open using tracker-based music. For the record, the video above was running OpenMPT with a bunch of VST plugins, while recording in OBS, and still hitting 90fps on my 6-year-old Core i7... trust me, it struggles with a lot of games, so the fact that it could do all that without a hitch is a testament to your design... very efficient! I could easily rework the music to ditch the VST plugins for compatibility with general IT playback plugins, which would even further reduce CPU overhead to negligible.
Now there's an idea. A section with platforms, so you can see a lot where enemies dance in sync and they shoot in sync with the beat. I have no idea if I will have time to do that, but I will have to try it out. For time being I plan to work on pure gameplay features alone to get to proper vertical slice. Then I might work on music system a bit.
The game is using multithreading a lot. Because of that it can hit 90fps. The bigger the level, the more workload there is - all NPCs moving around, etc, but there is a lot of cheap optimisations, ticking some stuff every second or third frame etc. With 90 fps some enemies have logic running at 30fps. Which is what is happening for some of the normal games ;)
Hi Void Room, I've very much enjoyed the game and am excited to see future updates! Additionally I want to help/say thanks, please change the page settings to "Name your own price" I intend to donate. I'm a student/ VR dev myself so no big sum, however if you would allow me to give some of what others have given me on this platform I would be very happy :)
If you happen to be after a hand with any modeling / animation let me know, I'm more frequently a soft edge kindof guy can show you some of my recent hard edge though if you ever get curious.
Good luck!
Hi Jazz Cousins and thanks :)
I read your rating and I really like the idea of running from the doom. Recently I was thinking about adding hunter robots that would be impossible/very hard to kill but maybe something different would feel better. A ticking bomb is too simple but something between these two could work nicely (very small robots that alter/rearrange the environment foot by foot going after the player and then disassembling your body? stuff like that). And sound desing will be changed. While some of the sounds I plan to keep (robots, turrets etc), some will be thrown out and everything will have to be modified to set proper sound levels because that's just messed up.
Modeling/animation is something I plan to keep doing myself. The biggest reason is that all models and animations are procedurally generated and I develop systems for that all the time. For sure I am planning to release source files for the assets eventually and add some documentation - because I am sure, that if enough people would be playing this game, there will be modders that will add new characters and environments - and whole game is created around that thought - to allow to add stuff easily.
For time being I am arranging my stuff to start working full time on this.
Interesting, yeah I like your attitude for modding / customisability, the system has scope for adaption to so many game types I think so that will be great!
How complicated would it be to implement local multiplayer with someone on the pc? I've found this is something easy to set up in unity but near impossible in Unreal so curious about how this would be in your engine? Since the magority of the time I spend with vr is socially with friends any vr game that integrates multiplayer is often my automatic favourite, 'Carly and the Reaperman' for example. I can imagine this working in the context of this game with the pc player either being a small assistant like the electro dogs, after you've poked their watsit haha, or maybe multiple pc players in splitscrean playing as different robots competing to be the one to kill you so they can take your place in vr. Final idea being that they play it like some kind of RTS/tower defence, placing the hazards you face etc. - probibally all a bit of a side track from your vision, if it happened to be something not too complex to implement with the way your engine works though maybe that's something I try do mod in myself one day haha.
For now I only plan allowing to mod content, add new stuff, modify existing, not game types or creating completely different mechanics. Although reading recently, how some developers work with limitations (Earthworm Jim's flying washing machines due to lack of scripting, etc) I still could get surprised.
As for local multiplayer - I was thinking about it, as in general, it seems to be easy thing to add (at least for prototyping). But with impossible spaces it gets trickier. I was thinking more about being out of the action, seeing map, hacking things, releasing enemies etc. I don't know why I haven't thought about direct control of other characters (sidekicks! and imagine that I play Kirby StarAllies with my kids). For sure it won't be top down as it is in other games and what allows for multiple players to compete or help. If it would be added, it more likely will be FPP.
It's not on the main list of things to do but I do consider it as something that may happen later. For sure I'd like to explore this in future.
Same goes for normal multiplayer. Both coop and pvp could work pretty well.
I see cool! Glad to hear that about local, and Gosh I had discounted the idea of normal multiplayer as sheer madness, randomly walking round a corner into someone else with equally startled flailing arms would be quite an experience if you didn't know it was coming!
I absolutely see what people mean by having an adjustable buffer within the guardian boundaries... I just redid my room for better size and coverage and walked into a wall! Here's a video explaining and showing the issue:
Adjustable buffer and calibration are going to happen but that should only be used to add that extra buffer if you don't want to get closer to wall in case you have mirrors, windows, displays, tv, china there.
But this is a bug. This should never happen, corridor should never, I mean NEVER, be this far and make player hit the wall. There is a narrow buffer that allows a corridor or a room to violate this rule, but only up to 1cm. And what you encountered is a dangerous bug.
I assume that it happened to you once? If so and you remember when, could you send me a log file (they are in _logs). I store info about seed, play space etc to allow me to reproduce such bugs and fix them.
From your previous video I noticed that you have Oculus, right? Other person also repeated similair bug with Oculus and I might have something not correct when reading play space size. When I looked into it, it was just using single method to get the size, but maybe it gets the maximum size. Luckily I have Oculus as well, so I'm going to do some weirdly shaped play spaces to test it.
Awesome! Glad to hear you'll be addressing this with some options. As far as this happening, it's been consistently close to the edges, but I had just rearranged my living room to increase my play area (specifically for your game, haha!), and I guess I pushed the boundaries really right up to the edge.
For Oculus, there seems to be two play areas; one is the actual area you map out, irregularities and all, and the other is the largest rectangular area that the system can fit inside the irregular shape. The floor inside your main menu maps to the rectangular "sub-area" it seems. I made manual adjustments using Guardian Boundary Editor, and I may have moved the rectangular area too close to the actual guardian boundary. So I wouldn't blame your game entirely for the mishap as I may need to make more adjustments, but you can definitely see the overlap in the video is a bit too much regardless.
Even if you pushed the boundaries right to the wall, the game should not make a corridor embedded this far. As I said, it should be max 1cm. I'll be adding some automatic tests to validate room generation to make sure that all accessible areas are placed within play area.
If it is possible to send a log for when it happened, it would make it easier to fix it.
Thanks for confirming it is actual safe area being used, I was getting a little bit paranoid that it may sometimes read larger one.
Just a stupid idea: Could it be that it has something to do with the Guardian Boundary Editor? We both use that tool and have the same problems. I have often had it that the field surface went beyond the blue borders, mostly with the elevators.
I will try it out but it sould not matter. In the Richard's video you can see how far beyond guardian boundaries does the corridor reach. And he said that the area in menu is the same as safe area (which is also guardian boundary).
That said, manipulating guardian boundary with GBE may still make it easier to repro.
I was wondering how you did the portals so seamlessly and perfectly even with sound and stuff working... Building your own engine explains it.
It was the most important reason why I decided on my own engine. Fast portals rendering, sounds, navigation, AI, object interaction, physics (although physics is most problematic as I decided to do it quite experimentally with soft collisions).
I've seen people doing portals with both Unity and Unreal but I heard that it slows down significantly. Not mentioning about other things. I think that it might be possible to do it with existing engines although you would have to heavily modify bits of it. This of course means that every bigger update could induce chaos.
For what is the switch on the terraces good (output / status). Turn off the satellite antenna? What for?
BTW: I have about 30 long sessions behind me now. Very often I do not get any further and move in a circle (come back to the same place after 5 minutes). Am I in a dead end and have previously gone somewhere wrong?
And sometimes I walk through a snow-white labyrinth and find a very small blue square room without an exit. On the left is a kind of shutter/blinds. Once I saw how it had closed before I could enter the room.One more question: If I had a playspace of 4.5 x 4.5 m, would the corridors be wider and longer? I'm just about to expand my cellar and that would be quite a motivation, i am sometimes a little lazy :-)
Oh, and still no crashes experienced. Everything is running smoothly. Congratulations to your engine!
Thanks and regards!
That switch is used to turn off solar panels (that's what they are). It was rather proof of concept but that will be used in a modified form in final game. With explanation. In demo it is only useful in challenge mode - it is required to turn off at least one panel to open the door. During night door is open but flying robots are more aggressive.
In case you'rd lost, there are arrows on hand displays that help to navigate.
Yes, corridors will be longer and probably wider. I have to tune tile size automatically adjusted and expose few options.
Thanks for the info about the crashes :) there are few and I have some logs to go through and to fix bugs :)
I'm seriously impressed with what you've done here. As it is I'll probably get several hours of gameplay, and it's going to the top of my list for games to show off to friends on my Rift.
Things I love:
Possible improvements I noticed, many of which you're likely already aware of:
Thanks :)
1. Oculus touch controllers and hand gestures - that is definitely going to happen. Both for immersion and for pushing buttons and stuff.
2. Pause/menu is going to be added, I will only have to get controls for that properly. The thing with not being able to open doors might be related to bugs in level generation. If you could send me logs you have (if you encountered it, stop the game and send me a log) I could check what's going on.
3. I will add tutorial :) but at this point of development, lots of things may still change and lots will be added. I will have to find a way to simply explain what is there already though. To be able to get proper feedback.
4. ATM guns won't retract if you hold grip button. That might be not clear BUUUUT I am still going to test few things with controls so this may change and if I won't be sure which one is better, I will choose the most liked solution as default and other will be available through options. System to auto detect prefered approach would be great - if I get time and idea how to do it properly, this is going to be added.
5. There are some options in xml file, super sampling is not there, yet. But yes, graphics menu will be there. When menu is added :)
6. Guns behind bars is bug/feature-not-yet-final. I have no system yet to handle loot properly and that's why items that could be picked up are spawned in unreachable places. This will be addressed properly. In general, you should not try to reach places that you can't move to. There is other problem with that, bars I mean. When I was showcasing my game, few people moved their head beyond bars and one kid, when he saw long empty corridor, he started to run. I stopped him when I noticed what he is planning to do. I will be adding something that prevents going through walls/bars.
Thanks for the detailed reply! I hadn't realized I could use the grip to hold the default gun in place. I'll definitely be using that. The level failing to load has only happened once so far, but if it happens again where are the logs being stored so I can grab them?
They're in _logs sub directory :)
I suspect one thing but having log file from you I'd have a good repro to fix the bug.
I think these are the logs you're looking for
https://gist.github.com/smiller171/00e0991f658effa8ecea904aefe8ecd7
These are the logs I'm looking for.
Thanks :) I will be sorting crashes soon and then onto new stuff :)
Played a couple times - very impressed! I'm not usually one to comment, but you need to know, this is so unique and has *something* 80% of other VR games don't have. You've got something really great in progress here - keep going! (I know it's very early, so I'm sure you know, but players could use some tutorial/explanation for the ammo/energy and control stations/levers.)
Watching a video while writing this that said you wrote the engine from scratch, or didn't use Unity/etc. 100+ more impressed points for you!
Really, really cool! Thanks for putting it out there - and again, keep going!
Thanks :)
The tutorial will be there for sure as there is quite few things to explain. I want to keep systems simple but having them all at once thrown at you is quite overwhelming. Introducing them one by one would help to understand. ATM with experience mode players should not worry about these but in challenge (which hints how "normal" difficulty level), it might be crucial to use them.
Oh, and I shall write a blog post about decision behind writing my own engine.
This is a really great and immersive idea. Make early access and put it on Steam. I would pay something for it. Good luck!
Thanks :)
It's currently more of a prototype / proof of concept. I plan to put it on Steam as early access but when there will be more content and more gameplay systems. For a while I plan to keep it free.
Just played it 40 minutes, one of my best VR experiences so far in 2 years Oculus. Despite my little playspace, it worked almost 100%. The game is really fun and actually playable. No crashes or similar. Have already paid a lot of money for VR games that were worse in the development stage.
I have two improvements there:
- My playspace is not completely square (and small). Would be cool if you have a calibration function.
- Make the demo endless, it is always sad when I'm done :-)
That calibration function sounds good. What would you prefer to have? Game handles rectangular spaces but may handle them not efficently and calibration function would be useful there. I will think about it.
The next update will add option to make it endless :) Or it will be endless with a possibility to exit/stop.
Here is my Oculus playspace with the Guardian Boundary Editor:
https://imgur.com/a/Rsd74It
The problem with the playspace is that you use the blue walls as a base and not the green playspace. The blue walls are exactly on the real walls, which makes it easy to run against the walls which is very uncomfortable. For this the Guardiansystem is not thought or suitable. It is also the first game where I turn off the Guardian system, because you are always so close to the walls and that bothers a lot when it is displayed. Incidentally, i have had games that temporarily disable or fade in the Guardiansystem permanently.
I can think of several options for calibrating:
1. A slider which reduces the entire playspace by xx percent (easy to implement)
2. Run through the playspace with a controller as in the oculus setup or press the trigger once in each corner.
3. You blend in the playspace on the ground and you change the size with the help of some points as in an image editing program when inserting a graphic.
Do not make the game endless, but more difficult with each level. With permadeath and a high score at the end which is stored in a highscorelist. That should give enough motivation to continue playing.
How about incidentally with selectable settings? For example, the current sci-fi setting with robots and laser weapons and a second setting with swords or knives in a dungeon. A space station would also be possible, since you only have to change the background with stars. Just an idea for the future...
If there is interest, I could translate the English texts into German, if at some point there is a bit more text or a tutorial (necessary, I still have not understood many things).
I will have to check how I get play area size. What you said means that I get it using min and max of Guardian Boundary corners which makes it bigger than it should.
1. Sliding is easy.
2. That would be doubling what there already is for both Oculus and SteamVR.
3. This one is interesting. To display boundary, play area that is read from settings and play area calibrated by the player. Slider from point 1 could be here as one of the tools. I added that to my list.
I am thinking about at least two endless modes. One would be purely endless, to explore and travel through the world. But still it would be possible to end it (that's related to the story and I don't want to get too much into details right now). The second one would either force player to move towards the end (think of FTL where it pushes you to the last level) but you can just make it longer if you want. Or as you said, to push the difficulty level.
The settings for sci-fi, medieval etc. would kill me ;) I like the idea but I won't be able to handle it. Not yet. What I'd like to do is to focus on this game, create few other ones that happen in different settings and then work on a Inception-like game reusing stuff from other games - then I could use all that settings.
I have localisation system in place and I will be grateful for your help with translation :) but that should come when there will be more game in this game :) Thanks :)
I would love to be able to fine tune the play space the way you can in Beat Saber. My play space is set up so you can face the back wall without a problem, but if you try to put your back to it you'll be pulling against the cable, so I'd want to be able to shrink the playspace so it doesn't extend so far in that direction for this game.
I plan to add a way to calibrate play area :) I haven't thought about such cases and wanted just really simple "grow/shrink" but few people already suggested that, so it is on my todo list :)