A podcast about VR game design.
Tune in every two weeks to hear two VR developers talk about the exciting new medium of Virtual Reality. Expect design insights, technical breakdowns, and hot takes that are sure to get angry comments!
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Episodes release every other Wednesday, with occasional bonus content on off-weeks.
Episodes
Episode 12: Swarm
Swarm is the newest grapple hook game in town and it’s bringing out the big guns (literally)! Will it perform well?
Swarm is a new fast-paced, arcade-style grapple shooter, and we think it’s going to perform pretty well. But why do we think that, and what do the developers need to do to ensure it? This week, listen to us inspect (and recommend) the game from a developer’s perspective.
Timestamps:
1:23 - Swarm
7:40 - Grappling Hook Mechanic
13:26 - Motion Sickness
15:27 - Combat Loop Rhythm
22:21 - Juice
25:45 - Post-Launch Expansion
28:40 - FTUE
30:58 - Marketing
34:30 - Final Thoughts
Other Games We Mention:
Music:
Furious Freak by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3791-furious-freak
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Inspired by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3918-inspired
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
This was the fastest we’ve turned around an episode yet. It came out pretty well!
Episode 11: How To Train Your Player
“The designer doesn’t come in the box.” How exactly do you train your player to play your game?
“The designer doesn’t come in the box.”
It’s easy for designers to forget that players don’t initially know how to play their games, and adding tutorials too late in production can lead to bad first time user experiences (FTUE). As always, VR only complicates the problem. This week, we discuss all these issues and more. How exactly do you train your player to play your game?
Timestamps:
0:58 - Introduction
4:50 - FTUE
7:56 - "Glimmer Grove" Example
10:45 - Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners
17:30 - Limiting The Lessons
21:00 - Avoid Teaching the Wrong Thing (Battlewake)
24:36 - Player Expectations
27:47 - Ongoing Instruction
31:06 - The VR “Wow!” Moment
33:56 - Building Feedback into your Mechanics
35:50 - VR Conventions
39:09 - Wrap-up
Games we mention:
Music:
Furious Freak by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3791-furious-freak
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Inspired by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3918-inspired
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Hey there, gorgeous! Thanks for checking out the post-show notes. User and Usability testing are actually quite close to my heart - let us know if you want to hear more about it!