VR Sea Legs – Update 2

So I’ve talked before about our VR movement system. Now we need to answer the question – if our movement system is so great, why do we need VR Sea Legs?

Our VR movement system has been successful in reducing simulator sickness, but it’s not a silver bullet – not on its own. Users need experience with different types of movement and play styles in a low-stakes environment. They need to build on those comfortable experiences and gain the ability to handle more intense experiences over time.

This week our first focus for VR Sea Legs was design and methodology.
We discussed a number of points. For instance, what order should the movement system be introduced? How many training paths should we include? How quickly should we ramp up intensity? How long should a level be – and what about replayability? How many game styles can we showcase? How varied can we make the art styles in each level to give the user a varied experience? Each of these has implications throughout the application, and we have to consider their implementation carefully.

Our planned methodology (or our secret sauce, if you prefer) is to:

• Introduce a movement system in a comfortable setting to build the user’s VR movement experience base.
• Provide experience for various gameplay styles, movement systems, and art styles. This will help users choose appropriate VR games and experiences.
• Re-use some mechanics in every level to provide familiarity and build cross-platform/environment confidence.
• Allow ramped-up intensity (speed and action) based on user’s accomplishments and preferences.
• Create situations that focus the user’s attention and develop flow as the intensity increases.
• Upon completion of each level, the user will have the option to continue into a more intense version of that experience, in the same environment and using the same movement system type (that is, instead of a “training” level, they will have the opportunity to put their skills into practice). Alternately, they can choose a different experience at a similar comfort level. We will experiment to validate this assumption.
• Provide a path for the user’s movement training.
• Provide rewards for accomplishment.

We’re also focused on developing the project concept and story, and gathering the reference art. We’ll be refining all of this in the coming weeks…. but the project implementation begins now!