next »

[Bino]

Thought I'd throw this out there to see what ideas people have on these two topics. They're two areas I've put a lot of thought in but my thinking has gone stale... Share right off the top of your head - no filter.

Bullet Time in VR

I'm making a Hotline Miami inspired game in VR. I've been playing with various Bullet Time mechanics to give the player a fighting chance. There's only so much mobility I can give the player before I make a vomit simulator. I don't want to make the mechanic overpowered as the game still has to be hard.

When I make it like Max Payne it looks amazing but the challenge is gone. Thoughts on Bullet Time VR? Perhaps there's something else I can do to give the player a fighting chance? I've tried activating it by raising your hands like you're under arrest but I face palmed myself while in the middle of some action...

Headshake in VR

For obvious reasons I can't shake the camera in VR or jerk the player backewards. But I want gun fire to have an impact and mean something. I've been thinking of "shaking objects" and particle effects.

The speakers shaking is something I've tried on impact for a split second but it's hard to notice.

[Thaumaturge]

Headshake in VR

For obvious reasons I can't shake the camera in VR or jerk the player backewards. But I want gun fire to have an impact and mean something. I've been thinking of "shaking objects" and particle effects.

Before I start, let me note that I'm not experienced in VR dev, and so caution you to take my thoughts with a grain of salt!

That said, one idea that occurs to me is to have all nearby geometry pulse sharply in- or out- wards when the player is hit. That might, perhaps, convey a sense of the character's perception of the world being momentarily disturbed by the associated impact.

[Bino]

Headshake in VR

For obvious reasons I can't shake the camera in VR or jerk the player backewards. But I want gun fire to have an impact and mean something. I've been thinking of "shaking objects" and particle effects.

Before I start, let me note that I'm not experienced in VR dev, and so caution you to take my thoughts with a grain of salt!

That said, one idea that occurs to me is to have all nearby geometry pulse sharply in- or out- wards when the player is hit. That might, perhaps, convey a sense of the character's perception of the world being momentarily disturbed by the associated impact.

Hey thanks for the response. I quickly mocked it out with walls and level static meshes.

Having the walls, floors and ceiling meshes jitter didn't make me sick but it was a bit weird. Didn't feel right.

Strategically doing some level meshes did have a bit of an impact but it's hard to noticed during the action.

Here's an example in a dummy scene that's easy to see. I was thinking of applying a physics impulse to static meshes and have them flying outwards... but that's a hit to my draw call budget. AGRGHGH VR.

[Thaumaturge]

I was envisaging something a little more pronounced, and a little more fluid across a given surface, I think (and likely done in the vertex shader)--although that might incur a higher polygon budget, I fear!

Still, if it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out!

[Bino]

Ahh yes that's going to have budget problems. I could probably use a tessellation shader on the fly but I know the Quest headset has strict instruction limits for performance...

Maybe time to shelve this problem for a bit and move onto other things. I very much appreciate the suggestions.

As for the bullet time question, someone on Twitter suggestion to locally activate certain objects (like projectiles) when they're close for a small period of time. I think that's worth trying out to balance out Bullet Time being OP but also giving the player a fight chance.