Steam VR - HTC Vive - Prototype Development - Thiefy Adventurer #012

Some progress on my VR project featuring an adventurous thief, visiting ancient lost places of the world, in search for loot, info, and of course adventure!




I want to build more atmosphere, and add some more physics based puzzles, as well as ignitable torches and candles.

Steam VR - HTC Vive - Prototype Development - Video #010

I've taken what I've learnt from my earlier prototype scene, and consolidated it into a new scene, which will hopefully be a simple game that I put out on Steam!

I really want to get a simple game out there, that works, as it's been years since I put a game out, and it seems ripe to get something simple and fun out early, before the whole VR market gets swamped! :)



To begin with I've just created a companion AI. I've always wanted to be able to make cool, believable, intelligent characters. And with the help of NavMesh and Mecanim, it actually doesn't seem to be too hard!


I'm planning to put in 1 or 2 simple enemies, and then set a goal of making it through the level, clearing out all the enemies with the help of your companion. Or something!

Steam VR - HTC Vive - Prototype Development - Video #007

My VR game is starting to take shape as more of a proper level.  Or at least the basis of one.

I have toiled away on "book-ending" the level, giving it (something of) a start and an end, - a frame - so that I know the shape that I will paint within.

...It is night, you arrive by boat across an ocean, and you make your way to a structure atop a hill.

...You have a gun, and a torch.  

...You come across some creatures inhabiting the space.

And from here, we go forwards!





Now it's time to explore the ideas that will go inside!

Steam VR - HTC Vive - Prototype Development - Video #004

These are the results from the end of my 2nd weekend of development on my HTC Vive VR prototype / experiment...





Note: This is a dark level, so if you're on mobile or laptop, turn your brightness up full to see it as intended.  If it's just too dark for you, there's a more lightened version here... https://youtu.be/Qp_T6sJ2hRk 

I've been learning a bunch more about the finer details of Unity, and good work flows.

Character AI and Animation System
I made an animation system that will allow a character to NavMesh around, to use line of sight perception, and to play animations, including NavMeshAgent.Stop() and NavMeshAgent.Resume() when they play their Hurt animation.  

Still more work to be done on these systems!  But I'm really happy with it as a start, and it supports the ability to plug in new characters/animations easily!  So I'll add some more enemy types in soon to experiment with different sizes, speeds, perception settings, etc.

Gun System
I've also got a decent gun system working that allows the player to shoot bullets, and it produces a muzzle flash, and plays a sound randomly from an array of assigned sounds.

I still need to... 

• Support animations for the gun
• Support the idea of a clip size, ammo, reloading

I will add a few more guns soon, as the system will now let me plug more in quite quickly.

Ideas
Lots of ideas are percolating away while working on these basic sort of features.  So, I'm not sure how far I'll go with this experiment / prototype.  But I'm having fun with it for now!

I think I'd like to finish this off as a short experience, and put it out in some way, on Steam or itch.io, whether ti's a free download, or a few dollars, or something (depending on how far I take it).  

Steam VR - HTC Vive - Prototype Development - Video #003

Final update for the first weekend!
Happy that I made some progress overall, and I'm feeling pretty comfortable with the basics.




Now I need to tackle the gun behaviours themselves, as well as fine tuning the way the items attach to the player, to be in the correct positions, etc.
And then some things to shoot at!  I'm keen to get a basic gameplay loop happening, so there's an actual goal/challenge!  That way I can throw someone in the game and see if they actually have fun, and engage with the challenge.  

Steam VR - HTC Vive - Prototype Development - Video #002

Some clumsy wizard left all his guns out, for anyone to tinker with.
But none of them work!  I'd better see if I can get them into action.  :)

Steam VR - HTC Vive - Prototype Development - Video #001

This weekend I started my first solo Steam VR project with the HTC Vive!
Lots of fun. Sparking off lots of ideas.
This video is the results of the first two days... a mysterious, thiefy sort of thing!