The VR escape room game project - part 1

Our newest project concerns an area of XR that we have not worked with before: virtual reality. This technology, by definition, means the creation of a completely virtual environment, in contrast with AR, where virtual objects are projected into reality.

This technology, of course, offers unique advantages and disadvantages. The main advantages are the complete freedom of environment (that is, not having to take into account objects already in the space – except to avoid injuries), improvements in the effectiveness of long-distance communication and many other things. The disadvantages, however are also numerous: having a large impact on the human body, both mental (addiction) and physical (nausea, eye strain) and higher cost than other technologies.

Overall, however, more and more people are using VR. Entertainment, of course, is what it grew out of – and things such as movies, video games, and more are increasing consumer interest in VR. Industrial applications are equally numerous – healthcare, tourism, architecture, education, marketing, journalism and even things such as law enforcement have been users of VR.

So, what do we do with all this? Well, we’re going to experiment with three technologies unique to VR in the form of a game. These three are locomotion (moving around in the virtual environment), interaction with objects in the virtual environment and immersive audio.

The inspiration for our project was twofold. One was a non-VR video game called Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes. The basic premise of this game is a cooperative game in which the players have to disarm a bomb. However, the teams are playing divided into two groups – a one-person group, who can see and interact with the bomb, and all other players, who are the only ones with access to the manual – in which the ways to “disarm” the various puzzles are written.

The other inspirations were escape rooms – of which both physical and VR versions already exist. 

 

These games involve the solving of puzzles in order to escape a closed area – most often a single room, but complex environments are also becoming widespread.

So, we have combined these two ideas with VR. In our game, a player in the virtual environment will have to solve various puzzles to escape a room – just as in escape rooms. Some of these puzzles will involve the moving of objects in the virtual environment, some will involve detecting the locations of audio sources in VR, and a few others. In this task, however, players will be assisted by an external helper – their “mission control” as we have nicknamed it. This helper will have to interpret clues that are only seen in the virtual environment with the help of a guide that is shipped with the game – capturing the essence of the gameplay of Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes.

Currently, the team is investigating various methods of design and implementation – more updates on this will come next week.