Unity tutorials - Pre-production

Now in pre-production and about to dive in to create the world, I've been following Unity tutorials about creating a VR experience.

https://learn.unity.com/tutorial/unit-1-design-develop-and-deploy-for-vr?uv=2018.4&courseId=5d955b5dedbc2a319caab9a0#5d955a53edbc2a001f0ea3ff

Notes:

For many experiences, sounds are more important than the visuals in selling the believability of the experience
Asset optimisation is crucial
The magic is not about the headset - it's about the worlds you create
Quality is first
Cristiano Ferriera - tools used in Oculus to evaluate performance evaluation

Pre-Production

Nail down ideation
Resources intended to use
Art references
Mind-mapping
Making forced connections - randomly pair nouns or adjectives http://creativityforyou.com/combomaker.html

How to find an audience for your idea

Passive experiences
Interactive experiences
Make the most of the technology you have
Make sure the interactions are solid and fun
Oculus rift want to feel immersed and in control
In-depth profiles on different types of gamers.
Target audience questions. 1) What are some comparable blind experience games 2) What are some comparable blind experience games in VR? 3) What do they do well? 4) What do they do poorly? 5) What are they missing? Use this as an opportunity to learn and to set myself apart
Puzzle games that find creative solutions to common mechanics. E.g Shadowpoint a puzzle game developed by Coatsink. Occlusion tool waved in front of object.. Eyeglass object look through it and discover another world to discover shadow and light puzzles. This eyeglass can be pulled over the head and now the viewer is inside another world.
To make a great VR app you need to be constantly playing in VR.
Build out ideal user profile. Do a persona profile.

VR game development and prototyping

What will the player be doing in my game/experience?
How will they be doing it?
How does the player progress through the game?
How do they navigate - find clever ways to guide the user to points of interest
How is the narrative delivered 'text', 'voiceover', 'thought bubbles' or something else?
Play test them with interested external people
Play test walking through a grey space picking up audio logs.
Controls and movement - Call out which buttons do what - Train the user like they've never been taught. Call out closed captions with pointers to fingers and controllers, help guide the user to the focus. Especially useful for new to VR players or non-gamers

Control options especially if players are left handed. Own mode, include toggle on and toggle off switch.
Benefit of teleportation is that it's comfortable. Consider teleportation fade to black.
Being clear on how to change comfort options is important.

Building a game design document (GDD)

Developing and prototyping

Management tools

Production

First stages

First playable: bare-bones version of your game that features early versions of core mechanics (jumping, collecting, shooting, flying) and affordances (the form of something suggests it's function e.g a door with a handle. That's an affordance that suggests you should pull rather than push) that your player can navigate and interact with. An action that a person perceives is possible) that your player can interact and navigate with
The game is very limited visually. It's important to get the scale correct. Core mechanics are important here. Scaling unit 8
Interim builds prove out locomotion, comfort, interactions, art style and scale
Iteratively develop your game using feedback.
Vertical slice - a portion of your game. Like a slice of cake
First vertical slice should represent character art and environmental art
Demonstrate all core aspects of gameplay and character interactions
Second vertical slice. Take feedback. Iterate.
Define your USP early
Performance is extremely important. 90fps. Unit 8 and 9 for performance. Wider variety of external play testers. Start with target user and branch out. Unit 10 for testing. Maybe contact Lynn and Stuart at Abertay.
Production phases simple put are alpha, beta and master

Final stages

Alpha - content complete, core mechanics complete, core features complete, quality assurance testing
Beta build - content complete, feature complete, core art, mechanics, gameplay. Test and test again. Sign up sheets with things to improve.
Master build - completed as result of testing.

Distribution

"More Than Meets The Eye" Animated VR Experience