CMGoTime - An open-days experience!
Features from Team
All of our team members put in a lot of effort into this project, within the short amount of time given to us. As such, there are even more aspects to the game which won't be covered on this website. Small examples of such are shown below, the first one being the "Reset Room" entered after defeat, and the second one being a welding minigame in space.
About the Minigames
By picking the pirate timeline on the timemachine, you would come across a mutiny. With every hit you take, the pirate comes closer to you, eventually pushing you off the plank. If parried and hit often enough though, he falls down the plank himself.
By picking the painters timeline, you end up on a narrow scaffolding, standing infront of a painting. You receive four minutes to improve this painting, and with every minute passing, a church bell can be heard ringing across the hall.
Context
During the second year of the study at Saxion University of Applied Sciences, we got to choose from a list of themes, that we would have to base our project upon.
For this project we chose "Plank Experience", inspired by the VR game "Richie’s Plank Experience".
The supervisors of this project were our lecturers from the study.
The Team:
- 3 Artists (Simona Parvulova, Minh Thu Pham, Ana-Maria Niculescu)
- 2 Designers (Wilhelm Daudeji & Robert Patru)
- 2 Engineers (Daria Petcu & Me)
The goal of this project was to create a similar experience to that of the game mentioned above. What style to go for, and what it would be about exactly, was left to our own creativity. Competing with the other projects, there was a chance to get the project shown on open-days, as a promotional product for the study.
My Contributions
This was my first experience with developing a VR application. Though it did come with some difficulties at first, as movement and interaction needed to be handled quite differently,
it didn't take long before I got used to it within Unity. In the end,
the most important aspects I worked on were:
-
The Fencing Minigame
- State Machine for handling Battle Stages
- Animation handling of the Enemy Pirate
- Collision Evaluation (Checking which Body Part was hit)
-
The Painting Minigame
- Efficient painting on Texture with different colors
- Different shapes for painting based on Brush Type
- Action & Tweening (e.g. for Buttons, or Character Movement)
- Setting up Collision for VR interactable Objects
Conclusion
This project introduced me to VR Technology and Development, and has offered me plenty of experience prior to starting my internship at Saxion XR Lab.
I was able to learn not just the differences between VR and PC applications, but also the common aspects they share, such as logic basics and event handling. If not working on features, most time was spent trying to fix and optimize certain VR Character interactions, such as grabbing objects, or weird collision with the foothold of the Player.
In the end though, although more polishing could've been done of course, the amount of work done and the features added in this short amount of time, was something that the whole team was very proud of. This game has been shown during open-days, and was perceived as very positive by both visitors and teachers.
Noteworthy Achievements
First VR Experience
Though challenges and difficulties were encountered, this project was a great entry into VR Technology. It marks the beginning of my interest in this developing sector.
Fast but Focused
Developing a game using unfamiliar technology takes it's time. Regardless, the team & me went through this project smoothly, focusing on one thing at a time, while keeping up the speed.
Showcased on Open-Days
As mentioned in the conclusion, this project was showcased during open-days. Feedback was very positive from both teachers and visitors alike, proving this project's success.