Details

Genre: Party Game
Team Size: 12
Project Duration: 16 Weeks
Year: 2021
Engine: Unreal Engine 4
Platform: HTC Vive, Oculus Quest and Valve Index
Roles: Generalist Programmer, Tech Lead

Key features

– Humorous adventure
– Non-Euclidean Spaces
– Entirely playble in a 3×3 space
– 1 to 1 movement system
– Enhanced Player presence thanks to Physical Hands
– Scalable VR Movement System
– I was the sole and only
programmer in the team. I worked on 95% of the logic of the project.

Description

Space A-Head is a VR game characterized by a 1 on 1 Non-Euclidean seamless movement system that allow it to be played entirely in a 3×3 space. The game also feature physical hands to allow interesting interactions with the objects and the environment.

Contributions

Concepting and Early prototype

– Research on multiple possible portal implementation and asses pros and cons for each of them.
– Feasibility tests and scope assessment.
– Choice of engine based on requirements and team profile.
– Coordination of the Tech Designers while working on the prototype.

Developers Non-VR Control Systems

– Design to provide a way to contribute for teammates lacking a VR headset.
– Hands can be controlled separetely in any direction.
– Controllable camera height.
– Multiple modes: Room Scale VR, Trackpad VR Movements (for people with not enough space in their room) and Non-VR Mouse & Keyboard controls (for people without a VR Headset).
– Extremely useful for quick tests.

VR Debug Tools

– Third Person VR Camera useful for level design and debug elements outside VR viewport.
– Can be fixed or attached to the Player.
– When attached, following Player’s rotation can be toggled.

– VR Debug Log that allow to print debug messages from withing VR.
– Design to be used exactly like a normal Print String node.
– Text can be scaled for people that can’t read well in VR.
– Can be enabled and disabled in any moment.

Teleportation System

– Designed to provide a seamless teleportation between areas.
– Multiple types of teleportation to provide flexibility for Level Designers: Airlock, Plane Portal and Plane Portals with Volumes.
– Portals are connected through a simple reference.
– Volumes designed to seamlessy teleport object that should be teleported together with the Player.
– Custom made Plane Portal crossing detection solution using Line-Plane intersection.
– Work with both Player and objects.
– Portals can be oriented in any direction.
– Plane Portals can be double-sided.

Physical Hands

– Enhanche Player presence through physical responses of the environment to Player’s actions.
– Debug Ghost Hands allow to visualize real hands position and identify possible balance in the Physics Constraint values.
– Designed to prevent Players undesired behaviours that could break the game.
– The system is able to precisely identify which object the Player intend to grab.
– The hands automatically release when Physics Constraint exert too much force on grabbed objects.

Physics Based Interactions

– Button, Lever and Slider.
– Respond to any physical interaction.
– Design with a “Plug&Play” philosphy to facilitate usability.
– Highly customizable.
– Return the input direction, the magnitude and they feature a turn on/off state that can be used to as an input for any controlled device.
– Reset to default state whe there are no inputs can be toggle.

Chaperon System

– Designed to discourage Players from trying to see through walls.
– Enabled by applying a simple tag on any collidable object.
– Detect automatically the ideal location to bring back the Player’s camera to a valid position.

Scalable Movement System

– Designed to allow people with limited space to still being able to enjoy the game.
– Designers can customize it to dedicated different adjustments for different room size.
– Hands are kept relative to the Player head.