Head Mounted Destinations

“The designer doesn’t come in the box.” It’s easy for designers to forget that players don’t initially know how to play their games, and adding tutorials too late in production can lead to bad first time user experiences (FTUE). As always, VR only complicates the problem. This week, we discuss all these issues and more. How exactly do you train your player to play your game?

Timestamps:

0:58 - Introduction

4:50 - FTUE

7:56 - "Glimmer Grove" Example

10:45 - Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners

17:30 - Limiting The Lessons

21:00 - Avoid Teaching the Wrong Thing (Battlewake)

24:36 - Player Expectations

27:47 - Ongoing Instruction

31:06 - The VR “Wow!” Moment

33:56 - Building Feedback into your Mechanics

35:50 - VR Conventions

39:09 - Wrap-up

Games We Mention:

Fruit Ninja VR

The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners

Vader Immortal

Battlewake

SUPERHOT VR

Until You Fall

Shadow of War

The Last of Us Part II

Asgard’s Wrath

Stormland

We talk about POPULATION: ONE, the next big VR battle royale. Carlos raves about the game while Matt brings a critical eye to temper the fandom. The marketplace of ideas has now become an arena...and to the victor goes the bananas.

Catch the full show notes here.

Smooth or Teleport? Armswing or Joystick? These are some of the most contentious questions in the VR community, but as developers we have to know how to design content that works for all players. Listen in to hear how game developers think about how you move in VR!

Catch the full show notes here.

Timestamps:

01:09 - Why do we need both Teleport and Smooth Locomotion?

05:26 - Exceptions to the rule

10:20 - Challenges of Teleport Locomotion

13:15 - Feature Idea: Edge-Aligned Teleport

18:10 - Challenges of Smooth Locomotion

30:06 - Designing for Both Methods

Humans need human stories. Lone Echo and Half-Life: Alyx deliver two of the best human stories in VR to date. Where do they excel, and what could be improved? Join us for an exploration of these games and insight into the future of VR storytelling.

Lone Echo

Half-Life: Alyx

Timestamps:

00:51 - Introduction

02:04 - Storytelling Challenges in Games

10:49 - Lone Echo

31:33 - Half-Life: Alyx

41:25 - Larger Takeaways

Did you know there’s a whole other storefront for Quest games? It’s not a black market, it’s not hard to get access to, and lots of the games are free. Come along with us and discover a whole new world of indie games, demos, betas, and experimental experiences!

Timestamps and Links:

1:00 - Intro to SideQuest

10:30 - Virtual Desktop VR Patch

14:30 - Puzzling Places Beta

15:30 - Attack on Quest

17:00 - Crazy Kung Fu

18:20 - Crisis VRigade

20:10 - Hyper Dash

21:00 - Crossplay in VR

24:00 - OPERATION SERPENS

25:30 - Doom3Quest

28:00 - Demos (Racket: NX, Synth Riders), TO THE TOP

29:00 - Wrap-up

Did you recently get an Oculus Quest? Are you “out of games” to play? We give a rundown of our favorite games on the platform, categorized by their appeal and friendliness to new VR users. Look no further for the comprehensive list of Head Mounted Destinations-approved games.

Timestamps and Links:

3:29 - Bait!

4:05 - Virtual Virtual Reality

4:37 - Racket: NX

5:43 - Dance Central

6:33 - Tetris Effect

7:49 - Raccoon Lagoon

9:31 - Shadow Point

9:58 - OhShape, AUDICA

14:18 - Color Space

15:55 - VR Chat

16:25 - Rec Room

17:07 - PokerStars VR

18:12 - Echo Arena

19:45 - Blaston

20:59 - POPULATION: ONE

22:45 - Pistol Whip

24:29 - Phantom: Covert Ops

24:52 - Robo Recall: Unplugged

26:09 - Sairento VR: Untethered

27:18 - Time Stall

28:41 - Gun Club VR

29:57 - Red Matter

30:49 - The Room VR: A Dark Matter

31:08 - Moss, Trover Saves the Universe

Ever wonder what it sounds like when game developers brainstorm game ideas? WONDER NO MORE! In this off-the-clock brainstorm session we discuss a new take on a popular genre.

We take an in-depth look at VR game lobbies -- our experiences with them, their benefits, downsides, and ways to evolve them in the future. Be sure to check out the extra links at the top of the show notes!

Trust Spectrum

Patterns for building relationships

Playground design

Proxemics (See this Owlchemy talk for an example of applying the concept in VR)

Timestamps:

1:05 - Echo Arena and Rec Room

6:42 - Lobby Culture and Demographics

12:00 - Lobby Activities

13:12 - Star Trek Bridge Crew

17:30 - What would be the perfect lobby?

24:10 - Privacy Spectrum

31:30 - Cosmetics and Creating a Home

Things we mention:

Echo Arena

Rec Room

Population One

Fortnite

Star Trek Bridge Crew

Deep Rock Galactic

“Making Games That Stand Out and Survive” GDC talk

Some VR games, like Echo Arena and Blaston, are closer to being sports than they are to being videogames. We feel these ''hypersports'' have the potential to catch on as mainstream sports in a way that e-sports will never be able to. But how do we know if a game is a hypersport? And what is stopping hypersports from going mainstream? Tune in to hear us pick apart these issues.

Timestamps:

1:01 - What is a Hypersport?

4:06 - Why are sports popular?

5:37 - Why aren’t Hypersports catching on?

14:39 - Subculture and MONEY

18:55 - Summary

Things we mention:

Echo Arena

Blaston

Racket: NX