VR / AR Project 3 | Escape Room in VR
BY: JAE RIM CHOI & JANELLE CUETO
Game download link: HERE
CONCEPT
The idea for this project is to recreate an escape room in VR for the HTC VIVE. We want to have the user trapped in a room with a series of intractable objects that the user is allowed to walk up to and play around with to gather the information needed to escape. We've taken much of our inspiration for this idea from point-and-click escape-the-room browser games that were popular in our childhood, and we'd like to integrate other ideas from tv shows and games to make this room our own. VR would be incredibly beneficial for this type of game because using a VR headset, the player would be fully submersed into this room, and it would pose a more real challenge to escape it. It would be like going to an actual escape the room challenge, without leaving your home and having to pay for it. The interactions between the player and the objects within the room could include actions like pick-locking, turning keys, opening various boxes or doors, punching in keypad combinations, and so many more associated with escape room games. We want this game to be an authentically challenging one, as well as one that's filled with fun quirks like archery for shooting things towards the top of the room or other little unlockable mini game features.
We plan to develop this game for the VIVE using the Unity game engine. Since we've all had a bit of experience using the Unity editor for our first project, we figured we should keep using Unity. Unity 3D in general is a great engine for any kind of 3D game, and we think it'll be easy in terms of asset creation and the integration of physics to implement some of the actions we want for our escape room. This game engine also allows us to work on the cloud allowing work to be easily tracked and reversible if need be.
APPLICATION DESCRIPTION
In our application, there are a couple games available, the primary being the Escape Room, the other being an unlockable tower defense game. Within the Escape Room, almost everything is fully functional. We've included various home items such as a kitchen with a refrigerator, a desk with drawers that the user can open and close, and a TV that can turn on and off with a remote controller. Though some object are clues that lead to one another, the room was made to be fully functional regardless of that object being used towards the end goal of the puzzle or not.
Opening the application there is a 'menu screen' that contains the start option for both the Escape Room and the Defender game. Defender is locked in the beginning and can be unlocked inside the Escape Room.
Once inside the Escape Room, there are a series of intractable objects and their reactions that ultimately lead to the game's end. Instead of listing the answer to the puzzle here, feel free to view the Escape Room details with this link.
A bonus feature of the Escape Room is an unlock-able tower defense game called Defender. Defender is unlocked by interacting with specific objects in the Escape Room. After unlocking the game a player can play it by clicking play on the home screen. Upon entering the game the player will appear in a fantasy themed grassy field. A fairy NPC is sitting waiting for player interaction to start the wave of monsters. The fairy will provide a sword and crossbow to fight. To defender the tower, simply defeat the monsters rushing towards it by swinging the sword or shooting the crossbow using the trigger. The game ends when either the tower falls or the player is defeated. Happy defending!
DESIGN PROCESS
To create this game, we had come up with an initial game plan before we touched any code or made any assets. Originally, as detailed in our concept, we wanted this to just be an Escape Room. We went about playing other available escape room point-and-click flash games and outlining an entire puzzle before creating the game.
Jae created Defender, a tower defense game, to further explore Vive Controller capabilities. This is a game on its own with separate levels and its own UI.
One of the challenges we faced while creating this game was animating the movements of interactable objects in the Escape Room. Movements like opening and closing drawers, doors, and also a treasure chest required a lot of work because we wanted the objects to do their actions naturally. Originally, we created animations with the objects created in Blender and we intended to play that animation when we touched the object with a Vive controller. Instead, we decided on allowing the player to grab the object and restrict that object's movement using an array of colliders and pivot points. Another challenge was creating a solid form of movement for the player. We thought about implementing the same 'flying' around feature that the class used for the first project, but we wanted to restrict the player to remain grounded and in bounds at all times. It proved a lot easier to use teleportation and restrict the area that the teleportation mechanic could reach.
An area we really explored for this application was the interaction between the player and the Vive's controllers. This was one of the main reasons for the creation of Defender, and the controls for both games are detailed below.
ASSETS
In Escape Room, all of the assets have been created by us as well as most of the textures. Most of assets for the escape room part 1 was designed by Janelle Cueto and part 2 was designed by me.
