So I’m making a VR game but what does this mean?
Primarily it means I will support the Oculus Rift Peripheral as the primary display for the game. But it also means I will be including gameplay that’s designed specifically with the VR unit in mind.
This approach is different from just ‘supporting’ a VR unit, there’s a lot more risk but the reward is also potentially higher.
The way I see it, taking an existing game and adding VR is relatively easy (ignoring UI and control issues) and low risk.
Designing and creating a game that requires VR has the potential to create a much more unique gaming experience. This seems like the most desirable path to follow, however..
Can I sell it? To make it worth investing my time and money, I would need(like) some way of recouping that cost (at the very least).
How big will the market be? This in entirely unknown. Being able to sell a game requires a market (duh) … pricing a game requires knowledge of that market size. Estimates can be made but it’s all guess work.
Should I just ditch the VR requirement? Including redundancies to allow playing without the headset and re-implementing VR specific gameplay elements for non-vr. Actually I think this is potentially the way to go. If a game can hold up on it’s own with the VR ‘gimmicks’ then it’s bound to be a better experience when actually using it’s VR.
When is the Oculus Rift releasing the consumer version? This is important for any financial estimations and release windows. I don’t see the point in releasing any VR only games until after the first Rift is released. Perhaps Oculus will even have their own market place solution for these games and it can become a platform unto itself? Or perhaps one of the major consoles will support it? PS4?
Do I really care about making any money? Well not really but it would be nice to be able to support myself from games without working other jobs!
How long should a play session be? The nature of an immersive 3D experience will limit the length of time someone can play a game. I think somewhere about 20-30 minutes is the ideal time. Maybe even smaller sessions would be desirable. This point would require a lot of testing I think.
If you build it they will come? Maybe it’s a chicken and egg situation, the size of the audience will grow as soon as there is something worth experiencing. One of the biggest advantages could also come from having limited games available in an emerging market. Get in early?
Building a VR game is super exciting, it can change games as we know them. Maybe it’s best to just embrace it and have a bit of a snuggle.
-Ryan