Exorcist: A VR Game - 2023
Role: Narrative & Combat Designer and Unity Developer
Exorcist: A VR Game is a short prototype created in conjunction with the MA Virtual Reality Students from UAL’s London College of Communication. Using the Meta Oculus Quest 2’s hand gesture tracking feature, we created a narrative puzzle game inspired by traditional Chinese folklore, featuring a unique combat system that requires players to be fully immersed in the game-laying experience in a VR space.
Mechanics: Full Body Engagement
The main inspiration for the project came from the idea of photography, which uses one’s hands to mimic the way camera fames work in order to create pre-shooting aesthetic compositions. However, this iconic hand gesture in itself can be used in VR hand capture, which allows us to assign mechanical value.
This physical requirement means that players would have to, quite literally, physically engage with the space with an activity, which will increase the immersion of the narrative when combined with sound effects and other game juice features.
This is then complimented by a similar design for the combat mechanics, which reauire players to use a sword just like it would be in the real world, Players would have to wield it and wave it in order to hit the enemy.
These immersive features as mechanics ensure that, when it comes to narrative design, the game allows players to be fully sucked into the process, treating the whole experience as not just a psychological, but a quite physical activity that requires them to use their body reflexes, hands gestures, and vision to achieve the game’s objectives.