Currently at CXR Agency VR we are working on an internal exercise to further refine our VR skills while exploring new mechanics and overall experience paradigms. We laid some ground rules for this exercise in particular and made some decisions in line with those rules. The first rule was that we wanted to create an experience that would heavily borrow from surreal qualities. The second rule was that we wanted to execute this surreal environment in a stylized low-poly art-style (there was no particular performance reasons behind this decision – rather we are really digging low-poly art right now and kind of wanted to pig out – it also helped that we felt we could use this to our advantage to further establish a surreal feel).

With our baseline rules we sought out to begin to design some of the basic mechanics and interactions of the experience. Through our brainstorming sessions around surreal environments we kept coming back to the Hallelujah mountains from James Cameron’s Avatar. We kept on thinking about how interacting and getting lost among such a group of floating islands and all such an environment could offer would be interesting.

Building upon the environment, we wanted any additional mechanics to be easily graspable by all users including those who are more used to a casual game. Additionally, we wanted much of the gameplay to revolve around getting around the islands in a logical and progressive manner. Additionally, we wanted to really highlight and successfully convey the following qualities and feelings to the user: (1) Isolation (2) Being Lost (3) Mystery (4) Exploration (5) Familiar, yet, alien world. We looked to some of our favorite games for inspiration during these early design stages, including Gone Home, Journey, No Man’s Sky and The Vanishing of Ethan Carter to name a few.

As we prototyped and tested we begun to establish a core game loop that we liked – we like it because it was simple, straightforward and fun.

For more information on augmented and virtual reality software development, virtual reality development cost and virtual reality programming, please feel free to reach out to us at CXR Agency and we would be more than happy to assist. At CXR Agency, we make sure to keep our pulse on all things AR, VR and XR.

Our mission is to reimagine how people interact with brands. To disrupt the status quo and uncover values others can’t find. To solve tomorrow’s business challenges in thoughtful, elegant ways. We aim to be strategic leaders in emergent technologies, innovators in user experiences. Our mission is to arm businesses for digital revolution. Check out our VR case studies at www.CXR Agency.com for more information.