The inspiration came from an idea to create a game that involves finding signals in the cosmos. Originally we wanted to build it for the mobile platform using built in constellation apps with the gyroscope but when the GearVR was released we thought that being able to view gigantic galaxy clusters in VR would be super-cool. We are keen disciples of science, always interested in things like red-shift and quantum tunneling and with Interstellar recently hitting our silver screens we felt this was a great to time to see if we can build a game out of this idea.
You play as Dr S Becket in charge of the Q.U.E.S.T (Quantum Energy Space Telescope) system which is currently orbiting earth. In 2015 Dr Becket's team re-analysed the WOW! signal discovered in 1977 and uncovered new data that turned out to be a schematic. A schematic for a quantum telescope.
The telescope took 5 years to build and launch, it is now 2020. When the telescope was switched on for the first time the otherwise silent, dark sky was lit up with signals from all over the universe. You are tasked with studying these signals and publishing your results to an eager world and find why and whom sent us that signal.
The included screenshots are some early concept art. The game will begin in the space station, we activate the telescope which begins to scan a target galaxy for signals. We can zoom into the galaxy and start to search by quadrant. Finally once we have honed in on a signal (with look based triggers) we can zoom into a star system and search for clues about what this signal is. Advancement in the game will be tracked by giving your scientific discoveries to the scientific committee on earth. This in turn will enable you to buy and install upgrades which enable you to "hear" new signals out there in the galaxy. The game will be mainly GUI based, hopefully allowing us time to get enough content in for users to enjoy in this prototype.
Ultimately, we want the users to be surrounded by stars and celestial bodies, taking advantage of the 360 degree nature of the GearVR. The control system will be touch pad only (with extra support for control pads if necessary). This means we do not alienate users without the gamepad.
We look forward to the competition and seeing what we and others can come up with. Long live VR!
Milestone 2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Things are progressing nicely with the prototype. We have the general game states in and working and we can tap through (via the touchpad) from one area to the next. We can listen to a signal when we are in a quadrant and then dive into the mission. The mission has a frequency slider that enables us to "tune" to quantum frequencies and identify mystery objects in these alien solar systems.
Up next is fleshing out the first mission and seeing if the gameplay is fun for our users before we look at an initial polish pass.
Video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZjXeHhAwYs
Milestone 3 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It has taken a few attempts to get the signal searching tool right. Now we can zoom in on an unknown signal and then fine tune the frequency to clear out the static. You have to listen very carefully as you rotate the rings. Once you get the right pattern , you unlock the data hidden in the is object.
Now the basic mechanics are in, we can populate this solar system with more signals for the players to discover.
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