oculus platformer

• 

  Reflective surfaces make this room look like an icicle cave.

• 

  Staircase with moving water texture, really surreal!

• 

  Leap of faith, example of 'epic moment'. Shoutout to SBHacks :~)

• 

  Starting zone

• 

  My personal favorite view - it's was pretty breathtaking for me in VR.

• 

  Me doin a demo!

Inspiration

The goal was to combine OCULUS and Muse technology to create an extra layer of gameplay element (brainwaves) to control certain parts of the game.

Muse separates it's data into four quadrants. We were going to pull the data from the Android SDK (Windows SDK not available yet) and port it into the Unreal Engine. If the average of the stress levels was above 60%, it would trigger a binary switch which would allow the user to put a great force on a block from some distance away. It was essentially telekinesis in VR.

What it does

Since we ran out of time, at the moment it's just a cool OCULUS platformer. (Sorry to let ya down!) I designed the map to make it challenging and visually appealing at the same time. Boxes, narrow walkways, and fast-paced movement controls made things difficult for the player.

Players can make a mini-explosion happen in front of them by pushing T, which will set boxes near them flying. Using this mechanic, something even as simple as boxes can be made into a fun-to-beat enemy. I also observed that stacks of small blocks were a lot of fun to blow away - it felt a little epic for the player. So I made sure to include some of those juicy moments in the level :~)

How we built it

OCULUS, Unreal Engine 4, Muse SDK, C++

Challenges we ran into

Muse SDK - Since the SDK was limited to Android, it was difficult for us to get the data across. We asked for some help and experimented with C-sockets, but it was taking too long. By the time we came up with another solution, it was too late!

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We've never done anything with OCULUS or UNREAL before, so learning how to use the UNREAL engine and make a slick looking VR game in so short a time felt really nice.

What we learned

When one solution is projected to take a long time, search for another way. While UNREAL Engine has pretty graphics and physics, there are some drawbacks (such as much less support than a game engine such as UNITY). Don't be afraid to ask for help! Sick game development skills!

What's next for oculus platformer

Potentially a story/enemy ai, and actually integrating the Muse (haha)

Built With

• muse
• oculus
• oculus-gear-vr
• unreal-engine