TECHNOLUST: THOUGHT CRIMES

OVERVIEW

You (the player), take the role of a security professional charged with maintaining order in the dystopian cyberpunk universe of Technolust. Accompanied by your heavily modified artificial intelligence program , you’ll need to be part hacker, part detective and possibly part cyborg to make it through a work shift with any loot in your pocket to fuel your constant need for ramen noodles and VR apps.

Thought Crimes

GAMEPLAY

Surrounded by banks of monitors, trinkets and gizmos, the player must track down a suspected criminal(s) before they commit the crime predicted by his/her A.I.

At the moment the A.I. predicts a crime, the player is given the last 20 minutes of data collect by security equipment to scrub through for clues as to who, where and how the crime will be committed.

A shift ends when, either the criminal(s) are neutralized, or time runs out and the predicted event occurs.

The main resource is time. Every investigation (or move) the player makes, puts criminals once step closer to committing said crime.

“Where in the World is Carmen Sandiago”, “Papers Please”, “Clue” and "Five Nights at Freddie's" are all inspirations. We've added elements of scrubbable timelines, CCTV footage, sensor data, and tough moral decisions.

Sample gameplay video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AU2KYT5F3E0

CONTROLS

This is a touchpad only game. The player is stationary and seated at his security terminal. They can tap to select UI elements or swipe to scrub through security footage and radio stations.

GAME MECHANICS

Core gameplay consists of looking for clues in security frames. Clues lead the player to different areas or to the identity of suspects. When suspects are identified, the player issues a warrant and dispatches a drone to "deal with" the individuals. The player is rewarded or docked credits based on her/his performance and the outcome of the predicted crime. Credits can be used to buy visual upgrades and "power-ups".

INNOVATION

With multiple VR titles under our belts, our team has learned what works and what doesn't in VR. Attention has been spent to ensure a comfortable and accessible experience. We've concentrated our efforts on maximizing the use of the controls offered by the Gear VR hardware. Swipe, tap and gaze. Attention to detail in the environment is key for an immersive VR experience. Dust motes drift through the scenes, a fly buzzes in the corner and CRT monitors glow and flicker. We have tried to make this feel like a believable world.

The use of fully animated photoscanned NPC's is innovative not only for VR, but for gaming in general. Our characters have realistic social animations. They will look into your eyes, their pupils dilate, and the shift attention to other points of interest in the environment. Things like microsaccades and motion captured animation add to their believably.

UI is very VR friendly. Text is kept as large and clean as possible for readability. Interesting objects are kept at arms length to prevent the player from leaning in for a closer look without positional tracking. We're using a unique technique to correct for the "black smearing" effect produced by high contrast blacks on OLED screens.

Thought Crimes