XO Odyssey

XO Odyssey is a story-driven Quest rail shooter. You Fight for Zephyria. Update: progression system + unlockable ships, weapon variants, difficulty modes, tutorial for better onboarding.

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Inspiration

We are a XR Studio of two people and we aim to create XR experiences that are intuitive, dynamic and fun. XO Odyssey was built to take make the player feel the magic of VR immersion and combine arcade style fun with new high tech technology of Meta Quest Headsets. All that wrapped in an exciting sci-fi mission: reach the impossible planet Zephyria and save humanity.

What it does

XO Odyssey is a linear, fast-paced VR rail shooter for Meta Quest 3/3S/Pro. You fly through action-heavy levels, defeat enemies, and survive using lasers, rockets, torpedoes, and power-ups.

For the competition we’re submitting it as an UPDATED project, providing the first 5 levels, including:

  • A new progression & unlock system (earn score, level up, unlock ships)
  • Ship preview/selection in the main menu
  • Ship attribute boosts (e.g., stronger shields, longer speed boost)
  • Ship weapon variants (full-auto lasers, burst rockets/torpedoes) with unique visuals
  • Three difficulty modes
  • Better onboarding via controller overview and tutorial sections

How we built it

We built XO Odyssey in Unity 6 using OpenXR, targeting the Meta Quest 3 / 3s as a standalone VR experience.

Key building blocks:

  • Rail system for pathing the ship through each level
  • Damage & health systems shared between player and enemies
  • Score & combo system for rewarding accuracy and risk-taking
  • Cockpit-focused VR controls tuned for comfort and readability

We iterated heavily on feel: weapon feedback, hit reactions, explosion timing, and pacing along the spline so each run feels tight and intentional.

The updated work was mostly systems and UX, some animations, UI- ,VFX-,SFX- and 3D- design.

Challenges we ran into

  • Designing progression so it fits into the gameplay loop and feels rewarding
  • Keeping ship variants distinct(Animations,UI,VFX,SFX) while preserving a consistent core combat loop
  • Making new UI flows quick and intuitive in VR (selection, preview, difficulty)
  • Ensuring Tutorial Sections are straightforward and easily understandable for new Players as well as seasoned veterans.
  • Performance on standalone hardware while keeping a consistent stylised look and maintaining a cinematic feel.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

  • A complete end-to-end VR rail shooter built by a two person team.
  • Distinct levels that feel like one connected journey through space.
  • A cockpit experience that feels powerful but still comfortable on Quest.
  • A progression system that adds long-term motivation and replay-ability
  • Clear onboarding improvements so new players can jump in faster

What we learned

  • Systemic changes (progression, selection, difficulty) can be a great incentive to motivate the player to go on and even replay sections.
  • VR UI needs to be clearly readable, and easy to understand—especially in action games.
  • Balancing “cool visuals” with performance discipline is crucial on standalone headsets (Especially the Quest 3s)

What's next for XO Odyssey

  • Finish and polish all 10 levels.
  • Further balancing and testing before the final release.
  • Prepare the commercial release and submission pipeline for the Meta Quest Store.

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