Overview and intentions
Overview
2022 - 3 months - part time
Vault Plunderer is a Single-player escape game in virtual reality, made with Unreal Engine 4.
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The player embodies a looter in Egypt in the 1970s. During a vestige excavation, he falls into a crevasse and finds himself trapped in a large underground cavern. To survive, he will have to escape before nightfall, when his convoy leaves. To find the exit, he will have to explore the place and solve various riddles and puzzles.
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Intentions:
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Exclusive to the specificities of VR:
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picking up and manipulating objects with hands
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Use both hands
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Do impossible things in a physical escape room
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Playable spaces, desire for greatness:​
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A constraint: A playable physical area of 3 x 3 m
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A solution: remote manipulation
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Team composition :
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Oscar Baudry Sound Art Direction & Sound Design
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Thomas Blengino Visual Art Direction & Programming
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Théophile Boraud Programming & Integration
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Kiyan Forestier Level Design & SFX
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Florian Hubert Game Design & Documentation
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Aymeric Godivier Game Design & Documentation
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Margaux Muller Artistic Direction & VFX
Roles on this project
During the development of this project, I mainly worked on the Level Design, the Game Feel,
the technical part regarding the headset / software link, as well as a part of the vfx.
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The goal was to produce a functional and intuitive VR system, instantly understandable in its interactions at first glance, even for inexperienced players.
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As for the Level Design, the objective was to produce an organic whole, so that the puzzles seem to be part of a coherent overall, and not a series of well-defined puzzles.
Main mechanics
Remote manipulation - trigger action
Game
Design
Secondary mechanics:
Pitons fire - trigger action
Level Design: Circulatories
Level Design
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The virtual space must be absolutely equal to the real space. The playing area having been transcribed from an area of 3 meters by 3 meters, the dimensions in play had to be perfect.
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VR, among its constraints, is governed by the physical movements and displacements of the player.
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Spread out the elements to facilitate circulation
Level Design: Creating consistency
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Tangle puzzles and connect them discreetly
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Facilitates the understanding / sequencing of puzzles
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Enhances immersion
Level Design: Varying heights
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VR offers unique possibilities for in-game movement, since the movements are modeled after those of the player.
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Placing the control panels at different heights and inclinations drastically increases variety in gameplay.
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The sizes of the elements, their distance from the player and their heights were the main sources of risk when creating the Level Design.
Level Design: Guiding the player's eye
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Since VR is very eye- and attention-directed, it is possible to miss certain events completely.
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To overcome this, several means have been deployed:
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Sound and light games to attract the eye
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progressive revelation of the environment
Level Design: Fueling the Tension
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The VR headset induces a different perception of the game.
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Immersion plunges the player into the heart of the game's atmosphere; the particular display of the VR offers other tension possibilities.
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Constant presence of the monster
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Strange, mysterious: the tension comes from the monster's lack of attack
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Overall heavy graphic and sound atmosphere
Gallery
Cutscene: demo ending
