Hello everyone!

Welcome to our blog where we will talk about our current development with Submarine Explorer! This topic will be about the HTC Vive headset, the core idea about this game and my personal goal for this project.

The HTC Vive

When we received our HTC Vive headset the 30th November 2017 we were very happy and became even more inspired to develop Submarine Explorer! The first thing I did was to test out a couple of games and tried to understand how it worked and what we should think about when making a game in VR. An example would be how to not make the player feel sick and how the controllers affect the gameplay etc.

The idea behind this game

Submarine Explorer is a game that is supposed to be played in VR. The player controls a submarine and can complete missions, photograph new creatures or fish and earn more money in order to upgrade the submarine to reach more places.

I was the one who came up with the idea of Submarine Explorer. It started when I was brainstorming for a game. When I came up with something, the only thing I thought about was that the player only had one goal, that is to complete the mission. How will the player achieve it, and if it’s even possible to reach the goal? That is up for the player to find out.

Where should the game should take place in? Why not in the ocean? Personally, I really like the deep sea. What lies in there? New types of fish we haven’t even discovered yet? Is it just empty space? After that, I pitched it to my teachers in school with a couple of mock-up pictures sorted to one.

My idea about these mock-up pictures is that the player will sit in the submarine, look around and interact with the mouse. (Note: These are just a five-minute drawing)

Goals

Let’s talk about our goals. Everybody in the group has their own individual goals during our exam for this project. My goal is to research how games can be adapted for various disabilities. How can I make games that’s more inclusive? After I showed these pictures, my teachers’ first guess was that if this was in VR. I said no and thought more about it. Later that day, I said to myself “Since my goal is to adapt after disabilities. Will it work in VR?” After this project is done, I might see an answer.

That’s what I’m aiming to find out. My first step to understand more about the core issue, is to meet people with disabilities and let them play games. During their gameplay I want to discuss what their (if any) difficulties and possibilities are. Lastly I want to interview them about previous experiences and what to think about when making games.

During 28th November 2017 I reached out to a company that helps children and youths with their disabilities so that they can have a happier life. I asked for a meeting with them where I was to interview both children and youths by letting them play games. By letting them play games, I can understand more how to adapt games after disabilities. They seemed interested and said that they would get in touch with me in the future!

Together with my goal and Submarine Explorer. How can I make the game adapted after disabilities? From what I have planned, I want to make different control schemes. One with the regular gameplay, and one that’s adapted after disabilities.

There’s also a couple of things that I’m curious about. When making different game modes, won’t it be pointing to some players that actually has that kind of disability? If you don’t have a disability, you should take this game mode. If you have this disability, take this game mode. For me it sounds a bit rude and weird. I don’t want to force anyone into picking game modes. What I’m thinking about how to solve this is to not have the game mode picking at the start of the game. Instead, I think it would be best to have it as an option at the settings in game. I think I can answer this question much more detailed in the future.

Another thing that made me curious. How can a player with no arms play a game that’s in VR? When I thought about this, I felt like there was nothing that could’ve been adapted. Thankfully there was a solution! When I tested out a couple of games with the HTC Vive. I played a game where you only had to tilt your head and point a dot to things in order to interact with the game. I found out that this might be a feature to have in Submarine Explorer.

Thank you all for reading to this point. I hope you’ve had a great weekend and we will see you again next time!

Your regards
Tim