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Eye of the Temple

Explore an vast and treacherous temple in room-scale VR · By runevision

New Build February 20 (Gems!)

A topic by runevision created Feb 20, 2017 Views: 545 Replies: 8
Viewing posts 1 to 5
Developer (1 edit)

New build available February 20. (Read here how to sign up to get access.)

New additions:

  • There are now gems throughout the temple that you can collect.
  • Moving platforms have glowing symbols on them.
  • Visuals: Intro area has some red stones and some of the dungeons have grittier gray stones and spikes.
  • The way the platforms move has been tweaked, hopefully to further reduce potential for dizzyness.

Instructions:

  • Play area of 2.2 by 2.2 meters needed.
  • Only one controller needed for now. Turn the other controller off for best results.

Notes on gems:

The gems are found throughout the temple. The exact placement tries to take player proportions into account so that they are at a comfortable distance for reaching. I haven't tested this on different people yet though. If you could let me know how it works for you and how tall you are, that would be helpful. If you don't want to share that, that's ok too.

Right now the gems don't do anything yet. Later I will implement at the minimum a way for you to see how many you collected.

Beyond that I need to decide if the gems have a critical or non-critical function:

A critical function of the gems could be if they are used to unlock new areas in the game and thus are needed to progress. Or an almost-critical function would be to unlock alternative paths or secret rooms not otherwise accessible. This is still fairly critical because it would be annoying if you're trying to see 100% content of a game to find out you can't due to some mistake made earlier that's too late to do anything about. Currently there are one-way platforms that you can take which will prevent you from going back to collect any gems you might have missed. If I make the gems critical, I'd have to find a way to make it possible to always go back to all areas of the temple.

Non-critical functions of the gems could be highscore, achievements, and, I dunno, unlockable hats if I get a selfie stick implemented for the game. :P Old games would typically grant you extra lives, but it doesn't work for modern games with infinite lives.

For now I refrained from placing gems at platforms that only go one way. If there were gems there and you failed to pick one up, you wouldn't have a second chance and I thought that might feel unfair or frustrating.

What do you think of the gems?


Reply to share your thoughts. All feedback welcome!

(+1)

The gems look like a cool add on. Looking forward to trying it ou

(1 edit) (+1)

I think having the gems as a semi-critical component would be the way to go. That would give people more motivation to collect them due to the mystery of unlocking secret rooms etc, whilst at the same time this doesn't force them to collect them. This would obviously have to be explained to the player at the start, so they know the reason for collecting them and what benefit it has.

I have a fairly low ceiling room, if I extend my arm upwards straight then I will hit the ceiling. I haven't tried this version yet so I don't know how vertical the arm would need to go, but it's just something that makes me wary when seeing reaching up to collect gems.

Developer

All right, let me know if the height is a problem once you've tried it. I managed to not hit out hanging lamp so I'm optimistic, but let me know how it goes for you.

(+1)

Just tried this out and didn't hit my ceiling, wasn't even close. My arm was never straight so no problems at all.

I liked the extra colour you've added to it, definitely makes a positive difference. The texture of the blocks inside the narrow corridors part is much better as well. The spikes are a good addition, just adds that little bit more "I don't want to fall off here" feeling.

I'm not sure what I think of the pink gems. I like the idea, just seems a bit random. With the torch being the thing you have to hit them with, it feels like it should be more connected to the torch somehow, like if it was something which disappeared in a puff of flames when the torch hit it, would make more sense in my head. Just my personal preference though, other people may really like the gems.

Oh and I noticed a few of the gems were clipped inside 1 of the columns near the entrance to the temple as well.

Developer

Ok cool, glad the height vs. ceiling is not a problem!

I noticed a bit of clipping as well; I'll look into fixing that.

I haven't yet settled on the appearance of the gems; I think in the end there might be another tool for the other hand and you can pick up gems with either one, so I'm not sure I want to tie it to the torch specifically just yet. But I agree it seems maybe a bit random now. I'll be thinking about what I can do about that.

where do I go to get the new build

never mind, figured it out

(+1)

Thanks for giving me a chance to try out! Great job so far;

Some feedback after my first 15 minutes of playing, will do my best to update when I try it out some more.

I liked the general look and feel of everything, the gameplay, the gems, the ducking and jumping aside to avoid obstacles, ... Very nice so far!

Some feedback, just my 2 cents:

  • Not a big fan of the rolling stones where you have to step backwards; Gave me quite an uncomfortable feeling to be honest; This seemed to get better over time but I would recommend not overusing them
  • There is a certain sort of scratching sound you hear regularly which I wasn't really able to figure out what it was but which made me feel like someone else could pop up any moment.
  • On two separate occasions even though I thought I had ducked deep enough I still fell off; On the other hand, some of the ones where you had to step / lean aside I got through even though it felt like my body should have been pushed off. Not sure how to improve this but just letting you know
  • Maybe this is already the case or already planned but I think If you really want to make this into a full game at full price (which you should, great so far!), the gameplay needs to have some variety; Occasionally the infinite series of stepping between stones should be interrupted with something else; I think changing it up with the occasional puzzle would really help keep it fun for a long time.
  • Gems: Great addition; Maybe make them a bit more visible ahead of tim; I think semi-critical is the way to go here

Once again, very good so far, will update when I get some more time but really looking forward to where this is going :)