s3300489 Expanding upon a traditional game genre using Virtual Reality.

Haigen Pennycuick

Expanding upon a traditional game

genre using Virtual Reality
Haigen Pennycuick

s3300489

Master of Animation, Games and Interactivity

Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology

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s3300489 Expanding upon a traditional game genre using Virtual Reality. Haigen Pennycuick

Abstract:
Imagine a video game that felt extremely familiar, one that evoked a sense of nostalgia not
just for video games but also for your childhood. This project explores the idea of expanding
upon the traditional genre of a 3D platformer utilizing Virtual Reality (VR). By using this
technology the aim is to create a world that feels immersive, by taking advantage of that
familiarity. The associated project and this report will explore the potential applications as
well as iterations for design that was created in order to attempt to achieve this. Through this
iterative design the hope is that future developers looking to recreate the same feelings may
use this as a guide for their own projects. In any case the outcome for this project will be one
of exploration and discovery as it unpacks the idea of rebuilding a world that is new and
interesting but feels a lot like home. Utilizing technology that is new, whilst keeping traditions
of old. Which brings the question, how do we expand upon a traditional game genre using
Virtual Reality? I plan to explore this through the genre of 3D platforming as it’s recent
resurfacing has called into mind the potential for utilizing nostalgia to a similar effect that
developers and publishers are currently to create a viable product for consumers.

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s3300489 Expanding upon a traditional game genre using Virtual Reality. Haigen Pennycuick

Contents

Abstract: 2

Contents 3

1. Introduction 4

2. Nostalgia 4

3. Approaching Design 5
i. Reactive and Comical Movement 5
ii. Vibrant and Colourful Art Style 6
iii. Engaging and Interesting Worlds 7

4. Methods 7

5. Conclusion 9

References: 10
Books: 10
Articles: 10
Games: 10

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s3300489 Expanding upon a traditional game genre using Virtual Reality. Haigen Pennycuick

1. Introduction
Video games are a very young medium, with Virtual Reality being an avenue of playing said
video games that is even younger. When we think of video games, what is it that we think
of? Perhaps the first ever video game you played, or your favourite one. “Super Mario 64”
made by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64 home console was the first introduction into 3D video
games and the first 3D platformer to be released with a full 360 degree camera. Throughout
the years, 3D platformers have always had this traditional camera view, with the ability to
rotate the camera around the playable character, but always looking at them. This tradition
has followed through many platformers and is even used today in other genres such as
shooters or action/adventure games. However, what if we could break this cycle? What if
there was a way to introduce a new element of moving the camera around whilst still
allowing the player to comfortably control the character?
That’s where Virtual Reality steps up and introduces itself as a new control method for
cameras in video games. Recently, VR has made it’s way back into the market after recent
technology has made it more immersive than ever, whilst being consumer affordable. Whilst
VR has been used as a tool of immersion, focusing mostly on first person shooters, there is
a much larger potential being wasted as a result. Consider how you felt as a child, whether
you played with action figures, plush bears or dolls, using your imagination to move them
around on a tabletop or the floor of your bedroom. What if we used that as a basis for
creating a new type of 3D platformer?

2. Nostalgia
Using nostalgia as a tool for development isn’t a new concept, in fact in more recent years
developers have been using nostalgia to re-release games under the guise of a “remaster”
which improves upon the visuals of a game whilst keeping the core gameplay intact. Zach
Whalen and Laurie N. Taylor explain that “a sense of nostalgia establishes the relationship
between the real present and a virtual past” when it comes to playing games. So how can
we take advantage of nostalgia whilst also creating a meaningful relationship with players
who don’t have it?

Playing on nostalgia and creating meaningful gameplay experiences will help to draw in both
old fans and new to the genre. Activision, a major publisher for video games published the
title Crash Bandicoot N’Sane Trilogy (​Crash Bandicoot N’Sane Trilogy, 2017​) which is a
remastered version of the first three games in the Crash Bandicoot franchise. With updated
graphics, the development team Vicarious Visions kept the gameplay the same so that fans
of the original games were given a sense of nostalgia, reliving their childhood gaming
obsession whilst also appealing to a newer market. Similarly Playtonic Games released the
title Yooka-Laylee (​Yooka-Laylee, 2017​) which was created by a team of industry veterans
who worked on classic 3D platforming titles such as Banjo-Kazooie (​Banjo-Kazooie 1998​)
and Donkey Kong 64 (​1999​) which were developed by Rare Ltd. Whilst not a remaster,

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s3300489 Expanding upon a traditional game genre using Virtual Reality. Haigen Pennycuick

Yooka-Laylee was developed as a revival to the classic 3D platformer genre after the market
had been absent of such games. With an audience of gamers in their 20’s to late 30’s that
grew up with these titles posting about bringing them back on social media, it made sense
that developers could turn the consumer's childhood memories into a profitable product. “It
appears that when people begin to revisit their memories, they often desire more than a
single opportunity to relive them, before they are “gone” again.” (​H.F., C.T., T.A. & Z.S.
2016)​ .

What brought people to these products whether they be new fans or old was a sense of
exploration and discovery. Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman explain that “great game
experiences for players - experiences that have meaning and are meaningful - is one of the
goals of successful game design, perhaps the most important one” (​Salen & Zimmerman,
2003, p33​) in their book Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals. Players enjoyed going
through each level trying to explore every single pixel of the game in order to collect
everything or find every piece of information about the world. This combined with a vibrant
art style captured the imaginations of many and gave players strange and exciting new
worlds to explore. Knowing this, I plan to approach the design for my game taking inspiration
from these titles, the platforming giants of the 90’s and the recent revival titles being
released today.

3. Approaching Design
To begin with, the design needs three core things that will bring both audiences of old and
new. Reactive and comical movement, vibrant and colourful art style and engaging and
interesting worlds. These fundamentals are the core aspects in most 3D platformers
released if not all. Breaking these core aspects down is important in bringing the project
together as a stable product. In order to build this project the core aspects needed to be
designed to fit in line with utilizing VR as a core component of the technology. Originally the
concept was designed over the course of several years, with no VR in mind, but after playing
around with the HTC Vive in Unreal Engine I found myself able to scale the world and thus
created a scenario which reminded me of action figures on a table top. This project isn’t
meant to be something entirely new using nostalgia but instead building upon existing
gameplay principles. As Robin J. S. Sloan explains it “This is not a window to the past but
the annexation of the past in order to reconfigure it as a commodity.” - (Sloan, 2015, )

i. Reactive and Comical Movement

In the examples provided, traditionally 3D platformers include an element of
interesting, and reactive movement that often results in comical animations for the character.
It must be fun to move around, as well as use the abilities of the character without feeling
overly difficult. By focusing on ensuring that moving the player feels familiar to players of the
classic titles and easy to pick up for new players the game should appeal to a larger
audience. One of the large hurdles in this design is the controllers, unlike traditional
controllers, the HTC Vive controllers are motion based and have trackpads instead of
thumbsticks. Another issue is that the player is now the camera, meaning that the character
must be controlled in a way that feels extremely natural and doesn’t confuse the player.

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s3300489 Expanding upon a traditional game genre using Virtual Reality. Haigen Pennycuick

I approached this in two ways, one which was having each level be small and
restrictive, which worked for not expecting the player to travel too far, but limited the design
and scope of the world removing a large element of the player's exploration. In my second
design I created a larger open world and tethered the player to the character in game which
provided a much more companion based approach to the gameplay. The player should feel
like they are their own character in the world without needing to be told as such, whilst also
feeling like they are in control of the character moving around. The core design for the
movement was based on the traditional platformers whilst also trying to steer clear of
immersion-breaking designs such as the teleporter or forced movement systems.

ii. Vibrant and Colourful Art Style

Next I needed to work out how I wanted the game to look, however at such an early
stage it wasn’t totally necessary and as such I didn’t want to spend too much time focusing
on it. After studying the design behind titles such as A Hat in Time (​A Hat in Time, 2017)​ by
Gears for Breakfast and Spyro the Dragon (​Spyro the Dragon 1998​) by Sony Computer
Entertainment I had decided that a fantasy setting with simple polygonal models and toon
shading would work best for the overall aesthetic of the game. I went with this style because
it appeals to all ages, bringing the world to both players young and old. As for the fantasy
setting, it felt natural with the idea of tying back to the nostalgia aspects of children running
around pretending they were knights fighting dragons, or exploring dark tombs and
graveyards. By exploring the typical routes of imagination for childish dreamscapes I created
a list of different worlds which the player would explore through the use of magical paintings.
This idea is an extension on the classic title “Super Mario 64” by Nintendo as well as “Super
Mario Sunshine” by the same company. The player would collect runes which would
activated gates that were built around the magical painting to allow unrestricted access to
and from them.

Keeping with the fantasy theme gave lots of exploration with ideas for the overall
design. One of the major components was deciding on a quick way to gain assets and give
players the understanding of the overall feel of the world without having to sink a lot of time
into them. Thus I decided to browse the Unreal Engine marketplace for some appropriate
assets and soon came across a suitable content pack which included some vibrant assets
that fit the description of my artistic outline perfectly. I began creating my own assets to go
along with the pack, and with so many assets provided I didn’t need to spend long creating
the few that I needed for gameplay demonstrations. The vibrant colours also provide another
effect of sensory overload when the player enters the environment. It evokes a sense of
wonder and amazement that the player might feel if they had entered a beautiful forest,
watched the sun set or found themselves staring from the top of a mountain for the first time.
It’s a magical sensation one could only describe as wonder and amazement, and through
these worlds I hope to capture that in the heart of the player as they find themselves entering
each one.

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s3300489 Expanding upon a traditional game genre using Virtual Reality. Haigen Pennycuick

iii. Engaging and Interesting Worlds

Each world needs to feel unique, whilst also feeling like they belong to part of the
bigger universe and explain parts of the story to the player. Each world would hold a theme
upon which puzzles, characters and mechanics would be introduced to the player step at a
time so it felt comfortable and natural. The aim is to open the door to a new sensation of
interaction by utilizing existing design practices of 3D Platformers whilst also introducing new
elements of design through VR. One of the biggest goals was to find a new way for the
player to experience the world and explore what it has to offer. Traditionally the player had to
make the character move to a certain location and rotate the camera to see what lay in the
distance. If something shiny was trying to get the players attention often it might go
unnoticed as the player was busy focusing on the character as it took up a large portion of
the players screen. With VR the perspective shifts, giving the player the ability to temporarily
ignore the character completely and roam the space on their own, finding new things and
exploring potential pathways the character could take. One such feature is the idea that the
player might find a collectible shining in the distance and can follow the platforming trail back
to an area they know the character they can reach. It’s not too different from the
“find-the-centre” mazes that you might have done as a child where you worked your way
backwards, out through the maze. Whilst the player would be somewhat tethered to the
character to allow additional exploration, there is still a lot of room for free movement which
when the player explores, the character will be waiting for their return. The character can still
be controlled and interact with the environment however the player may refrain from such
things as they might not know what lies around the corner.

One of the many amazing things about exploring new and interesting worlds is the
concept of theme based knowledge. If a player enters a world with ice or snow they
understand there will be sections with slippery paths or ice-cold water that freezes the
character. Likewise if a player enters a swamp, they may be expecting vines, quicksand or
bogs, causing them to be cautious as they explore. The freedom for movement outside of
the character allows them to explore these worlds unhindered by these potential hazards to
begin with, however they will still need to find their way across them in order to reach their
destination. As such the overall design for the worlds needs to feel both familiar but new and
interesting. There needs to be features the players expect, combined with features that they
may never have seen before. For instance combining the snow-world with the swamp world
to create a new environment where the player is unsure which hazards might appear and
when. Using this knowledge allows the design of various environments that have
overlapping themes and hazards, which the player must discover and explore, much like
exploring a neighbourhood and finding a secret place that you have never seen before.

4. Methods
The main process for creating a game is a simple pipeline workflow which I have followed
over the course of the semester. Design, prototype, test, redesign, iterate, test, repeat as
necessary. Using this pipeline I have been able to create a stable prototype which allows the
player to travel between two worlds, collect two types of collectibles and experience the
control and movement scheme that I intended to feel as natural as possible.

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s3300489 Expanding upon a traditional game genre using Virtual Reality. Haigen Pennycuick

To begin with, I constructed the movement and camera mechanics, as that was the most
important thing. Focusing on keeping the project as immersive as possible whilst also
allowing room for the traditional controls of the character familiar to 3D Platformers. Initially
the design featured the centre of the camera being static in the world, only allowing the
player a small square of movement in their play space. However this meant that the designs
of the world would be short and restricted meaning the core sense of exploration and wonder
is lost. Instead I opted for a tethered approach, where the character was the centre of the
camera, and so the player could move around the character acting as though the character
was tied to the player by an invisible string. This allowed the player to move with the
character through the level whilst still having free movement within the space. This tethered
approach allowed for larger world designs. One issue which I encountered early in
development was that players who were taller experienced a much easier experience
platforming whilst shorter players found it harder.To solve this issue I used the technology’s
sensors to determine the height of the player and programmed a “dream height” variable
which caused every player to feel the same height in the world whilst feeling like the floor of
the virtual world still felt like the floor of the real world.

The aim was to create an environment that felt like they hadn’t left their room, but instead
was placed into a new world of imagination and wonder. Feedback suggested that players
were unfamiliar and clumsy with the controls at first, but rapidly gained the ability to move
without trouble throughout the environment. Thus the next step was to introduce a purpose
into the game and so I placed collectibles for the player to attempt to grab as they navigated
the world. This increased the difficulty slightly as players were made to explore areas they
had no interest in beforehand. Using this knowledge I made areas that seemed less
explored more interesting with debris and foliage and paths that were considered out of the
way littered with more collectibles. Eventually players were able to see the more valuable
collectibles in the distance and could trace its source to the character which they then
navigated there.

This testing provided extremely useful information as players gave feedback and ideas for
the project. One initial concept was to have a stone wall the player must destroy with their
own fist, thus feeling a part of the world more so than just as an observer. However players
felt they should be able to interact with other parts of the world and felt disconnected when
they could not. This level of immersion breaking was a pretty big issue as the whole point of
VR was to feel as immersive as possible. So I changed the design and created more
physical objects that reacted to the player moving around. One of the bigger designs
changes was the inclusion of the transitioning feature that exists in the game. The player
walks the character through a stone archway but instead of cutting to a loading screen I
wanted to create something more engaging and something that didn’t break the immersion. I
created a system similar to “Spyro the Dragon” wherein the player is transported through a
gate into a “void world” or in-between world where nothing except the character and a sky
exists, then the new world is loaded and the character is passed into the new world almost
seamlessly. If feels like every world is connected with no hard cuts between them. I wanted
to create a similar feeling but following on with the aesthetic described earlier with the
paintings being the gateways.

I created a transition sequence which was edited from a free example provided by Epic
Games which draws an outline around the character creating a cel shaded effect and slowly

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s3300489 Expanding upon a traditional game genre using Virtual Reality. Haigen Pennycuick

masks everything else out to a textured paper material. The aim was to use this effect to
draw in the lines, like a pencil or ink marker and then have a paint brush effect where the
colour of the world is splashed in and painted each time the player changes worlds. As the
player leaves, the lines and colours are washed away, before the next world is painted in.
Hiding all of the loading during this sequence without cutting to black, or having the world
loading provides a much more interesting and immersive loading sequence which worked
well according to testing, though the effect leaves much to be desired in its current state.

5. Conclusion
The video game industry is constantly evolving, every time a new technology is introduced,
developers take on the challenge of creating interesting, engaging and fun products to use it
for. Sometimes the end result isn’t the desired outcome, sometimes it is, though either way
the developers all learn from each other and their projects become lessons to use for future
projects and improvements for technology. Furthering technology is the goal of society and
as we keep pushing the limits on interactive technology so too will the games industry push
forward in creating unique experiences for players to explore. So can VR expand upon a
traditional game genre? Absolutely, though how successfully is still to be determined. This
project isn’t a marketable product as of yet, however following the results and extracted
information from this report I believe it could be. This is simply the beginning of what VR is
capable of doing for other gaming genres, whether it be for the sake of nostalgia, or
monetary value or simply passion, there will always be new things to explore and expand
upon. Nothing is ever truly forgotten or left behind, sometimes we just need a new
technology to experience it in a brand new way.

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s3300489 Expanding upon a traditional game genre using Virtual Reality. Haigen Pennycuick

References:

Books:
Katie Salen & Eric Zimmerman. 2003. “Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals”
London, England. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press.
https://primo-direct-apac.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=RMIT_ALMA2140
147470001341&context=L&vid=RMITU&search_scope=Books_articles_and_more&tab=default_tab&l
ang=en_US

Articles:

Freedman H., Adebisi T., Tang C., Syed Z. 2016. “When did my childhood become an art exhibit?!”
Publisher:​ University of Michigan-Flint, Detroit Labs, LLC.
https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2869095

Robin J. S. Sloan. 2015. “Videogames as Remediated Memories: Commodified Nostalgia and

Hyperreality in Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon and Gone Home”
Publications:​ Games and Culture 2015, Vol. 10(6)
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1555412014565641

Games:
Super Mario 64. 1996. Nintendo. Console Game: Nintendo 64.

Crash Bandicoot N’Sane Trilogy. 2017. Vicarious Visions, Naughty Dog. Console Game: Playstation
4.

Yooka-Laylee. 2017. Playtonic Games. Console Game: Xbox One, Playstation 4, Microsoft Windows,
Macintosh, Nintendo Switch.

Banjo-Kazooie. 1998. Rare Ltd. Console Game: Nintendo 64.

Donkey Kong 64. 1999. Rare Ltd. Console Game: Nintendo 64.

A Hat in Time. 2017. Gears for Breakfast. Console Game: Xbox One, Playstation 4, Microsoft
Windows, Macintosh.

Spyro the Dragon. 1998. Insomniac Games. Console Game: Sony Playstation.

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