In my occasional spare time I started creating a VR game I called The Guardian. I was influenced by a game for the Amiga called The Sentinel. The style and limited movement seemed to make sense for the VR environment. I later renamed it Higher Ground.
After getting an excellent 3D artist interested, the game evolved into something slightly different. The solid procedural landscape was replaced by floating platforms and movement was faster.
The game continued changing as a result of feedback from the contributing artist and his friends. From a slow moving strategy-like game with simple graphics it became visually richer with faster movement.
This didn’t work for everyone. Some thought it was too fast and more suited to hard core VR gamers. One such critique came from an established VR game publisher, so I listened. My original intention was a comfortable experience for all users.
Now that the Oculus Go is being discontinued, I will look at modifying the gameplay to suit the Quest controllers, and will consider whether I want to revert to a slower, more comfortable style of movement.
I love the look that the artist has given it but unfortunately he did not have the spare time to complete the project. There’s also the issue of VR itself as a consumer platform. It’s still not in a lot of homes. I’m currently working on an adaptation which can be played on mobile devices, with simple graphics and procedural environments.