Author: Hsuan Chao

Players will first enter the start scene, and then according to the playing platform, it will lead to the respective storytelling part, where the background story and the goal of the game will be explained. After that, it will switch to tutorials and practice scenes, where players can be familiar with shooting functions and the controller operation skills.  Finally, the players will enter the game scene and need to complete three main tasks.

The players’ starting positions in the game world are different. The non-VR player is locked in a room at first, while the VR player is on the other side of the maze.

There are different tasks that two players need to collaborate to pass.

VR players and PC players need to pass through the laser area, and both of them should avoid touching the laser. There is a cube that the VR players could grab and use to reflect the laser and help the PC players to go through this area. This stage needs both players to collaborate.

In this stage, the route players need to pass is consist of several blocks, and they are not continuous at first, therefore PC players cannot pass through. There are tiny versions of blocks placed at the beginning of the route that can be moved by a VR player, which is linked to the route blocks. VR players need to move the blocks and make it a continuous route that makes the PC player can walk through. This stage also needs collaboration and communication between both players.

I used the PUN2 plugin for Unity to achieve the multiplayer function. When connected to the internet, PUN2 allows players to connect to the central server -Photon Cloud and create virtual rooms. By joining the same virtual room, players in different locations can interact with others in the same virtual space.

During the game, PUN2 can synchronize data between the local players. When one of the players moves the synchronized object, it will also move in others’ view. PUN2 can synchronize the game objects’ data including position, rotation, and animation.

The video shows the prototype of the multiplayer setup and the gameplay system setup.

There are the prototypes I test with multiplayer functions in VR. Once the player joins the same virtual room, it will generate their avatar and allow the player to interact with other people.

Players could interact with the same objects in the multiplayer setup.

Here shows the shooting function. Players grab the gun by pressing the grip buttons, and by pressing the triggers, players could shoot. In the prototype, the colour of avatars will change when the player is detected being shot.

In this prototype, two players can communicate through the buttons in the virtual environment. When the player presses the button, it will also be displayed in the other player’s viewport. In this way, the player who knows the exact way to go could guide the other player to the right direction.

Here shows the game system diagram.

There are three levels in total. On different levels, players have different goals and communication ways. Player1 and Player2 will in different platforms and play different roles. Players in the virtual reality world are like the people living in the digital world while players who participate in the game on PC are like higher intelligence controlling the game through the screen. The final goal is to find the right way to escape and defeat the enemies by shooting.

At first, player 1 is trapped in a room, they have to find the way out and arm themselves. At the same time, player 2 will have the map and need to guide player 1 which is the way to escape.

Here shows the initial storyboard and moodboard.

Here shows the moodboard of the project. The colours and styles are mainly futuristic and technological.

There are two main parts that I focus on when doing the case study- multiplayer game and cross-platform game.

Case Study – Multiplayer Game

There are many different genres of VR multiplayer games. In most multiplayer games, players would need to be co-located in order to talk to each other.

VR chat offers multiple ways to let players interact and communicate with each other, including text bar, emoji, and verbal communication. Meadow is a PC-based game where players could only communicate through animal sounds and icons to express their mood.

Case Study – Cross-platform

The award-winning game ‘Keep talking and nobody explodes’ is recognized as the most popular asymmetric cross-platform puzzle-solving collaborative game. Two players are required to participate in the game at the same time, while both have different abilities, information, and limitations, which makes them need to cooperate to achieve the goals. One of the players needs to participate in the game through the VR or PC interface and conduct bomb disposal operations relying on the description of the other player who has access to the instruction manual outside the game world.

It requires players to exchange the information they have obtained, communicate, and discuss methods to defuse the bomb. This game is intended to be played with others in the same room, so it heavily depends on direct verbal communication. However, players can still play the game remotely through external communication channels.

‘Black hat cooperative’ is a local two-player cross-platform game. One player is in VR collecting treasure without being spotted by the enemies, while the other player is monitoring the map through PC and has the ability to hack and open the door for the VR player. Because the locations of traps, hazards, and doors are only visible for PC players, they should guide VR players through the maze. In addition, PC players could hack into the system and offer the assist in sneaking.

Two-way communication is an essential element of this game. PC players need to tell VR players to avoid certain dangerous spots and guide them to the door, whilst VR players need to find the code hidden in the VR environment so that PC players can key in and unlock the door. Unlike most of the multiplayer games only relies on verbal communication, Black Hat Cooperative offers another type of communication-text messaging. When PC players enter the password to unlock the door, it will also be displayed in the VR player’s field of view, letting VR players know what the other party is doing. Although the texting function is only designed for the hacking function in the game, it does attempt to provide a variety of communication channels, which is conducive to the players to convey passwords and messages more accurately.

The story concept comes from the idea that the world we are living in now is actually a fake, digital world created by someone else. The story is inspired by the movie The Island (2005), talking about how people found out that they are actually clones of real people, so they try to run away from the island in order to find their own life.

Many movies have this similar concept in their story.

Also, Elon Musk once said that “There’s a billion to one chance we’re living in base reality.” that has the same concept that we are living in a fake world.

The story is inspired by the movie The Island (2005), talking about how people found
out that they are actually clones of real people, so they try to run away from the
island find their own life.

Gameplay mechanism
In my game, there will be two to three players who enter the game at the same time.
Player one plays the role of a citizen trying to escape from the island without being
spotted by the guards, but he/she does not know the right way to escape. Player two
plays as the guard who monitors the CCTV. Once he/she finds someone trying to
escape, they will launch the attack on them. Player three plays the helper guard who
is also monitoring the CCTV, but he/she is trying to help citizens to escape by telling
them the right way to go without being discovered by player two.

Communication
The citizen can talk to the helper guard through certain gadgets in VR which can
connect to the helper guard’s monitor. Through this, they can either talk directly or
use gestures/messages to communicate. The citizen can get information from that,
and the helper guard could guide the citizen to the right way to escape.

Cross-platform
Players use different platforms to play this game. Player one needs to enter the VR
world, while players two and three use AR to participate in the game. Player one will
use the controller to navigate in the virtual world and manipulate the avatar trying to
escape the island. While players two and three participate in the game through AR by
tabbing on the screen or triggering AR content to launch an attack or open the
escape door.
The reason for using cross-platform is because I want to represent two different
worlds through different media (VR and AR). Players who enter the virtual world are
like clones living in clone islands in the movie The Island, living in a fake world and
being monitored and controlled by people in the real world. The reality they believe
only exists in the virtual world, and they may be just the characters or NPCs in a
game whilst players who play the game through the screen or AR are like the doctors
in the movie, monitoring the clones they create. Through programming or just
tapping on the screen, they can change the game world or even decide the lives of
characters in the game world.

Due to the Covid period, the opportunities for face-to-face interaction have decreased, making it difficult for people to get together. However, although VR technology meets the needs for remote gaming, travelling, and visiting the exhibitions together to a certain extent, the existing VR experience is still relatively lacking in sharing experiences with others in real-time interaction. Besides, though VR becomes more and more popular, the proportion of people owning VR headsets is still relatively low.

Many people still have no access to VR headsets, so if the game could be played through different platforms other than only VR, it might allow more players to enjoy the game together. Also, how players communicate and interact with others in-game through different platforms and how it affects players’ feeling of social presence still needs to be explored. Therefore, I want to explore the possibility of multiplayer shared experience and cross-platform techniques in VR for my final major project. In particular, my final major project will focus on the interaction and communication in shared experience, and how social interaction affects game experience and enhances social presence. The work combines the concept of multiplayer interaction behaviours and cross-platform asymmetric game design in VR and PC in order to create a remote gameplay system for both VR and PC users.