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Design Process of Fletcher's Case
Movement
OBJECTIVE
The first problem we had with Virtual Reality is the teleportation movement system. We believe that it can be immersion breaking as the player transverse through the level of the game, especially if the game is leaning towards realism.
This is how the WHEELCHAIR MOVEMENT was born.
ISSUE
From the Unreal Marketplace we were able to buy a plugin that can record hand gestures and put the recorded hand gestures to use.
In the early prototype of Fletcher's Case we design the movement and gestures that behaves like a wheelchair in real life.
However, even though people feel less motion sick while sitting compare to standing, the rotation of the wheelchair movement was often causing motion sickness.
SOLUTION
We were able to significantly reduce the motion sickness when we force the player turn and look at the direction they want to turn to. So we implemented a function where depending where the direction of the camera (left or right) the rotation will only happen if you do the gestures that corresponds with the direction the head camera is at.
How much you rotate depends on the angle of the direction you look.
In the beginning Fletcher's Case was about a crippled person solving murders on an abandoned island.
However we found the narrative to be underwhelming. To add upon that, the wheelchair movement is hindering a few of our gameplays.
The wheelchair movement was to provide an alternative movement to teleportation.
But playing hide and seek with an enemy was not one of them. The unfamiliar controls and movement provides too much of a challenge to pull off a hide and seek game.
Traversing long distance, and back and forth in the level with the wheelchair movement created frustration for the player. So gameplay such as fetching multiple items is discouraging.
Through a team discussion we decided that the wheelchair movement is our core. Our gameplay and narrative will need to change to fit with it.
Experience
In the final version of Fletcher's Case we focused on the experience. The player will play as Naomi, a recently crippled female in a wheelchair, who found herself searching for something on a deserted island. Spoiler, she is already dead. She reliving the recent memories that leads up to her death.
Through checkpoints and actions in the game the player will experience the narration from the detective who is following your footsteps in the future. The creepy person that appears and disappears in unreasonable circumstances is the detective in future looking for clues you left behind.
The new narration and events created a more interesting experience and settings for the player compare to the player going through the level solving puzzles after puzzles.
Our gameplay has become simple. Pickup objects and place them in the right place.
We focused on the experience rather than the gameplay because we believe experience is Virtual Reality's strength.
The goal of the game is to create an engaging and uneasy experience that lingers in the back of their mind even after they finished playing the game.