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Everything is designed around its own pitfalls. Books, podcasts, movies, television shows, flatscreen video games, they all have their own strengths and weaknes
by wlesieutre 5y ago
Everything is designed around its own pitfalls. Books, podcasts, movies, television shows, flatscreen video games, they all have their own strengths and weaknesses. When a movie comes along that does an astounding job of playing to cinema's strength, people are going to bring it up as an example of a good movie. Beat Saber is the same.
Which isn't to say all games have to be designed strictly around VR's strengths, there are games that exist in both formats, and sometimes it comes out better than the original version (Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, Super Hot). Other times it's just ok because the game design doesn't translate as well to VR (Skyrim, Borderlands).
If what you're hoping for is mainstream AAA titles to get adapted into VR and achieve millions of sales, then yes I think you'll be disappointed. But Beat Saber isn't the only opportunity to be thoughtful about how VR interfaces work. I doubt I'd have ever bought a minigolf game to play on a TV, but Walkabout Mini Golf is relaxing and a lot of fun. On the shooter side of things, you have games like Half-Life: Alyx or Hyper Dash. Puzzling Places lets you assemble 3D puzzles of scanned real world environments. Tea For God takes a limited play area and carefully designs a continuous level that feels boundless as you walk freely though it.
We're not going to have Matrix-like VR interactions any time soon where you swing a sword and your hands are physically stopped when your opponent blocks it. But I wouldn't look at that and say "No way this goes anywhere, the pinnacle of game design is the limitless interface of two thumb sticks, four buttons, a D-pad, and a pair of bumpers/triggers."
- oneoff786 5y ago> Everything is designed around its own pitfalls. This is true, but it’s also true that most things don’t claim to be major paradigm shifts and “the future”. Designing VR around these limits won’t satisfy people who have been promised ready player one. It’s a gimmick with some good potential, but it’s just a gimmick.