Author Archives: NgBoonHong

Minecraft VR Experience

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With the recent trend of virtual reality, many games have tried to create a VR version of their world, and Minecraft is one of the more popular game that has succeeded in converting its world into virtual reality. Minecraft is a sandbox video game where the environment and its inhabitants are made up of blocks.

Being a classic game many people have played before, introducing the VR version brings a new sense of experience in exploring the virtual world. The activities from the original version could be done inside the virtual world, with a more feeling of closeness. One can feels more close to the world as compared to seeing it through the screen as the player movement is followed closely which bring a higher sense of control inside the world. Mining and killing enemies is also more exciting as hand movement is required to execute the order which make it more interactive as compared to clicking a button. Hence the VR version of Minecraft helps to create a more interactive experience for the players to enjoy inside the world.

However, some people might not be familiar with the experience that comes along with VR. Some might feels that they are too close to the world and might feels excessive emotion such as being scared when a explosive creeper appear out of nowhere inside the virtual world as compared to just appearing on the screen. Some might get VR motion sickness as their movement inside the world might be too excessive like when falling of a cliff. Therefore, not everyone would enjoy Minecraft VR as different people have different expectation of the virtual world and some experience are hard to be compromised for everybody. Nevertheless, some of the experience could be toned down as not everyone is well versed with virtual reality and some of them might be newcomers to virtual reality.

In conclusion, I feels that it is good that many games such as Minecraft are trying out VR version of their worlds to bring out a new gaming experience. However, not all games can be converted into virtual reality and some games should remain as it is as the VR version might be a disappointing experience in the end. Overall, Minecraft itself is a great game and the VR version attract people that want to experience more of its world.

VR Locomotion Idea

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Locomotion in VR is hard to be implemented correctly due to the fact that a wrong implementation could cause motion sickness. Most locomotion is implemented by having physical movement from the player or limited movement from the player. I feel that a good way to do this might be allowing the player to lie on a bed and he can move the in-game character by using motion tracking devices with his hand. Hence when the in-game character is moving in VR, the player would not feel too sick as he is resting his head on the bed and can be more relaxed as compared to standing upright to play the game. This might help in reducing motion sickness as the player senses are more relaxed and the locomotion in VR would not be too drastic for the player who is lying on the bed. Furthermore, the player can only move a little while lying on the bed and this might help the player to not overthink the complicated movement introduced by the VR game, allowing the player to feel secure and less likely to feel motion sickness.

Game Design Analysis: Genshin Impact

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In-game Screenshot

Description:
Genshin Impact is a free-to-play open-world role playing game developed and published by MiHoYo. It features a fantasy environment and a battle system that uses different magical elements with different characters. It also features a gacha game system where you can pay to get new characters, weapons and other materials.

Link to official English website: https://genshin.mihoyo.com/en/home

Lens #4: The Lens of Surprise:
Being an open-world game, Genshin Impact contains many surprises which reside in the hidden puzzles and hidden achievement. Puzzles in Genshin Impact typically give chests which reward player resources required in the game. Some puzzles are not very obvious and may be overlooked if nobody is to talk about it. For example, one need to step on a series of rocks in a certain order to receive a chest, and the only clue given is just a tiny spark of light on the rock. There are also achievements that requires the player to certain task to get it, where it is also not stated in the game. Thus getting those hidden puzzles and hidden achievements bring out a sense of surprises as they lie in places player least expected.

Lens #9: The Elemental Tetrad:
Mechanics:
Players able to wander around the world by walking, running, swimming, climbing and gliding. They uses characters with their own unique elements which may work with other elements to perform better. Players level up by getting experience through exploration and quest, and their characters level up by using resources.
Story:
The main character is a dimension traveler who get stuck in the world of Teyvat due to a nameless god. He or she also loses contact with the other sibling and is on a journey to reunite with each other, accompanied by a companion named Paimon.
Aesthetic:
The game has an anime styled 3D graphic which bring out the fantasy feel of the world.
Technology:
Genshin Impact is made with Unity, where it allows cross platform gameplay between phones, PC and even PlayStation.

Lens #29: The Lens of Secrets:
Many players know and understand the current state of the game, but not many players are able to know the future content or even predict it, Hence the knowledge of the future content is a secret kept by MiHoYo, but still some players are to dive deep to uncover it, where they leak it to the public. With the knowledge of the future content, some players are able to plan on how to use their resources wisely and not be left behind. However, not all the leaks are correct as some are fake news. Therefore, some important leaks that are known to some may not be available to others, causing a sense of outrage as the leaks are kept in secret from them, making them feel unfair and unjustice.

In-game Screenshot

Lens #36: The Lens of Chance:
Having a gacha game system, players are able get items with certain rates, and paying will help to increase the number of tries. Those items are categorized by number of stars they have, where items with five stars have the lowest rate and are the hardest to get. Hence there is randomness in getting those items where the lucky ones may get more than one would expect, where it all depends on chance.

Lens #53: The Lens of Balance:
Despite having a pay to win option in the gacha side, the game itself is still fairly balanced where the starting characters are good enough to complete most of the game contents. Some rare characters may seem to be overpowered, but those common characters can also be built to match the power of those rare characters. Hence Genshin Impact currently has its characters balance in control, where characters have their own unique skillsets and mechanics to learn and play.

Lens #78: The Lens of Story:
Genshin Impact contains many stories, where players can learn about the main character, side characters and even non-playable characters. Their stories itself bring out the secret in them and their surrounding, where players will understand the world of Teyvat more. Some stories may even lead to the other stories, where players can see the links between them all.

Overall Genshin Impact is a game where the exploration of the world of Teyvat is never-ending, and even more will be revealed in the future.