VR locomotion is an integral part of the technology as the user often has to look around and shift their viewpoints in such environments. There are four main prevalent VR locomotion techniques which are motion based, teleportation, room-scale based, controller-based as well as teleportation based methods. In recent years however, many different new locomotion techniques have been introduced and are gaining traction. These techniques are mostly a variant on motion based locomotion techniques such as walking in place, one of these being omnidirectional treadmills, which helps the user to simulate VR locomotion in real life. The new Virtuix Omni One treadmill is an example of such a treadmill, which allows the user to simulate any motion and move in different directions, keeping the user in a restricted area while allowing them the perception of free movement. Unlike normal treadmills which has set speeds for the user to run on, omnidirectional treadmills involve adjusting to the user’s speed to create an immersive experience.
Another alternative to walking in place is trunk based locomotion techniques, which are based on trunk motion capture in two degrees of freedom physically leaning in or leaning back. By physically leaning, studies found that spatial representation of the virtual environment is much more accurate(https://ijvr.eu/article/view/3183 . Building on this, perhaps chairs which lean forward as the player accelerates and backwards as he decelerates or tilting left and right would also help the player reduce motion sickness. This definitely would be much easier to engineer as compared to a omnidirectional treadmill with only four directions to take into account. With a chair based locomotion technique, the player also doesn’t need to physically stand up to move around the room and physical space won’t be an issue anymore. However, a potential drawback could be on simulating a sharp turn of the head in the chair with lesser amount of directions.
In conclusion, VR is a field with many uses and applications and as such VR locomotion is still a field that has the potential for great advances which will greatly improve the viability of VR.
Hollow Knight is a single-player 2D action-adventure game
developed and published by Team Cherry. The player plays as the Knight, a small
insect-like character that ventures into the ruins of a mysterious kingdom, Hallownest
to uncover the secrets that lie within. As the game progresses, the player
unlocks new abilities and upgrades in the classic metroidvania style.
The charms menu which allows you to customize power ups.The Knight bouncing off the enemy to cross the lake of acid.
Elemental Tetrad 1: Mechanics
The game may seem deceptively simple at first as the Knight
moves around the map to kill enemies by swinging his sword, but it quickly
becomes clear to the player that it is possible to interact with the
environment. For example, the player can bounce off the enemy using his sword
to reach a greater height to unlock areas, or even exploit enemy weak points. There
are also obstacles that can only be destroyed with certain spells and
equippable power ups(charms) that interact with each other differently to give
different effects. These complex mechanics ensure that the player is engaged in
constantly trying to master the new mechanics.
Elemental Tetrad 2: Story
The story of Hollow Knight begins with the Knight descending into the ruins of Hallownest, and as the player progresses along the game, they learn more about the story of Hallownest.
Stylized map of Hallownest, with areas color themed differently.
Elemental Tetrad 3: Aesthetics
The aesthetics revolve heavily around the story, from the
muted blue of the walls of the Forgotten Crossroads reflecting the ruins of the
Kingdom, to the snowy peaks of the Kingdom’s Edge, and even the pitch black of
the Deepnest, each area in the game holds a theme which is tied in closely to
the lore. Enemies are also designed based on the theme of the area, thus
allowing the player to be even more immersed in the story.
Elemental Tetrad 4: Technology
The game is not very graphically intensive thus making it widely accessible for PCs, allowing many players to play it even with low settings. It was originally designed for PC before being released for consoles.
Lens 6: The Lens Of Curiosity
The Temple of the Black Egg, a location the player will definitely stumble across in the first few minutes of wandering in Hallownest, making the player curious to the significance of it which is only shown to the player nearing the end of the game.
Apart from the first cutscene of the game, which shows the Knight entering the first area, the story of the kingdom is mostly told indirectly through subtle hints and pieces of lore as the player progresses in the game, with no clear objective markers and only a map to guide the player.
The player is left in the dark about the motive of the Knight in entering Hallownest and his goal/purpose in the game, as well as the reason to the Kingdom’s decline.
This along with the mysterious atmosphere of the ruins encourages the player to further explore the ruins and learn more, piecing together the story of the game themselves instead of being told directly from the start, giving the player a sense of accomplishment as they deduce the story by themselves and drawing them into the story.
Lens 74: The Lens Of Obstacle
An example of a lock: The Knight is unable to pass through the barrier until he obtains the Shade Cloak later in the game
Just like other metroidvania games, progression
through the game is by lock and key.
Throughout the game there will be areas which
are visibly inaccessible with the player’s current state.
This signals to the player that there is a need
to explore other areas in the game to obtain the necessary power up to unlock
the area, and even within the area itself there may be more obstacles that
require further exploring of other areas.
Similarly, some bosses in the game may seem very
difficult to the player, signalling that there is a need to upgrade the
player’s weapons before they challenge the boss again, or even learn more about
the boss so they can exploit it’s attack patterns.
These obstacles provide a goal for the player to
work towards so that they are able to progress in the game and unlock the next
part of the map.
Lens 40: The Lens of Triangularity
High risk, high reward play exemplified through saving mechanic.
With no autosave, the only saving mechanic in the game is when players find a save point(a bench) which they can return to save their games progress. Save points are located throughout the map. However, before the player explores an area, the map is completely dark until you explore the area, leaving the player uncertain whether the next save point is close or far away.
If the player dies once, he loses all his in game currency(Geo) and needs to recollect it by returning to where he died, meaning that the player will have to fight through the same wave of enemies to reach where he is currently. If he dies a second time without recollecting the money, it is lost forever, impacting game progress significantly as currency is needed to upgrade items.
This allows the player to choose either to continue the explore at the risk of losing all currency but with greater rewards, or to return back to the previous save point, keeping his currency and returning when the player is stronger, thus keeping the player engaged as such decisions need to be made often.
The Knight must kill the shade(shadow to the right) to recollect the lost Geo.
Lens 79: The Lens of Freedom
Although the game progression is linear for the
first section of the game, once the player reaches a certain point in the game,
the game dramatically opens up, allowing the player to forge their own path and
explore the map on their own.
There are even optional areas which are not
needed for the progression of the storyline, but allow the players to gain more
powerful weapons and abilities.
Players choices along the way may also affect
the ending of the game, with it having 6 different endings. Thus, the player is
free to choose what actions to take in order to achieve their endings.
This freedom of choice makes each player’s
experience a unique one as they would explore the world differently from other
players, or even from different playthroughs, encouraging them to play multiple
times.
