Unreal Engine Virtual Reality Quick Start Guide

Design and Develop immersive virtual reality experiences with Unreal Engine 4

Jessica Plowman

• Publisher: Packt Publishing
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781789615043
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Computer Science
• Subtopic: Desktop Applications
• Index: Computer Science

Unreal Engine 4 for virtual reality game design, development, User Experience design techniques and Blueprint programming to create virtual reality gameplay for HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, PSVR, and Windows Mixed Reality headsets.

Key Features

• Build VR games from scratch with the power of Unreal Engine 4
• Learn User Experience design practices to take your VR game to the next level
• Understand the best practices to creating art for games on HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, and PSVR

Book Description

With the ability to put players directly in the game, virtual reality gives users the chance to experience digital worlds directly. Nevertheless, many designers are unsure where to start when working with this amazing technology.

With this book, you will learn user experience design processes and create immersive gameplay experiences designed for entertainment and player comfort. Using the power of Unreal Engine 4's Blueprint visual scripting language, you will build player interaction and locomotion systems from scratch and use these flexible systems to create a sample game, as well as develop functional 2D and 3D user interfaces for players to interact with. And also learn the best practices for creating game art for virtual reality. Finally, you will learn how to test your application with your target audience and finalize your game for distribution.

By the end of this book, you will have the knowledge to be able to make the leap from traditional game development to creating immersive virtual reality experiences using Unreal Engine 4.

What you will learn

• Understand how to get started with VR development in Unreal Engine 4
• Design and create interaction and locomotion systems from scratch
• Plan and program a sample game for VR
• Understand how VR affects user experience and user interfaces
• Discuss what is needed to create optimized art for VR
• Test your game with users and prepare for distribution

Who this book is for

The audience for this book is intermediate or advanced users of Unreal Engine 4 but who have not begun working with VR technology. These users are familiar with the game engine and have an interest in VR technology. They are just beginning to explore the VR features that the game engine has to offer.

Exploring Riveting Gameplay in Virtual Reality

With our custom game files in place, it's time to start making some decisions about gameplay. In Server 17, the player takes on the role of a futuristic hacker trying to crack open a corporate server and plunder its secrets for personal gain. So, how might we present this in VR as an experience? Before we think about that, let's do a bit of research and discovery. The best way to learn which mechanics will challenge and entertain our players is to first look at the unique elements that VR brings to a game. After that, we can take a look at which titles are being played right now and why. Armed with that information, we can then make some decisions about how best to design our own gameplay for Server 17. We have a lot to discover, so let's get started!

In this chapter, we'll cover the following topics:

• What does VR bring to video games?
• Popular gameplay mechanics
• Designing the gameplay for Server 17

What does VR bring to video games?

VR is the new frontier in games and entertainment. It's able to put the player in the shoes of their favorite heroes, or in a front-row seat for some of their favorite experiences. In most experiences, player movement is translated into near one-to-one movement inside the game—something that's usually impossible in traditional video games. VR also has the power to immerse our player in an alternate world and make them truly feel as if they're there. It's these special abilities that mark VR as the future of gaming.

It's important to understand that the input and controls in VR can go beyond the locomotion methods that we discussed in the last chapter. Each controller for the Vive or Oculus brings at least six different buttons that can be mapped to different functions within a game. Each of these can then be combined with a location or specific player movement to create almost infinite variety. Let's take a look at some of the gunplay in Epic Game's Robo Recall.

In this game, you destroy robots with a variety of weapons that are holstered on the player. The character has a pair of pistols holstered at their hips and a second pair of weapons holstered at their shoulders. This seems simple enough, right? Where the designers utilized the advantages of VR was in the hand placement needed to use your weapons. The player has to reach down to their waist to grab a pistol or reach behind their shoulder to grab a weapon. This simple addition of hand location to the input to equip a gun adds to the immersion and visceral quality of the gameplay.

Popular gameplay mechanics

In the last few years, many developers have embraced VR technology as their chosen medium. This has lead to a variety of VR games spanning many different genres and ideas. Each game has approached the input and immersion that VR brings in their own way. Some, such as Bethesda and ID Software, chose to use the technology to bring their blockbuster games Fallout 4 and Doom into the VR era (to mixed reviews). Others have found more success building their game specifically for the medium, such as Beat Games' Beat Saber, and Schell Games' I Expect You To Die. For our research into what might work for Server 17, we're going to look at seven different types of gameplay:

• Shooter experiences
• Action/adventure experiences
• Vehicle experiences
• Physics-based experiences
• Puzzle experiences
• Rhythm experiences
• Educational experiences

Shooter experiences

In the last year, more than a dozen of the top 25 VR titles sold on Valve's Steam download service fell into the shooter category. A shooter is defined as any game that includes gunplay as a major part of experience. Many variations on the shooter experience in VR take advantage of unique mechanics. Still near the top of the charts is Robo Recall.

Epic Games was able to combine the frantic action of a wave shooter with the immersive environment and mechanics that VR can bring. Much of the gameplay centers around using your hands. Robo Recall uses interesting mechanics when it comes to arming yourself. Players grab their chosen weapons from holsters located at their waist and shoulders. Each one is filled with a variety of customized weapons, all great for scrapping the game's robot enemies. The grab mechanism is also applied to a specific brand of melee combat from Robo Recall. Player's can grab many robot enemies by a handle that's conveniently located in the center of their chest. Once grabbed, enemies can be ripped apart by grabbing limbs, thrown into other enemies, or held up as shields to protect yourself.

Superhot VR by Superhot Team is another game that takes gunplay to a whole new level. The game combines physics and shooting gameplay with their exclusive time mechanics to create a rare experience. Just about every object in its minimalist environments is a weapon in Superhot VR. These items can be thrown at an enemy to liberate their weapon, causing it to fly into the air so that it can be snatched up by the player. Combined with the fact that time only moves forward when you do, each level becomes a combat puzzle. Which enemy do you confront first? What weapon or object is available within arm's reach? Each decision and movement is important for discovering the level's solution, and progressing.

The most important elements of a popular VR shooter are active gunplay combined with another unique mechanic. This can be grabbing, physics gameplay, or a particular locomotion mechanism. Other great examples in this category include Sairento VR, for its locomotion mechanic and combination of gun and swordplay, as well as Damaged Core, a game that has the player utilizing the ability to teleport from enemy to enemy, possessing them and using their weapons.

Action/adventure experiences

Action/adventure experiences combine combat experiences with exploration and story-based gameplay. These games feature impressive environments and visuals that take advantage of the fact that VR places the player directly into the game world. Yet, with such a large world in which to explore, designers must use artificial locomotion methods to allow the player to explore such a large space. For many players, the ability to experience the story firsthand outweighs any discomfort caused by using a thumbstick or snap turning for locomotion. In this category, the biggest contenders both come to us from Bethesda Softworks : Fallout 4 VR and Skyrim VR.

Fallout 4 VR is a direct port of the popular 2015 title, redesigned to work with VR. Players travel the wasteland building settlements, crafting equipment, and ex...