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Gunnar Headley
Software Engineer
Roles: Gameplay Programmer, Designer, Assistant Producer
Dark Shot VR is an HTC Vive experience created in Unreal Engine 4. You play in a simulation where you fight off waves of robots using your bow and different types of arrows. I was part of this team during my sophomore year.
What I Worked On
Arrow Design:
To make the game different and engaging we decided to add special types of arrows in order to fulfill a player's desire for power fantasy. I worked on different arrow types and implemented them to see how well they would fit into the experience. Here is a review of the arrows I designed and Implemented:
Harvest Arrow
High Concept & Goals -
The idea of the Harvest Arrow is that once you kill an enemy with the Harvest Arrow, its damage is increased so next time you use it, it will be more powerful. The goal of this arrow was to be useful to tanks and other high health enemies the later the game progresses.
What went right -
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Players who used the arrow a lot were able to kill the tank enemy in one or two harvest arrows (normally it takes 7-9 standard arrows.)
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The VFX and look of the arrow conveyed well what the arrow's ability was.
What went wrong -
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Because the majority of enemies would die in one hit from a standard arrow, the Harvest Arrow did not have many other benefits since the Tank enemy did not spawn often. A solution to this would be to scale enemy health depending on the round. That way, there would be a bigger incentive to use the Harvest Arrow for the higher health enemies.
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You never knew the enemies health exactly so it was sometimes difficult to try and get the killing blow on an enemy. A solution to this is to outline enemies that will die to the Harvest Arrow when you have that arrow selected.
Orbital Strike Arrow
High Concept & Goals -
The Orbital Strike (OLS) is an arrow was a laser pointer attached to the front end of it. If you point the laser at an enemy for a short duration, the enemy becomes marked for death. When you release the arrow all enemies marked get damaged from a satellite laser taking massive damage. As an ultimate arrow, this arrow was designed to feel really powerful and was meant to help with massive wave clear.
What went right -
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The look of the laser strike was the main reason why people used it. It looked epic and people were in awe when they used it.
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The Arrow helped a lot with wave clear since players used it in the beginning of rounds to quickly kill enemies.
What went wrong -
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The time it took to mark enemies for death felt a little bit too long. Players would find it too frustrating to use since if they stopped marking an enemy, the timer of marking would reset.
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The Arrow itself did not have an immediate effect when used. You had to mark all of the enemies before you could release the arrow meaning that you can't use the arrow when all the enemies are close to you.
UI Design:
I worked on the players hand UI to allow players to select the special arrows they wanted. For an in-depth talk about it, check out my blog on the UI process in this game.
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