Bounce ArcadeThe recently announced game, set to release this fall, looks like a unique combination of pinball and virtual reality in a way that's truly unique to the medium. This is an example of a body of VR-specific gameplay mechanics still in its infancy.
Update (October 1, 2024): Developer Velan Studios announced: Bounce Arcade It will officially launch on Quest on November 21st for $20. The game will feature four boards at launch, and mechanics like 'multi-ball', every pinball player's favorite, are also promised to appear.
The original article, which explores the game's creative mechanical exploration and how important it is to the growth of the setting, continues below.
Original Article (July 10, 2024): The origins of all video games can be traced back to arcade games.
I'm not necessarily talking about games in a big closet, but any game that has little in the way of narrative, character, and progression. First of all, they're built on simple game mechanics that are just plain old fun.
With Pong (1972) We figured out how an input axis can work. With Pac-Man (1980) We added two axes and enemies to chase the player. Super Mario Bros. (1985) figured out how we could fit a larger, more complex world onto a small screen. And Star Fox (1993) The SNES laid the foundation for navigating 3D worlds from a third-person perspective.
These games have underlying mechanisms; they're so fun that they don't even need narrative, characters, or pacing to feel complete.
took 21 years to take pong with Star Fox. And games have increased in complexity since then, but only by building on basic mechanics invented much earlier.
Platformers that are not conceptually distant Super Mario Brothers they are still too big. So are games that use third-person views and on-screen reticles for navigation and aiming. Star Fox.
I could go on and on with these examples, but the point is that they take time to understand. And that's not it until You find out that you can create engaging games with them, including all the other elements like narrative, characters, and progression.
It took decades to find these basic mechanisms and eventually develop them into the massive games we know and love today. There's a lot established at this point.
However, all this work was done privately. flat screen games made for controllers or keyboard and mouse.
When a new environment like VR comes along (a completely new type of input like 6DOF motion controllers) we can: borrow money It's from the flat screen world, but ultimately he has to invent mechanics that are truly unique to the medium itself.
Many VR games are borrowed too much from the world of flat screen gaming. 'Why play this in VR instead of flat screen?' They do not answer the question sufficiently. And unfortunately, these games do not achieve much commercial success.
Then something like this Defeat Saber (2018) comes with.
Rhythm games have been around for a long time; However Defeat Saber took a generic rhythm game concept and paired it with a core mechanic that was truly VR-specific. The way you use your body to slice cubes Defeat Saber It cannot be replicated in any environment other than VR.
Defeat Saber I found a core mechanic that feels great in VR. And one day this mechanic will be not just an arcade-like expression of the mechanic, but the basis of a large and complex game.
There are other core VR mechanics that have been explored so far. like Gorilla Label Unique movement that can't be replicated outside of VR, turning the simple game of tag into one of Quest's most successful games and giving rise to an entirely new type of gameplay based on these VR-native mechanics.
But there's still a lot to invent and discover when it comes to VR-specific mechanics.
All this means that I love seeing new and creative gaming ideas that really feel at home in VR. And what I've seen from the recently announced Bounce Arcade It immediately came to my mind as one of these ideas.
We've already seen plenty of pinball machine simulations in VR: the kind where you literally stand in front of a pinball machine and press buttons to turn the paddles.
However Bounce Arcade takes the overarching pinball concept and truly and creatively reimagines it for VR. Your fists are the shovels and the world around you is the playground. A new look at what pinball means when you have the power to change the player's entire reality and let them put their hands into the game world.
Bounce Arcade It comes to Quest on November 21st for $20. Other platforms have not been confirmed so far.
But that's not saying it All VR games will be arcade games. On the contrary, what I said is average. Still It needs to spend time experimenting and innovating on the core mechanics of VR.
Only when enough of these are discovered and developed will we start to see a real audience of larger and more complex games that feel truly comfortable in VR. It's actually pretty easy to see how you can expand it with a little imagination. Bounce Arcade We're turning the core mechanics into a much more complex and less arcade-centric game.
And honestly, I think there are already these VR native mechanics that haven't gotten enough attention. That's a big reason why I'm working on it Inside the XR Design video series highlighting such learning. If you've read this far, I must imagine that you're interested enough in this topic that you'll probably enjoy browsing through the episodes released so far.