Main Hub / Main Menu

In this image, the Main Hub acts as a map selector. Since “Cyber-Psychosis” is designed to be a linear path game, there isn’t any open-world exploration for the player. However, the player can interact and explore inside of the ship if they want. Any intractable within the ship, apart from the yellow projection acting as the map selector, will have no direct consequence to game mechanic; the purpose for anything intractable in the hub is purely for the liveliness factor of the hub.

By incorporating a liveliness factor into the hub, it creates an organic feeling for the player. This is in the sense that just because the game itself is linear, it doesn’t mean everything surrounding the game has to be rigid. A primary component to VR games, as a whole, is allowing the player to feel immersed in what they’re playing. To achieve this, they have to feel as though the player themself are actually in the game as opposed to imposing limitations and restrictions. A minor yet nevertheless important detail for the hub.

The levels, as shown on the projection in the image above, are marked with blue crosses, red circles, and purple no’s. The blue circle would indicate to the player that the level has been complete and is no longer necessary to play to progress further into the game. A red circle indicates that this level is incomplete and needs to be completed in order to progress. A purple no indicates that the player cannot access this level just yet. I think I may want to replace this “no” with instead a semi-transparent fog along with a purple “?” so that a level the player has yet to have access to can be somewhat shrouded in mystery; thus further enticing the player to play to unlock the level.

In-World Map / Progress Meter

The image above depicts a rough image as to how the player would be able to check their progress while being in-game. As mentioned in a previous post, levels in “Cyber-Psychosis”, while in a specific world, are labeled as L1R1, (denoting Level 1 Room 1), L1R2, and so on. This way, the player will always know what specific world they’re in and what specific room they’re in at all times. These labels will be placed beside the squares representing each room. The player will be able to access this map at any given time while they’re in-world. This mechanic will not be present while they’re in the main hub as it would be redundant to have that function there. The map will be tracked to a position just above the player’s left hand, (this is inspired by the aesthetic of Dead Space’s map intractability), allowing for a seamless interaction for the player and the map.

To further clearly indicate what level the player is in, the squares will also be color coded. The blue square will indicate to the player that they have completed this room and are now able to move forward to the next room. A red square will indicate to the player as the room the player is currently in and have yet to complete. A purple square will indicate to the player that the(se) room(s) is/are currently unavailable to the player and they must complete the room prior to the one they’re currently in before proceeding to the next.

Once the player has completed a room, the red square shown on their projected in-world map will turn blue, (as seen below).

This will essentially allow the player to understand that they have now completed a room and are now ready to proceed to the next room.

Further Notes:

These images will most likely be used again during my post in Project #1. Perhaps using AI, I could provide a more detailed image as to what I want the final piece to look like but as for now, this edited version of AI pictures serve as enough concept for how I would the map system to look and function in “Cyber-Psychosis”.