Internal XR designs look at specific examples of good VR designs. Today we are looking at the details Half Life: Alix And how they add immersive layers to the game is rarely found elsewhere.
Editor’s Note: Half Life: Alix is welcomed by many, not only as a “best VR game” or “best half life” game, but even one of the “best games of all time”. Five years after its release, the game has won the 24th spot on the list of the best-rated games on Steam250. To celebrate the game’s fifth anniversary, we are reissuing an Inside XR Design episode that explores the details that solidified it as one of VR’s inventive titles.
Find the complete video below or continue reading the adopted text version.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxnlwfadvyc
Intro
Listen now, I know you almost certainly heard Half Life: Alix (2020)this is one of the best VR games ever made. And there are many reasons why it is so common. It has amazing graphics, fun puzzles, memorable set pieces, interesting stories and more. We all already know this.
However, the scope of Alix There are some amazing, immersive details that really make you shine beyond what you normally see in VR. Today I would like to explore a lot of those little details. Even if you are an absolute master of the game, I hope you will find at least one thing you didn’t know yet.
Inertia Physics
The first one is a really smart way Alix Handles inertial physics. Many VR games use inertia to give players the feeling that objects have different weights. This makes small, light objects feel completely different from larger, heavy objects, but at the cost of throwing larger objects that are much more difficult, as players usually need to explain the shaking of inertia when they throw them.
Alix By ignoring the inertial shaking, we make small fine adjustments to this equation only With slow calculations. This means that if you are trying to throw a large object accurately, you can release it in a way that feels natural to swing your arm, allowing you to get an accurate throw without taking into account the object’s inertia.
This gives the game the best of both worlds. This is an inertial system that conveys weight, but without sacrificing the ease of throwing.
I love this kind of attention to detail. This is because players improve their experience without realizing that something is happening.
Sound Design
Note: Make sure you unclip this section
Regarding sound design, Alix It’s not only about the quality, but also about the details. One of my absolute favorite details about this game is that almost every object has a completely unique sound when it shakes. And I read this especially well, as it’s spatial audio. Therefore, you can hear most from the ears closest to the trembling object.
This is not necessary for flat screen games, as VR alone allows players to pick up virtually anything in the game.
You can imagine the sound design team looking at the game’s extensive prop list and realizing that they need to come up with VHS tapes and… what sounds like when the TV shaking.
This is a ton of work for this little detail that most people don’t notice, but picking up a box of matches, for example, to hear the exact sound you hear if you sway in real life, really helps you immerse the player.
Describe the gravity gloves in detail
Everyone knows about gravity gloves Alix It’s a diet-like method to give players force pull functionality, allowing you to easily grab objects from afar. And in reality, everyone I’ve spoken to agree that they work very well. They are not only useful, they are fun and satisfying.
But what that’s right Will Gravity Gloves be perhaps the only best force pull implementation ever seen in VR? Let’s break it down.
In most VR games, there are two stages of Force Plum Mechanic.
- The first thing we call “selection” is to point to an object and see it highlighted.
- The second thing called “confirmation” is to press the grab button that pulls the object in your hand.
Half Life: Alix Add A Third stage In this formula, the key to why it works well:
- First, select, and the object shines, so you can see what is being targeted.
- The second – Call it Lock-on – the involve pulls the trigger to confirm your selection. If you do it, the selection is locked. Move your hand won’t change the selection to another object.
- The final stage “confirmation” requires a pull gesture to finally begin the force pull, not a button press.
Adding additional lock-on stages to that process will greatly improve reliability as it ensures that both the player and the game are on the same page before the object is pulled.
It should be noted that each of these stages has a clear sound that makes what is selected even more clear to the player.
With pulling gestures, everything becomes more immersed by the feeling that the game world is responding to physical actions rather than pressing buttons.
Also, there is a bit of magic in the exact speed and trajectory that the object continues, so that the trajectory can be shifted in real time to reach the player’s hand. These parameters are carefully tuned to make the object feel satisfied without automatically sticking to your hand every time.
This hits me as something that could have been heavier for animators to say, “How do you make it feel?” just right? “
Work wearable
It’s natural for VR players to wear a hat when they put a hat on their head, but did you know that wearing a hat protects you from alien? And yes, it is the official name of a terrifying creature that clings to the ceiling.
But it’s not just the hats you can wear. This game is surprisingly good about getting the player to wear something vaguely hat-shaped. Like corn or pot.
I think this is the addition of a valve after seeing them trying to put these objects on their head during development.
Speaking of wearing props, you can also wear a gas mask. And the game takes this one step further… Gas masks are actually work. In some parts of the game, you need to hold your hand to cover your mouth to avoid coughing spores and give yourself a position.
Wearing a gas mask is equally protected, but has the advantage over using both hands and covering the mouth with your hands.
The game does not explicitly communicate that a gas mask will protect you from spores. It’s just like a functional Easter egg, allowing players to understand it for themselves.
Audience view
Next is a feature that you often forget unless you spend a lot of time watching Other people play Half Life: Alix…The game has an optional audience interface that is only visible on computer monitors. This interface gives viewers the exact same information that the actual players have during the game. The interface shows which items are stored in the player’s “hand pocket.”
The valves also went further than adding an additional audience interface. We’ve also added camera smoothing, zoom levels and even selectors that allow you to see the camera.
The last one may look like small details, but since people dominate the left or right eye, being able to choose your dominant eye means seeing what you are aiming for correctly when aiming for the range of the gun.
Multimodal Menu
While looking at the menu here, it is also worth noting that the game menu is primarily designed for laser pointer interactions, but it also works like a touchscreen.
This may be a trivial thing today, but please remember it Alix It was released almost four years ago (!). The foresight that provides both modalities means that both choices are equally correct, even if the player’s initial instinct is to touch the menu or use the laser.
I’ll guide your eyes
All important items Alix There is a subtle light in them to attract your attention. This is a basic game design thing, but I have to say that al.x’s The approach is much less immersive than many VR games where key objects are highlighted with an obviously obvious yellow mesh.
In the case of Pistol Magazine, the game reveals the number of bullets in the magazine too far… in fact, it does this two Various methods.
First of all, every bullet has a small light, and you can see that it is almost full from the side of the magazine.
And at the bottom of the magazine there is a radial indicator that will deplete as ammunition runs.
This is all done in light, so if the magazine is half full, it will be half bright. Players can easily tell from afar, just a glance at how “valuable” the magazine is. Completely empty magazines emit no light, so you should not mistake them for something useful. Many players learn about this affordance quickly without much thinking about it.
Takeout here is that the game’s most commonly used items (the ones that players interact with most) are the most thoughtfully designed. Players will collect and reload literally hundreds of magazines throughout the game, so they spend time adding these subtle details to greatly improve the overall experience.
