MarineVerse Cup - KrazyKoreanUncle's VR design advice Rant -
Marine Verse cup has two control methods.
The Joypad control method and the VR manual control method.
The Joypad controls are standard and straightforward.
In contrast, VR manual controls are awkward.
As a result, the Joypad controls end up as the default for most playing this sailing racing game.
But this does reduce VR immersion.
VR manual control is at least 25% of what makes a VR game a VR game after all.
How to fix it?
The problem is partially because authentic sailing requires many manual interactions not easily translated to a game.
Also, while most of the boats in game are one person boats, there is a yacht that is a 2 plus person crew boat. That creates issues.
To be honest, the most efficient control method with the yacht may just be Joypad controls.
So, one may have to give up immersion in that case if you are playing solo.
Leaving that aside…
You can work around those issues with simple changes to the basic VR control implementation.
Locomotion!
Yes, there is locomotion in the game.
Boats are essentially multi seated vehicles in game.
Even the single person boats.
Think of them as 2-seater cars while yachts are more like mini vans.
Unlike normal cars in games where only the driver seat matters, other seats matter too depending on what you need to do.
So how does one move between seats?
Marine Verse cup uses primarily a “target a laser pointer to fixed point and pull trigger” teleport locomotion method.
There is a Smooth locomotion option but it is very awkward to use
Smooth locomotion and joypad controls are all mapped on to the same limited controller real estate to be used at the same time.
Awkward!
Also, smooth locomotion does not add to the experience of switching between seats.
Efficiency is king in this case.
Back to “target a laser pointer to fixed point and pull trigger” teleport.
Just your standard teleport system that comes default in any game engine.
The one where the direction you are facing when initiating the teleport is kept after completing the teleport.
In and out, you are facing the same direction.
This Works fine with first person adventure games.
Not so much in Marine Verse cup .
Using a car as an example.
You are in the Front passenger seat.
Want to move to the driver’s seat.
Turn your head left and point and pull the trigger.
You teleport in the driver’s seat facing the wrong direction.
Marine Verse cup does know of this issue and tries to jury-rigg a solution.
It has the option to auto flip the direction of the teleport by 180 degrees.
This does not work with my car examples but works albeit awkwardly.
Not a real solution!
What is?
Every time the player teleports to a position, make the player face a direction default to that position.
Like with a driver’s seat in a car, in practical terms, all teleport positions only have one direction the player needs to be facing at.
With the single person boats, all teleport points need to be facing straight at the center of the boat.
Even with the multi person yacht, every point has one practical facing.
Easy solution that increases VR control efficiency!
Now, Point and trigger!
Why does the player need a “target a laser pointer to fixed point and pull trigger” teleport?
This works fine with first person adventure games where there is a lot of options for movement.
With the single person boats, there are only 2 seats.
and with yachts, there are only 5 seats in practical sense.
Pointing and pulling the trigger just takes up extra time and effort.
It is far more efficient to just press a button to cycle through the seats in single person boats.
Press Y button and teleport facing the default heading.
With the yacht, this requires the use of button combos to manage teleport location selection.
Something like Press Y button and trigger to teleport.
All of these adjustments are straightforward and could be simply implemented in most game engines.
Ropes and Handles!
Once the player gets into position, the player has to actually control the boat.
With the single person boats, this is mostly done with ropes and rudder Handles.
With the yacht, there are cranks and steering wheels.
So, set that aside.
Currently with the VR manual controls, every time you teleport, you have to manually get your hands on these controls again.
This means bending down, grabbing or stretching your arm and holding something. Then getting up.
It takes a few seconds every time.
It feels like driving a car as a toddler when your arms and legs are too short.
Very inefficient!
The solution is simple.
Use pressing and holding grip buttons to make the ropes or rudder Handles immediately get force pulled into your hands.
No bending over required.
For a single sail boat like the Dinghy, it has 1 rope and 1 rudder handle.
Straightforward!
For a dual sail boat, it has 2 ropes and 1 rudder handle.
Can use the grip and trigger button combo to select which rope to grab.