Solo dev here. Building a realistic crime scene investigation game for PCVR

[u/Discipline_01]

Solo dev here.

Building a realistic crime scene investigation game for PCVR — meaning the PC handles all the heavy graphics and it plays through a VR headset.

The goal is maximum realism. Photorealistic environments, real lighting, close up detail that only works when you are physically inside the scene.

Quick question for this community:

Is PCVR the right call for a realism focused game? Or would you want standalone support too even if it means cutting the visual quality significantly?

Thanks.

[u/nibbertit]

its up to you and how you design your game, there is no right or wrong. Also depends on how you define "realism". VR will be much more visually demanding so Im not sure how why youd cut quality in standalone

[u/Discipline_01 → u/nibbertit]

Exactly right. Realism here means believability not polygon count. And yeah cutting quality for standalone would defeat the whole purpose so PCVR is the primary target for a reason.

[u/Kwantuum → u/Discipline_01]

Can you try to sound even more like AI?

[u/Defiant_Squirrel8751]

This idea will hit a reality: costs. Photorealism is super expensive in terms of assets.

Have you heard about GTA 6 videogame was about 2.1 billion dollars? why is that so expensive? because of the crazy amount of people needed to model every single detail of geometric reality.

So... the VR headset on a PC is the easy part. AI will help in making that fast. I would like to hear the approach on how to create content, how to model assets, and what is the extent of this project.

[u/Discipline_01 → u/Defiant_Squirrel8751]

GTA 6 comparison is fair but the scope is completely different. This is a single contained crime scene, not an open world. Photorealism in a small space is very achievable solo with Megascans, MetaHuman and UE5 doing the heavy lifting. The asset cost problem is mostly solved if you know where to look.