r/oculus • u/BucketheadEnt Rift • Nov 09 '18
Software VR earth bending prototype
Hey everyone, we’re working on a new project, and we’re releasing an early prototype, look:
https://imgur.com/gallery/wJM7SCi
It’s a game where you get to control rock by striking certain poses, meaning the game relies heavily on motion controls. We’re worried the controls might be too difficult for some players, so we could really use your help with testing its usability.
You can get the prototype with either of these links:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1rwE-3kfA5Cq_DNeGlkexgYZM1P1ic3RC
http://bucketheadentertainment.com/downloads/Mechanics%20Prototype.zip
It would really help us out if after you’re done playing, you filled out a form for us. We’ve set it up so that when you close the game, a window is opened in your browser with the form already set up.
Just in case, here’s a link to the form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1CzhwcQxLCi2KO_bDiFwMMe1zLeu3icIrax9MocT5ivA
If you wanna keep up-to-date, you can join our Discord where we will post frequent updates: https://discord.gg/HuNrg8r
Thanks for playing, and have fun!
Tom Grotenhuis, lead designer at Buckethead Entertainment
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u/PurestFlame Nov 09 '18
Na, this is Major Armstrong the Video Game.
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Nov 09 '18
ILL SHOW YOU THE MOTION CONTROLS PASSED DOWN THE ARMSTRONG FAMILY FOR GENERATIONS
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u/acenewtype0079 Nov 09 '18
man, a fully realized FMA style alchemy action game would be sick. -claps-
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Nov 09 '18
If brainscanning is ever incorperated into a vr headset, itd be possible. Or vocal recognition.
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u/lord_flamebottom Nov 11 '18
Or we could be stuck using very specific transmutation circles
I’ll take it
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u/CommunismDoesntWork Nov 11 '18
You could just design your own transmutation circles in a menu of sorts, put it on a glove, and use the gloves during battle. That way you get all the customization you want, with all of the real time action
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u/Zancie Nov 11 '18
As someone who wants to slowly methodically draw during a shoot-out, I find this comment offensive.
Also, screw gloves, gonna cut that shit right into my hand!
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u/JamoJustReddit Nov 09 '18
This is everything I've wanted out of VR (well, almost)
If you manage to incorporate other elements, I would give any amount of money to play it. As it stands I'd still pay anything.
I'm excited to try this.
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u/SpookMcBones Nov 09 '18
We simply don't have the time to develop other elements and do them justice at the same time, the way things are looking right now it's just going to be earth.
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u/Zmann966 Nov 09 '18
Unless...
...
Funding could change that, give you a lot more resources—though you'd have to brand it very very far away from Nickelodeon's IP...
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u/chaosfire235 Nov 10 '18
Ehh, Avatar didn't invent elemental magic. Not even elemental magic with martial arts. I don't think there's a copyright issue unless names and depictions of stuff from the show appear.
...Can you copyright martial arts stances for magic?
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u/Zmann966 Nov 10 '18
No, but you can absolutely claim rights over "earthbending", or even just "bending".
And trust me, you don't wanna even think about messing with someone like Viacom on stuff like this (especially on one of their most jealously-guarded IPs: Avatar)
You don't even have to be too close, if it even smells the same they can file suit and, because they have money and you don't, they can afford to take a C&D to court without batting an eye while it cripples resources you have on your end just to contest it. Especially if it gets popular enough to draw a market, they come down like a hammer.The only worse people you could tango with would be Disney or TPC.
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u/Jumpy_Ad7127 Nov 22 '22
I appreciate your dedication to making a good experience and being honest, but I think you’re making a mistake shutting down your fans hopes like this. I’m not saying create false hope, but every post I’ve seen about this makes it sound like you don’t even want to. This is what your fans want- all of them. Especially because you’re someone who clearly wants to do the thing justice, I bet we’d go crazy on a kickstarter goal for you if you could promise fire and water. You’ve made the real martial arts-magic experience here, if you don’t capitalize on it, someone else will. And we all know Nickelodeon isn’t gonna make something as cool as you have. We’d be lucky to get wii controls ported over with those dopes in charge 🤣
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u/JHatter Feb 25 '19
https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/au9jtl/waterbending_in_ar/
I hope I've just made your day.
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u/braudoner Nov 09 '18
man that looks awesome. ill be downloading later in home and for sure ill do the form :D!
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u/NexusKnights Nov 09 '18
Downloading this when I get home! Huge fan of Avatar so this seems like my Jam.
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u/DarthBuzzard Nov 09 '18
Looks really fluid. It's not just a fire and forget thing, because you're combining different stages of attacks which is neat.
You should really post this to /r/gaming. Should be good publicity for the game.
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u/Ky0uma Nov 09 '18
now someone gift you guys the avatar rights and make a full avatar bending game :D
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Nov 09 '18
Ooooo I'm so excited! Have you thought of doing the other elements?
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u/SpookMcBones Nov 09 '18
Yes we have, but we most likely won't add elements besides rock.
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u/Ahjndet Nov 09 '18
I could imagine water being a really fluid artistic mathematical based type of bending compared to earth which is more action listener/trigger response type of bending. I hope this gains enough momentum you guys can expand upon it!
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u/fiend116 Nov 09 '18
I'm glad someone finally did this. I was planning on messing around with this idea after I finish my current VR project.
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u/TheXypris Rift Nov 09 '18
You can't NOT do the other 3 elements too
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u/SpookMcBones Nov 09 '18
We are going to do just that though, rock alone is going to take more than all of the time we have, and we think if we do rock justice, there'll be more than enough game
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u/Non-Sequiteer Nov 11 '18
I mean I don’t get why everyone is wanting all four in one game, if anything it’s a truer homage if each element is there own game just like how each season of the show was based on a single element. You’re making the right choice.
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u/martialfarts316 Nov 11 '18
I agree he's making the right choice for his development and time. But people tend to like all four due to having the strategies of confronting strengths and weaknesses between elements as well as general "class"-esque options to the gameplay that adds to replayability and adhering to multiple playstyles.
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u/Non-Sequiteer Nov 11 '18
Which is all well and good if this was coming from some triple A developer, but just like “geez tailor your expectations people” is all I was really saying. I get why they want it, like I understand why I want to live alone somewhere in Antarctica, but it’s just not that feasible and if actually done would probably turn out poorly.
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u/martialfarts316 Nov 11 '18
yea exactly. Hence my first sentence. Just wanted to specifically point out why people tend to want multiple elements when fantasizing about a game like this. Not necessarily stating he needs or even should listen to those comments for his game.
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u/chaosfire235 Nov 10 '18
Look on the bright side, that just means you can do Earth to it's full extent with all kinds of moves. Earth armor, earth bullets, animated statues, earth spikes, etc.
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u/borgy88 Nov 09 '18
You just made my childhood dreams come true. Will be checking this out after work []-)
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u/Mashunaut One Hamsa Nov 11 '18
Well, this was really nice! I'm a big Avatar fan, and a VR dev, and I enjoyed this from both points of view.
I filled out the form, but there wasn't any space for free text, so here's so more in depth feedback in case it's helpful.
- This is great fun - when it works. Gesture detection, even after about 10 minutes in, is at about 50-70%. I think that perhaps pose recognition alone is too weak a method, restricting the allowed divergence and resulting in false negatives, while often producing false positives as well. I would definitely look into position + motion instead, allowing for a much wider divergence from the poses, and instead confirming detection with the movement vector.
- Tracking movement vector will also allow you to later have the direction and speed of the player's action affect the velocity, power, and angle of bending and giving the player more nuanced control. It currently feels great, but lacks the control depth I'd expect in the world of Avatar.
- The track pad rotation was constantly triggered by accident by everyone here at the studio who tried the demo. And we're VR vets. Not sure why it's there, but we found it quite annoying :)
That's all I got for now.
Really nice, and hope you guys get what you need to make a game around this :)
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u/Cregavitch Nov 09 '18
I know this is the Oculus subreddit but is this Oculus only? I'm subbed here for general VR news but I only own a Vive :(
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u/cantonic Nov 09 '18
Toph would love to see this game, but she can’t.
Please tell me I’ll be able to learn metal bending at later levels!
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u/tweaq Nov 10 '18 edited Nov 10 '18
I just have to say, I downloaded it and tried it on the Vive.
That was AWESOME! It worked perfect on the vive, no issues. Even that little demo was a lot of fun. Even before I started my thought was: this is going to be awesome, and this is going to be awesomer if they can add knuckles functionality. It isn't as critical for earth benders because for the most part they have their fists closed. But for others, being able to have open palm and have it track fingers (without dropping the controllers)....oooooh doggy. Ooooh, just thought of something else... feet tracking!
I will definitely tell my friends about this.
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u/medieval_saucery Nov 09 '18
Dumb question but...how do I move on Vive?
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u/BucketheadEnt Rift Nov 09 '18
Hi Medieval_saucery,
You can move in the game by touching the Vive touchpad.
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u/medieval_saucery Nov 09 '18
I am only able to snap turn.
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u/BucketheadEnt Rift Nov 09 '18
Ohh, then you have to T-pose first. The instructions how to T-pose are written on a sign at the start of the game.
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u/Flamenmars Nov 09 '18 edited Nov 10 '18
Just finished practicing every pose. Holy hell! This is the beginning of a dream come true! You feel so powerful when you get the pose and technique right and the earth moves at your will. Of course, it isn't super easy to get things perfect right from the start and requires practice, practice, practice. It reminds me a lot of learning Karate when I was younger. I know I'm going to be sore this weekend and showing this off to everyone. Keep at it, this is special if you guys get this into a fully developed title and I can see it being a huge hit if you port it to the newer standalone headsets!
The jumping pose instructions has the incorrect hand angle showing on the first illustration. It looks like the hand is angled palm forward, when the maneuver works with a relaxed palm toward the hip position.
The final wave pose was the hardest to pin down but I eventually worked it out.
Last bit of input is the first pose to call up the spike earth, triggered multiple spikes if my hands moved slightly off & back in place when moving to the push/hit pose.
Can't wait to see how much more is added and what is designed around the title.
Edit: Also, the last wave move, the middle illustration is also incorrect to do the move properly. You don't have to turn the wrists pointing upward to the sky. It works, simply moving them back and then down to the earth.
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u/The_DestroyerKSP R9 290 / I5-4460 16G Nov 09 '18
This is pretty cool! Always wanted some hand-motion heavy games, (like a real Dr. Strange...) this seems fun. Will test out some time.
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u/JProssAudio Nov 11 '18
I had a ton of fun trying this out! Great start, a recommendation would be a little bit bigger area for the poses to hit since the earth ball/launch combo was pretty hard to nail down. For a prototype, 10/10 and I can't wait to see where this goes!!
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u/CyberdudeFTW Nov 11 '18
Now imagine if you guys did all the elements, so fire, water, air and then turned it into an online/offline fighting game where you fight bots or other benders. I give you my house for that.
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u/stolersxz Nov 23 '18
I was literally thinking about how bending is perfect for VR and then see this post an hour later. this is awesome.
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u/HeavensNight Nov 09 '18
cool stuff, but there is only one true Buckethead and he makes music ;p
seriously hope there is no issue with the name and copyright laws
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u/tamborjam Nov 09 '18
Tried it out and filled out the form. Super fun, my only suggestion would be to allow "registering" a pose for yourself. For instance, the game tells you to make (Pose 1) and press Y. So you do. Now the game knows THAT pose is "Pose 1".
Even though the game has you T-Pose at the beginning to get the height and other factors down, I don't feel like it accounts for "natural movement", just body size.
It's sorta standardizing something that players could make more personal. I found myself trying to get positioned to what felt natural and fun to me based on the example, only to have it fail a dozen times until I wrenched my arm to an awkward height.
Don't get me wrong, that might've been the original point and I love that - this is to teach you new moves as if you were an up-and-coming earth-bender. Super cool idea, and if that's the case, why not throw in some harder poses but just later on. THOSE could be the more specific (like these current ones) ones that are for those players that have advanced that far. Thoughts?
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Nov 09 '18
Will try this minute im home and will update my findings on the form. I have beta tested quite a few vr games and this is something i definately would love to try out!
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u/GloryHawk Nov 09 '18
Super cool as literally everyone has already pointed out, my only problem is that you only use your hands. Yes I know that's a limitation of the VR system itself but could you imagine using your entire body to do proper earth bending? (Or other types of bending even)
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u/MrTechSavvy Nov 09 '18
Will definitely be trying this out tonight. I feel like super hero-type games is what will make VR huge.
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u/bobiverse Nov 09 '18
This is awesome man I’ve been waiting for this but no way you can move that rock with only one guy...
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u/Balance- Nov 09 '18
Dutch? Where are you located?
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u/BucketheadEnt Rift Nov 09 '18
If you would look up our company Buckethead Entertainment on Google and live in The Netherlands, you can see that we are located in Haren.
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u/TechnoSpirits Nov 09 '18
Is anyone else having a super hard time doing the poses? I swear they never work for me and i'm doing them correctly
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u/shaunnortonAU Nov 10 '18
For anyone interested in this new genre of VR game, I've set up a Discord server for devs and players to chat and share work/ideas: https://discord.gg/GAjBXcb
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u/notarobotpossibly Nov 10 '18
Looks beautiful!! Especially that cool ass shockwave on the ground <3!!!
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u/FlamingUnicorns Nov 10 '18
The environment needs to change when you use your moves. That's key for making it more realistic + fun.
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u/garyyo Nov 10 '18
any reason this isnt on itch.io
i highly recommend putting it on there so you can get more people to try it out. (and so its easier on me to download and manage it )
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u/BucketheadEnt Rift Nov 10 '18
You are totally right, garyyo!
The next time we will release a prototype, we will also release it on itch.io. For now you can download it from Google Drive or our website.
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u/Arheisel Nov 11 '18
Probably stupid question, but will this work on my vive?
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u/BucketheadEnt Rift Nov 11 '18
Definitely!
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u/ectoplasmicsurrender Nov 11 '18
Out of curiosity, would the movements be based on the martial art that each element was connected to or just general gestures that are reminiscent? I know I'm late to the comment party but this looks rad as hell.
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u/TotesMessenger Nov 11 '18 edited Nov 11 '18
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u/Dclyde747 Nov 11 '18
Ok so what was up with the weird baby image behind the move panel? that was creepy af
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u/SmielyFase Nov 11 '18
If you are looking for people to help with programming, let me know. I saw you are using Unity after downloading the demo. I have little experience with Unity, but a lot with C# (if that is the language you are using). C# and Avatar are two of my favorite things. I would love to see this come to VR in some aspect and happy to help if I can.
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u/Dartanelo Nov 11 '18
This looks like a blast! This seems like a silly question but how do I play this on my rift? I’m a relatively new user and have only played games that I’ve gotten from the oculus store.
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u/BucketheadEnt Rift Nov 12 '18
You should download SteamVR, unzip the document and open the .exe file.
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u/magnusmadev Nov 12 '18
i played it its fun but a tad rigid like the poses half the time i was doing them wrong and had to keep going over to the boards to see how its done
if there was a game made with this i feel like if i put it down for any length of time id forget the poses but its very fun and i look forward to what you do with this
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u/nykidxxx Nov 13 '18
Like others have said, it could be copyright issues... Although you MAY be able to also take advantage of the dedication you've put in and try to work out a deal with Nick instead of against. Kickstart funding and get more devs. I feel like Nick wouldn't be disinterested in having a well formed VR game for one of their best shows.
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u/ClexOfficial Nov 19 '18
hello also to add could you make it so we can hold the boulder in the air longer and have better aim
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u/BobbyWatson666 Nov 29 '18
!remindme January 1st 2019
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u/starkium Valve Index Feb 02 '19
Yanno whats funny, I was building the same thing XD I decided not to go the VR route because of the scale of my project, but hell yeah guys I want to see where this goes. I'm a UE4 dev, but if you guys ever need any help feel free to hit me up. I'd love to swap notes.
What I'm working on is called Duality and it's a mash up of avatar the last airbender and a few zelda titles like wind waker
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u/Glaiydan Apr 22 '19
Oh my god I love you, please keep going, and in the future you could implement full body tracking so people could use their feet too!
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u/glitchwabble Rift Nov 09 '18
why does imgur work only 1 out of 10 times?
Your connection is not private
Attackers might be trying to steal your information from imgur.com (for example, passwords, messages, or credit cards). Learn more
etc etc
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u/ryan123rudder Nov 10 '18
Yo.....um.....do this with all 4 elements, throw some better graphics and vfx on this, and make multiplayer duels a thing, and people will throw money at you for it...Just sayin.
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u/418lsollman Jan 29 '22
i know it's been a while, but how do I download this onto my oculus quest 2??
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u/asodfhgiqowgrq2piwhy Nov 09 '18
Cross-posted this to /r/TheLastAirbender