Frostbyte is an experimental VR game I am currently developing in Unity for Oculus Rift. It features Metroidvania gameplay with a focus on exploration and combat only possible in VR. 

Inspired by the atmospheric minimalism of the original Metroid for the Nintendo Entertainment System, I wanted to explore a game that could replicate a similar feeling through the transformative lens of VR. The game world is largely constructed of blocks and sprites emulating the visual style of 8 bit games, and player can navigate the world by teleporting across certain tiles, even moving on walls and ceilings. Exploration is interspersed with combat encounters in which players must catch enemy bullets with their shield (using the right touch controller), collecting energy to power their own weapon. 

The project is still in an exploration phase, with a working prototype for a vertical slice level. This is a gameplay video of the current prototype: 
In this prototype demo, the player navigates a tutorial and learns how to warp across tiles, catch enemy bullets with their shield, and use their blaster to fire back at enemies. The game soon teaches more advanced warp mechanics, such as the ability to choose which direction you'll face after warping. Furthermore, to make the movement clearer, the game introduces the concept of a render texture screen attached to the left hand that shows how the camera moves when warping to a new tile. By rendering this warping movement to a flat texture, the game can avoid locomotion while still giving players a sense of direction. This becomes essential around the 2:22 mark when the player gains the ability to also warp onto walls and ceilings. This allows somewhat mind-bending gameplay, allowing the player to explore from many perspectives. 

I plan to continue development in my free time, possibly adding support for Vive or other platforms. Ideally, I want to turn this into a 3-5 hour long Metroidvania game with a heavy emphasis on atmosphere, exploration, and combat in an interconnected, semi-nonlinear world. 
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