Spellbound is a virtual reality game where you can be a wizard and throw fireballs at zombies! At least, that’s what it appears to be at first glance to the uninitiated eye but there’s much more lingering below the surface, waiting for you to discover it. Spellbound is intended to be a rich story telling platform where players get to select a fable and become the active protagonist in the story. Each story is a creative exploration into a particular topic / theme designed to explore and discover the capabilities of virtual reality.
The first story is a three part tale about a red wizard who has suffered from a lifetime of loneliness after being chased away from his home village by villagers scared of his magical abilities. He grew up in a hidden tower deep in the dark forests, never meeting another person, always fearful of his own magical abilities. One day, he meets a strange crow on a tree which somehow knows how to speak. They become friends and the crow becomes his mentor on all magical things. What the wizard doesn’t know is that his feathered friend isn’t just any old run of the mill talking bird, there is something deep, dark, and sinister lurking beneath the surface…
Spell Casting in VR:
Within Spellbound, you use your hands to cast magical spells. Each spell has a different way of interacting with hands in VR. Fireballs can be thrown like baseballs and fly depending on how hard you throw them. A “cone of cold” will freeze your foes, but the focal angle and length of the cone is based on the distance between your hands. Frozen foes can be punched, causing them to shatter. Spells may seem a bit basic at first glance, but there is a lot of underlying complexity with the combinations you can create from the basic elements. For example, spraying sticky grease all over the ground may appear to slow down anyone passing through it, but it’s flammable as well. If you ignite it with a fireball, you create a wall of fire. You can continue spraying grease into the fire but it becomes a dangerous flame thrower…
VR Features and Capabilities:
1. Room scale: You can walk around in your play space and your character does as well! When you duck and dodge, so does your character.
2. Full Body Avatars: You’re more than just a pair of floating hands and a head, you’re a full wizard. Expect some really cool uses of this in the future.
3. Object Collision: You can’t phase through solid objects in VR, even though you can physically try to walk through it in your living room.
4. Locomotion System: Swing your arms side to side to walk. Jogging motions sprint for a moment. You don’t have to leave your play area to walk across a meadow.
5. 360 degrees of freedom: You can throw a fireball from behind your back or under your leg. That wraith never saw it coming…
6. Pets: Every story will have magical pets you can interact with directly. Red wizard gets a crow; Sorceress of light gets a unicorn. After experimenting with pets in VR, I almost wanted to just stop everything else and make the game about interacting with pets.
Hardware Support:
Display Support:
HTC Vive: Full Support
Oculus Rift: Full Support
Traditional Monitor: Limited Support
Inputs:
Vive Motion Controllers: Full Support
Mouse & Keyboard: Limited Support
Game Pad: Limited Support
Oculus Touch: Full Support
Leap Motion: Coming Soon
Comfort & Suitability
Motion Sensitivity:
This is a comfortable VR experience for a majority of people, but very motion sensitive people may experience brief moments of nausea. I strive to limit this. Also, I recommend not drinking alcohol prior to doing any VR.
This game may not be appropriate for young children:
I discovered this the hard way when an eight year old girl tried my game for the first time and saw a life sized zombie. She immediately started crying and was very traumatized. Parental discretion is advised!
No jump scares:
There aren’t any intentionally added in.
Romance & Intimacy
. There may be suggestive themes in future installments of content.
Heart Warning:
Beware: To my surprise, this game has been scary for many people. If you have a heart condition, play at your own risk and discretion.