Overview
What is Dimensional Shift?
Dimensional Shift is a wave-based VR shooter that was created for a game jam called Chillennium.
Players have two different guns, each of which can only defeat one type of enemy. They must teleport between the floor and the ceiling to defend two bases for as long as possible.
Who made Dimensional Shift?
- Caleb Perkins — Programmer
- Ryan Sharpe — Programmer
- Shutong Liu — Artist
The game’s general concept was designed by committee; each of us were very eager to explore the unique interactions afforded by virtual space. Liu did 100% of the art for the game while Ryan and I focused on the coding.
Work
VR Interface
A large part of the work I did for DS was working with the Vive API hooks. This included things like replacing the controller model with our guns as well as writing event listeners to call functions for teleporting and shooting.
Teleportation
Unlike traditional VR titles, the locomotion in DS only transports the player between two points: the floor and ceiling. Each side of the room is the mirror of its other half — two dimensions on the verge of destruction. Using 3D calculations, I wrote code for smooth teleportation between both points that maintained player orientation.
Game Manager
One of the major challenges of writing a VR game is switching between controller modes. I created a context-sensitive game manager that switched the gun controls back to the default model and engaged a laser pointer-style UI tool that allowed players to interact with the various menus in the game.