Shortly after I created my first Virtual Reality “game” which wasn’t actually a game per se, but more like a fan art/virtual reality music video that took place in the room 302 of a famous horror game called Silent Hill 4, I started working on another project because you couldn’t really interact with any objects in the first game and I wanted to learn more about developing VR experiences anyway. In fact the only thing you were able to do was walk around and just look at Henry’s room from a different and new perspective. It was cool, but I knew I could do much better.

How Blox VR came to be

The idea for the game came to me one night in a dream where I woke up in a room with no windows, no doors and no apparent way of getting out. In my dream I later found out that I had actually died and this is what “heaven” was like- being stuck in a tiny room in the middle of an endless void where time was standing still (ie. you wouldn’t age, etc).

I had two choices: either stay in the room for all eternity contemplating on the meaninglessness of life or hit a reset button, forget who I was and where I came from for another 60+ years and experience yet another lifetime through someone else’s consciousness. Deep, I know.

What is Blox VR exactly?

Before I start I have to get one important thing out of the way: It’s still a demo! Yeah, the game only has three levels right now because I got caught up in yet another project of mine and I also wanted to hear what other people thought about the game before fully committing myself to it. Unfortunately people haven’t said much. Go figure…

It’s funny because thanks to my other project I now know more about game physics and development in general so I might end up doing a complete rework on Blox VR once I decide to continue developing it because while it felt awesome a few months ago, it feels kind of lame and noob-ish with my current knowledge. I know can do much better.

To put it short: Blox VR is a virtual reality puzzle game project that has been put on hold for now, but I will most likely continue developing it once I’m finished with my other projects (they’re going to be epic by the way) and once I feel that people actually like where the game is headed.

What can you do in the game?

Because this is a game for the Google Cardboard headset and as you may know it only has a single action button, I had to make the hard choice and basically “glue” the player to the ground leaving the action button only for picking up and dropping various metal boxes scattered about the room. Therefore you can’t walk around in the room, but you don’t really need to. It’s just a small room. If you were actually there and spread your arms you could touch both walls at the same time.

The puzzle

When looking around the room you will notice something written on one of the walls. A clue? Well, I can only say that it’s somehow related to the various boxes that you find on the floor. Figure it out!

After you solve the puzzle you will hear a weird sound that I quickly made in FL Studio and the level resets. Except of course for the puzzle, that one changes to more complex gibberish.

After the final puzzle the writing on the wall changes to “End of demo” so you’d know that it’s the end and wouldn’t spend your precious time figuring out how to escape this level. You can’t. Really. That’s it. It’s really the end. REALLY.

Where to get it?

You can download the game from Google Play Store and currently it’s only available for Android devices. You also need one of those Google Cardboard Virtual Reality headsets that go for less than five bucks on ebay. Or you can order one from me if you like.

In category: Articles & stories, Game reviews, Gaming

This post was written by ynef