DogBro is a VR game where you play blind character who wants to get from A to B with a white stick and a guard dog on a lease without colliding with any obstacles.
Living without seeing
A game by
Anil Kumar Tilanthe
Thomas Paul
Stefan Papst
Harun Secic
Klemens Strasser
Abstract
DogBro is a VR game that puts the player in a completely unfamiliar situation: Being blind. Nowadays everything is about visual effects, higher resolutions and better colours, but only for those, who can see them. It is very common to say "I know how you feel", but do we really know about it? This game gives just a tiny insight into the life of a blind person. Therefore we put our effort in the story, environment and audio, but not in graphics. Only a black screen. Further, you need to get used to your life saying equipment: A white stick and your new best friend, a friendly guidance dog. It is all about getting save from A to B. The game should not only be a tricky game or challenge, it should raise the awareness of disabilities - at least a bit -, how hard it is to live with one and how glad one can be, not having one.
| A game by |
|---|
| Abstract |
| ** 3** |
| 1 Overview |
| 1.1 Background |
| 1.2 Unique Selling Point |
| 2 References |
| 3 Specification |
| 3.1 Target-group |
| 3.2 Genre |
| 3.3 Art Style |
| 3.4 Forms of Engagement |
| 4 Gameplay and Game Setting |
| 4.1 Mood and Emotions |
| 4.2 Story |
| 4.3 World/Environment |
| 4.4 Obstacles |
| 4.5 Characters in the Game |
| 4.6 Main Objective |
| 4.7 Core Mechanics |
| 5 Controls |
| 6 Front End |
| 6.1 Start Screen |
| 6.2 Menus |
| 6.3 Credits menu |
| 6.4 End Screen |
| 7 Technology |
| 7.1 Target Systems |
| 7.2 Required Hardware |
| 7.3 Development Systems/Tools |
| 8 Topic and Inclusion |
| 8.1 Main Theme |
| 8.2 Inclusion |
| 8.2.1 Accessibility |
| 8.2.2 Humanity |
| 9 Marketing and Publishing Strategy |
| 10 Team and Credits |
1 Overview
The main goal of the game is to overcome all obstacles in various environments. The character faces problems and puzzles and resolves without seeing them. Instead, the player has to rely on haptic feedback, the sound emitted by certain obstacles and commands and alerts from the AI companion to reach the goal.
1.1 Background
The game points out how blind people live day by day and how hard easy things are if you can't see. Only with virtual reality, it is really possible to experience this kind of a game, because it enables us to remove any kind of visual reference point. Through the game, the player should feel compassion and respect to those who have to live this way.
1.2 Unique Selling Point
The fact that it provides a simple, but an emotionally fueled experience of something that a lot of fellow humans live through.
2 References
Similar games exist, but usually with some form of a visual guide which, in our opinion, misses the point. Darkness or mere visual disability should be the main focus.
Blind by Tiny Bull Studios follows a similar idea, but uses a visual guidance through echolocation. The game can be found here.
3 Specification
Every game needs a predefined target group and a genre to be categorized. This and related information are covered in the following sections.
3.1 Target-group
Virtual reality devices owners, specifically HTC Vive owners looking for an emotional experience.
3.2 Genre
It technically falls in the genre of a first-person platformer.
3.3 Art Style
One could argue that the game does not really have a defined art style, because the environment cannot be seen at all (or only in a very blurry way).
3.4 Forms of Engagement
The narrative and the experience should draw in the player. The unfamiliarity and the reliance on other senses are what drives the player.
4 Gameplay and Game Setting
As a first-person platformer, the idea is for the player to overcome obstacles and deal with various issues of movement. Exploring and attempting to find the path is a big part of the game. Some areas are not for walking, some are. A simple tutorial familiarizes the user with the environment and how to face the challenges further on.
4.1 Mood and Emotions
- Compassion
- Acknowledgement
- Ending: Relief, desire to find the way
4.2 Story
The user wakes up in the hospital. A nurse is talking to the patient and explains that he had an accident which leads to the complete loss of his visuals. It's a shock to the character and a new situation, a new world. To handle this new situation, some abilities need to be acquired. The first tool the user is getting from the nurse is a white stick. This white stick should help to orientate in the local environment and give advice about safe areas to walk in. After the first experiences using the white stick to get from A to B, the character has the first contact with his new best friend: DogBro. DogBro is a friendly and highly-trained guidance dog whose life mission is to keep his newly assigned owner save. After the first meeting, the patient is ready to step further and feel the world in another way. Equipped with a white stick in the left hand and a leash in the right one, the big journey can start: Going home. The way home is full of dangerous situations, as he has to cross streets, avoid running into obstacles or falling down stairs. Good to have a friend on your side, which warns you from dangers and makes a sound if the way is clear to go. The journey ends when character and dog safely arrive at home.
4.3 World/Environment
The environment is not visible to simulate complete blindness of the character. Even though there is a virtual world created that consists of different entities: Obstacles, goal, path and companion (dog).
Each level has a starting point where the character is positioned in the beginning and is relocated if he dies. Some levels might have savepoints/checkpoints which moves this temporary starting point. Once you reach a checkpoint, you will be reset to this location. If you reach the goal tile, the next level will be loaded automatically. A level is surrounded by a cliff that immediately kills the character if he falls down. The complexity of the levels increases step by step.
4.4 Obstacles in the Game
- ●● Crosswalks
- ●● Stairs
- ●● Cliffs
4.5 Characters in the Game
- Protagonist : A blind character.
- Dog** :** Trusty friendly companion that helps the player.
- Nurse : A voice at the beginning of the game that clears up the situation and gives first introductions/advices.
- The voice from the off : Guides the player through the game.
4.6 Main Objective
Familiarize yourself with the way blind people move, by attempting to reach a certain location without dying. Improve other senses, especially the sense of ear. Another aspect is to build up trust in a friend, in this case, a dog, to overcome hindrances more easily.
4.7 Core Mechanics
The core mechanics of the game are the following:
- Move your way around and avoid obstacles
- Get a sense of your surroundings, via tactile feedback from your white stick
- Listen to certain commands of your AI companion (barking, snarling)
- The path is surrounded by a walkable area → leaving this area triggers a reset of position to last checkpoint position. Audio will be played to inform you about this
5 Controls
As there are different possible ways to implement the controls of the input devices, we describe all relevant ones in this chapter.
Left controller
"White stick": Move it left to right to "feel" the path via haptic feedback from the controller.
Right controller
Movement (via touchpad) + holding the dog leash.
Continuing the game by pressing the trigger.
HTC Vive Headset
Dictating the movement direction by turning your head
Figure 3 - Vive controller Ref: [https://www.vive.com/nz/support/vive/category_howto/about-the-controllers.html]
6 Front End
Though the game the visual aspect is a black screen. The game starts with an audio introduction and every move is explained by spoken text. The game should be playable by visually handicapped persons as well. Therefore a menu would break the overall intention.
7 Technology
In this chapter, we summarized all information about target systems, the required hardware with its minimum performance requirements and the development systems and tools we used through the implementation
7.1 Target Systems
HTC Vive, used with Mac OS or Windows
7.2 Required Hardware
HTC Vive, plus a capable system that fulfils the minimal requirements to run VR games. A mandatory component is headphones to be able to listen to instructions and to follow the story.
7.3 Development Systems / Tools
Following tools were used in the development of the game:
- Unity - the game engine and most proprietary assets were created with this.
- SteamVR (HTC VIVE SDK)
- Visual Studio - IDE by Microsoft
- Json .Net for Unity - parsing from and writing to level files
- Git - Version control in combination with GitHub
- VRTK - Toolkit to VR; Used it for running the game without a VR device
8 Topic and Inclusion
This chapter covers the main theme and inclusion, which gives information about accessibility and humanity.
8.1 Main Theme
The main theme is a VR equipped puzzle providing a different experience. Minimalism and lack of visuals are the core assets of the game.
8.2 Inclusion
We split this section into two subsections to separate accessibility and humanity.
8.2.1 Accessibility
There is no added accessibility option within the game, however, the game should be playable by a variety of differently abled people.
8.2.2 Humanity
Humanity is shown in the initial compassion and empathy and then further on in ferocity of the player taking on the challenge of losing one of their main senses.
9 Marketing and Publishing Strategy
The means of advertising and promotion we are able to utilize to share this game:
- Social media channels such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter.
- Live streaming the game to attract players via Twitch.tv, Hitbox and so on.
- Introduce family and friends to the game and ask them to share it.
- Attend game development fairs and introduce participants to the game
The means of publishing that are available:
- io - number one choice.
- Steam Greenlight
10 Team and Credits
- Anil Kumar Tilanthe
- Thomas Paul
- Stefan Papst
- Harun Secic
- Klemens Strasser