Introduction

Description

Jailbreak is a local multiplayer VR game that requires the players to coordinate and share information. The VR player moves throughout a prison avoiding guards and overcoming obstacles with the help of those looking at the external screen. The external players must use their “hacker” view to interact with the prison and assist the VR player’s escape

Inspiration

Since VR is still expensive and many people only have one headset we wanted to create a VR experience that included more people. We took inspiration from games like Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes. This game allows one player to be in VR while the rest use the external screen to assist the VR player defuse the bomb. We took the concept of each player group needing the other to progress and applied it to a popular pop culture trope, jailbreaks. Many movies and tv shows include scenes where one character guides another through a tight security system after hacking into the cameras and other obstacles. We wanted to recreate this experience using VR. All this together led us to create Jailbreak.

Story

You were wrongly convicted of a crime you did not commit and your friends have hacked into the prison to get you out. You have to find a way to escape the prison without the guards seeing you or before your friend gets kicked out of the prison system. Good Luck!

Technologies/Methodologies

Game Engine: Unity

Platform: Oculus/Vive

Version Control: Github

Communication: Slack/Trello/Zoom

Website: Google Sites

Assets: Modular Prison Pack, Prisoners Pack, Final IK

Development Style: Agile (Sprints)

Scope

We aimed to create one sequence of the three main parts of the game. We can easily scale this design by creating other levels or making the current level larger or more detailed. This demo proves the concept of a multiplayer VR game where the players can view the VR player in-game is possible and that it provides and engaging gameplay.

Gameplay

Objective

The objective is to escape the prison as fast as possible without being caught.

Overall Game Flow

Level 1 (The Cell)

VR Player (VR Prisoner)

The player starts inside a dark cell cell. They have to communicate with the hacker to solve small puzzles to escape the prison. The prisoner has to describe their surroundings while the hacker uses that information to instruct the prisoner on how to proceed.

Desktop Player (Hacker)

The hacker must look through the files they have access to in order to instruct the prisoner on how to break out of their cell. The hacker can enable the buttons and use other commands as needed to help the VR player. Lastly, the hacker can use the camera outside the cell to warn the VR player if the guard is coming.

Level flow

The VR player spawns in the cell, and needs to get out. The player at the computer screen has to navigate the files to determine how the player can get out. The VR player can see the cell number, which they can communicate to the computer player. The computer player then looks up the cell in Cell.txt. There’s a panel that covers buttons that can be used to open the cell door from the inside. The VR player must use the lamp to find the password that allows the hacker player to enable the buttons and move the panel. The hacker must be careful that the guard does not see the panel is open by opening and closing it depending on the guards location. The computer player can look up the button combination that opens up the cell door in Buttons.txt and find the specific layout based on the colors along with a specific order they must press the buttons in. The player must then press them in the correct order, after the doors open and the prisoner can leave. Once the prisoner exits the cell they are taken to the next level.

Level 2 (Lasers)

VR Player (VR Prisoner)

Once the prisoner exits the cell level, they enter a seemingly empty hallway. They have to walk around using the joystick and move their body to avoid lasers they cannot see based on the hackers directions.

Desktop Player (Hacker)

The hacker must enable the cameras to see the lasers by cam_mode inf. Once enabled the hacker must use the map in their interface to switch between cameras to guide the VR player through the hallway safely.

Level Flow

The lasers in the beginning of the hallway are static and far apart. As the player progresses the lasers get closer together and begin to start moving increasing the difficulty. Once the player reaches the end of the hallway the player is taken to the guard level.

Level 3 (Guards)

VR Player (VR Prisoner)

They have to walk around using the joystick to find the exit. While walking around they need to avoid guards. Their controls include: moving around and headset movements.

Desktop Player (Hacker)

The player sees a screen with one rendered camera, a map of the prison and the camera locations, a terminal window, and a list of terminal commands they can use. The player has two mechanics. First, they can click on a camera to render it in the adjacent view. Second, they can type commands into the terminal window to pause the guard briefly giving the VR player time to move.

Level Flow

The VR player must avoid the guards and find the exit. Once at the end the player is taken to the end view.

End View

The end view is a skybox of an outside portion of a larger prisoner layout to tease a longer gameplay. It shows the players that they still have much more obstacles to get to before they can escape.

Main Mechanics

Communication

Both players must communicate to escape. Both players have information that the other needs and they must communicate it efficiently to not get caught and escape before the time runs out.

Guards

Guards all have the same attributes such as speed, field of view and view distance. Guards can not see behind them. In the future, guards will vary in the attributes mentioned above to provide variety in gameplay and strategy. Currently, guards follow a strict path we define and loop. The guards can be paused for a random time between 3 to 6 seconds by the hacker player.

VR Player

The VR player uses the hand controllers to pick up objects using the triggers and move by using the left joystick/gamepad. If the player needs to rotate they can click that direction on the right joystick/gamepad.

Hacker Interface

The hacker interface has 4 components. The top left displays one security camera rendering the in-game environment. The top right one shows a mini map where the player can select the camera they want to render. The bottom right one is a command terminal where the player can type and execute commands. The bottom left one is a document viewer where the player can display documents and see possible commands.

Game Menu

When the player loads the game or loses the VR player is put in a box displaying a welcome message or information about how they lost. The Hacker player can then select what level they would like to play.

Sound

All Levels

These are the sounds that persist across all levels

• Footsteps

• Lights humming

• Alarm (when thee player loses/is caught)

Level 1 (Cell)

These are the sounds present only in the cell scene

• Door

• Dripping water

Level 2 (Lasers)

These are the sounds present only in the laser scene

• Laser humming

Level 3 (Guards)

These are the sounds present only in the guard scene

• People murmuring

Resources

https://adage.com/creativity/work/6-x-9-virtual-reality-solitary-confinement-experience/46664

https://www.pond5.com/sound-effects/1/prison.html

Team

Name Main Role/Features

Parshav Kothary Lead Designer

Daniel Mizrahi Level and Sound design

Fan Zhang Guards and Hacker Interface

Lulu Li Guards and Hacker Interface

Scott Kriesberg Project Manager, Level and Sound Design

Chen Bai VR player model, End Scene

Future

Improve Story

• Add more to prisoner and hacker backstory

• Add more to prison lore

Polishing

• Improved level transitions

• Loading screens

• Menus

Adding difficulty levels

• Changing number of guards

• Changing guard AI

• Setting adjustable time limit

• Robot guards to allow for hacker to interact with guards

• Periodic typing challenges to stay hacked into the prison

Adding more interactive components

• Being able to interact with prisoners/guards

• Have more objects in the environment that the user can use to escape

• Create more commands for the hacker to use

• Add ability for the hacker to move camera

• Add abilities for the VR player to use periodically