Friday, May 13, 2016

Old crowdfunding campaign

Screenshot of indiegogo page
A couple weeks ago I launched an indiegogo campaign for Murder at Crane Castle, but I have decided to end it early. I realize now that crowdfunding isn't a pure marketing tool to get my game out there. Instead, the idea is to create buzz about the game first, then launch the campaign as a way for supporters to show interest and earn neat perks.
The issue still stands that I can't yet afford an Vive, Rift CV1, or third-party tracked motion controllers. But that's okay-- I'll keep targeting mono displays and DK2 (also CV1) + xbox controller "platforms" and see where this game goes.
Here are some of the blurbs about the game that I pulled from the indiegogo campaign site:


"Murder at Crane Castle is a multiplayer murder-mystery game in which one player is secretly a murderer, and the other players try to identify the murderer through a set of deadly and challenging puzzles. The game is developed with VR in mind; immersive, detailed environments conceal a myriad of clues for the player to inspect up close."...
..."everything you see in the video was made by me: I made the character models, animated the characters (and configured the inverse kinematic body for head-tracked HMDs), modeled the environment, and wrote all the code"....
  • The player joins a dinner party with up to five other characters
  • One player, perhaps you, is secretly selected as the "murderer"
  • As the murderer, your job is to kill all the other players without getting caught!
  • Information is your weapon as you deduce the identity of the murderer; solve puzzles, search for clues, and interrogate other players to win the game!
  • Find secret passages to quickly surprise or escape your opponents
  • Use items you find to craft unique weapons
  • Includes proximity-based voice chat and public matchmaking
..."Murder at Crane Castle is first and foremost aimed at PCs using VR head-mounted displays such as the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and more. Virtual reality adds a lot to the murder mystery experience. You'll have to search up, down, left and right for clues hidden in the environment of Crane Castle-- not to mention watching over your shoulder for the murderer."
...."My goal is to have Crane Castle be not just one of the best multiplayer experiences for VR, but also be cross-platform compatible on all major VR devices. I want players using the Oculus Rift and an Xbox controller to have a lot of fun, as well as player using the HTC Vive and its motion controllers. When Oculus touch comes out, I want to support that, too. Of course, the game also works with "mono"/regular non-vr displays as well... but the main feature of the game is multiplatform VR support, and not regular display support "adapted" to VR."
..."Right now, though, I've only been developing for my Rift Development Kit 2, which doesn't have any of the new features such as motion controls, integrated headphones, or room-scale tracking that the new consumer displays will provide. "