BouncerVR

[Wim Vergult]

Hello all,

We are in development of a unique VR game and we need your help to make it popular. Developed for casual gamers and VR enthusiasts alike, this fun and addictive VR ready game will open you up to a whole new experience. With controls as simple as pointing, you will get hours of quality gaming!

Furthermore, since you don't move in the game you won't get motion sickness.

Please kindly take a look at the following link: http://bouncervr.com   There's a playable DEMO available for download and more information about the progress and plans of development on the indiegogo page. Any pledges are of course greatly appreciated.

Also take a look at https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/2865-bouncervr-for-oculus-rift if you would rather just support us by spreading the word!

We'd already like you thank you in advance for taking the time to read this post!


-BouncerVR team

[Jan Ciger]

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Hello Wim,

On 07/08/2013 07:01 PM, Wim Vergult wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> We are in development of a unique VR game and we need your help to
> make it popular. Developed for casual gamers and VR enthusiasts
> alike, this fun and addictive VR ready game will open you up to a
> whole new experience. With controls as simple as pointing, you will
> get hours of quality gaming!
>

A 3D Pong played with head movement? Seriously? And how much money are
you trying to raise with this?? Oh yeah, it has Facebook integration
(if enough money is collected to achieve that level, of course). It is
still a 40 years old game, adding Rift, iPad and Facebook won't change
anything on that nor make it unique.

I don't want to rain on your parade, but I think a reality check is in
order. I think you would be better off starting to sell what you have
already and then, if there is enough interest, use the money to add
additional features or what not. It is also the sort of casual app
that would be at home on the phone or tablet (but then there are tons
of pongs already) and not so much in VR.

I doubt anyone would enjoy twisting their heads around and having a
ball bounce off their faces sufficiently long to see all those levels
you are promising - basic ergonomy, guys. My neck is not made out of
rubber.

On the other hand, it could be a good rehabilitation app for stiff
neck - I had actually a student build an Arkanoid/Breakout clone
controlled by TrackIR for that purpose back in the day.

And re nausea - careful, you can get sick even by moving your head
rapidly. Motion sickness is not dependent on the camera translating
around. Fast rotations are completely sufficient to be disorienting
under certain conditions, as anyone who played Descent back in the
day, even without an HMD, will surely remember.

Regards and good luck!

Jan


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[Chris Parker]

> Hello all,
>
> We are in development of a unique VR game and we need your help to
> make it popular. Developed for casual gamers and VR enthusiasts alike,
> this fun and addictive VR ready game will open you up to a whole new
> experience. With controls as simple as pointing, you will get hours of
> quality gaming!
>
> Furthermore, since you don't move in the game you won't get motion
> sickness.
>
> Please kindly take a look at the following link:
> http://bouncervr.com There's a playable DEMO available for download
> and more information about the progress and plans of development on
> the indiegogo page. Any pledges are of course greatly appreciated.
>

It looks almost the same as Proton Pulse
https://developer.oculusvr.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=600

> Also take a look at
> https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/2865-bouncervr-for-oculus-rift if
> you would rather just support us by spreading the word!
>
> We'd already like you thank you in advance for taking the time to read
> this post!
>
>
> -BouncerVR team

> --
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>
>

[FVANtom]

Hello Jan and Chris,

My name is Tom, I'm the person who is developing BouncerVR. I would like to thank you for your comments. Your remark about the social integration stretch goal is noted. I have opened up this goal so the community can help define it. If you have ideas to improve the game, feel free to let me know.

Judging on your comments I assume you are not a big fan of older games like Pong, Tetris, Asteroids, Mario etc. Thing is, a lot of people are. The existence of the game mentioned by Chris also proves this. I have tried it out a moment ago and I had a lot of fun playing it. It's a pretty good Break-out variation. I admit, similar to my game, but also very different in many ways. Most shooters also have overlap in game play.

My game is intended as a tribute to the very first games which were very popular back then and are still played (be it in updated format) by a lot of people. I agree my game won't appeal to hard core gamers. But enough people aren't hard core. This is proven by the huge amount of players who have a Wii or play simple games on Facebook or Flash sites.

As for your concerns about the head movement. I don't have the impression I move my head more nor more wildly than lets say the average shooter. I have spend many hours testing the game demo during its development and I didn't have any problems with it. Aside from that. BouncerVR isn't a game you play for hours on end.

Lastly, I agree completely that motion sickness is different for everyone. All I can say is that everyone I had the game test was pleasantly surprised by it and didn't experience any motion sickness. A lot of them where bothered by nausea when I showed them other demo's.

If you have a Rift, can you download the demo and let me know about your experience?

Thanks again for your responses!

Cheers!

Tom

[Jan Ciger]

Hi Tom,

On Tue, Jul 9, 2013 at 10:16 AM, FVANtom <tom.v...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello Jan and Chris,
>
> My name is Tom, I'm the person who is developing BouncerVR. I would like to
> thank you for your comments. Your remark about the social integration
> stretch goal is noted. I have opened up this goal so the community can help
> define it. If you have ideas to improve the game, feel free to let me know.

I am just a bit sceptical about this "social" stuff - I don't even
have a Facebook account (but have G+ and Twitter), so ...
Personally I don't see much value in spamming my friends with "Hey
look, I have a new high score in ..." apart from the free advertising
for the developer of that game (which is all what it actually is, so
calling that a "feature" for the player is a bit of a stretch).

>
> Judging on your comments I assume you are not a big fan of older games like
> Pong, Tetris, Asteroids, Mario etc. Thing is, a lot of people are. The
> existence of the game mentioned by Chris also proves this. I have tried it
> out a moment ago and I had a lot of fun playing it. It's a pretty good
> Break-out variation. I admit, similar to my game, but also very different in
> many ways. Most shooters also have overlap in game play.

I think you have misunderstood me. I have absolutely nothing against
older games and even enjoy playing them myself when I want a quick
relax. I was only shocked that you wish to raise over 30k with a
*pong* game. That is about a year of full time salary of an average
software developer. Do you really think that someone would invest in
e.g. the 4k for the "partner level" perk? For a Pong game that is to
be sold at around $6? That is what I meant - your expectations seemed
a bit out of contact with reality for me.

Even the 4k for the basic game development costs sounds a bit
overblown - granted, I don't know what your costs are, but since you
have a working game demo already, those costs were mostly paid somehow
already (out of your pocket, by an angel investor, etc.). Designing
more levels, powerups and Facebook is surely not going to cost 10 or
20k ...

Instead of trying to raise further capital (which is what
Indiegogo/Kickstarter/etc. actually are - a collective investing
system), I would rather start selling the game using the usual outlets
at $6 and use that money to fund further development. That would also
give you an immediate quantification of the real market interest in
it.

>
> My game is intended as a tribute to the very first games which were very
> popular back then and are still played (be it in updated format) by a lot of
> people. I agree my game won't appeal to hard core gamers. But enough people
> aren't hard core. This is proven by the huge amount of players who have a
> Wii or play simple games on Facebook or Flash sites.

That is all right, I am sure that you have done your market research
and hopefully are sure about your numbers. Only keep in mind that
people who play Wii, Farmwille and Flash games are not necessarily the
ones who will have Oculus Rift attached to a powerful PC at home. Or
even know what the Rift is and how to use it. Plus the tiny detail
that right now the only people who have the Rift are developers and
early-adopter geeks (i.e. probably not your target group ...), with
the consumer version not even being announced yet, with unknown
release date, specs and price point.

>
> As for your concerns about the head movement. I don't have the impression I
> move my head more nor more wildly than lets say the average shooter. I have
> spend many hours testing the game demo during its development and I didn't
> have any problems with it. Aside from that. BouncerVR isn't a game you play
> for hours on end.

OK. I would suggest doing a focus group and actually testing this with
a wider audience. There may be issues that won't manifest for you for
various reasons (or you won't notice them because you have designed
the game in the first place).

>
> Lastly, I agree completely that motion sickness is different for everyone.
> All I can say is that everyone I had the game test was pleasantly surprised
> by it and didn't experience any motion sickness. A lot of them where
> bothered by nausea when I showed them other demo's.

Good!

>
> If you have a Rift, can you download the demo and let me know about your
> experience?

Yes, I have several Rifts around, I can give your game to my
colleagues at work to test.

Jan

[Jan Ciger]

On Mon, Jul 8, 2013 at 11:47 PM, Chris Parker <ch...@onlinepc.com.au> wrote:
> It looks almost the same as Proton Pulse
> https://developer.oculusvr.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=600

I haven't seen that one, interesting.

There are some comments actually validating my concerns about the
head-as-an-interface:

"My neck is not happy being the controller tho."

"Motion sickness wasn't too bad for this game, but there was still
some discomfort. With the current state of the technology, I wouldn't
want to play a game based on quickly moving my head around."

Regards,

Jan

[FVANtom]

Hey Jan,

Do you personally experience these problems while playing our game demo?

Regards,

Tom

[Jan Ciger]

On Tue, Jul 9, 2013 at 10:57 AM, FVANtom <tom.v...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hey Jan,
>
> Do you personally experience these problems while playing our game demo?
>

We have been playing both your game and the Proton Pulse, the latter
has a bit better ergonomy because it doesn't require you to twist
one's neck so much. On the other hand, the Proton Pulse should come
with the mandatory epilepsy warning - the blinking psychedelic colours
are crazy.

Personally I haven't had a neck issue with it (colleagues were testing
it), but it would likely be different after playing for 10-15 minutes.

Jan

[FVANtom]

I have been playing it for hours at a time during gameplay testing and I don't have any neck problems. I suspect most people will be fine unless they are sensitive to such things. Thanks for testing!

[Chris Parker]

On 7/9/2013 6:16 PM, FVANtom wrote:

Hello Jan and Chris,

My name is Tom, I'm the person who is developing BouncerVR. I would like to thank you for your comments. Your remark about the social integration stretch goal is noted. I have opened up this goal so the community can help define it. If you have ideas to improve the game, feel free to let me know.

Judging on your comments I assume you are not a big fan of older games like Pong, Tetris, Asteroids, Mario etc. Thing is, a lot of people are. The existence of the game mentioned by Chris also proves this. I have tried it out a moment ago and I had a lot of fun playing it. It's a pretty good Break-out variation. I admit, similar to my game, but also very different in many ways. Most shooters also have overlap in game play.

I was just pointing out it looked similar as I had recently played Proton Pulse. It was OK but I got bored after about 10 levels. No problems with nausea. As the Proton Pulse demo is a few months old it doesn't have any yaw correction so I did get quite a bit of yaw drift. And it did not re-centre between levels which was a pain. Maybe there was a key to do that, not sure. 

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