Is It Playable?
Yes, it’s finally playable! — or playable enough for an Alpha test, anyway. Let me know what works and what doesn’t! Scroll down just a bit for the Sidequest link. If you need help setting up SideQuest on your Oculus Quest, you can find that here.
What Is the Game Like Now?
10 levels of mostly-working weapons, misbehaving zombies, and unpredictable flying saucers! Can you keep the zombies from destroying the house and yard? How long will Becky Sue turn an uninterested eye toward the fight? Will some freakish glitch launch you into the sky? The only way to find out is to try the demo — available now, at SidequestVR.com.
Currently, each wave has a minimum number of zombies that will need to be killed, plus a minimum number of saucers as well. If you can survive the entire wave-time, plus destroy enough saucers and zombies, you can advance to the next wave. If you’re not sure what to do, you can check your in-game phone by holding your left hand out, palm-up, to see what you still need to shoot.
Roadmap for What’s Coming:
Becky Sue is going to start throwing punches! My intent was always for Becky Sue to be able to handle her own, but not have her start taking out all the zombies for you. I also want her to be the one who turns the scrap into ammo, so it’s pretty important to keep her defended. If she’s punching at zombies, she can’t convert the scrap into usable ammo
Speaking of scrap, that weird glowing band of energy around the junk is spooky alien science. Surprisingly, it appears safe enough to handle so far. This eerie effervescent energy is what powers Carl’s SlowMo ability. Even though it is unlimited now, the idea was to have it be refilled by picking up the scrap.
I’d like to include a meter for this, shown either on the phone or always on one of the wrists. Of course, if there’s one for SlowMo ability, there should probably be one for health too.
At the moment, all available weapons are unlocked at the start. Long term I would rather have the player start with only the pistol, and unlock weapons and upgraded ammo as you collect enough scrap. Some of the upgrades currently planned include an auto-reloading shotgun, exploding remote control car, grenades, and an auto-grabber for the scrap. If it turns out this is kind of fun, I have some other weapons I’d like to add (like a Spicy Burger Boy with bomb attachment!)
I recorded a lot of this audio fairly quickly and before I really knew what was going to happen. I’d like to re-record some of what I already have and get make a permanent newscast animation. I’d REALLY like an additional (skippable) newscast every couple of waves that further announce the destruction of the town. There are a lot of things that still need some audio love, like the fireworks. Sound really makes a difference!
Please let me know what you think in the comments here, SideQuestVR, YouTube, or somewhere. If you have an Oculus Quest 2 (or 1, I haven’t tested it) then head over to SideQuest and try my game!
Thanks for checking us out!