Art-if-Act was my submission for the Global Game Jam 2016. It is a mobile virtual reality game in which the player searches for hidden artifacts using sound and visuals. The game uses a novel pedometer approach to walking in virtual environments.

GGJ 2016

Another year, another global game jam. I have been attending this jam in Gothenburg for a bunch of years now, sometimes purely as a participant and sometimes as an organizer. I didn’t see any registered sites for the city as the jam drew closer, so I choose to register one together with a new game incubator initiative which has popped up in the same building I my work is. Later on another site appeared though, and I choose to end mine in order to gather as many as possible on the other site. I had a great time, enjoying good company and tasty food from the nearby, recently openend nerd and game bar GG bar.
I have wanted to explore mobile VR for a while now, and I felt this jam would pose a good excuse to do so. The initial idea was to connect a VR experience to a friend’s home-made wireless motion tracking system, but in the end he didn’t have time for the jam. I instead ended up exploring another idea I’ve had for a while, using a pedometer approach to walking in VR.

Art-if-Act is a VR, Google Cardboard game built with Unity. Gamewise it’s an FPS puzzle game in a dark, arctic 3D setting. The player have to collect several artifacts and gather them at an altar. This is done using a pedometer + VR approach to exploring the world. The player interact with things by looking at and being near them.

The game is available at the global game jam site.