Posted in: Games, Video Games, VR | Tagged: Cosmonious High, Owlchemy Labs, vr

Owlchemy Labs Reveals Hand Interactions For Cosmonious High

Owlchemy Labs revealed more content from their next game, Cosmonious High, as they show off the mechanics they've made utilizing your hands. Most VR titles operate using the dual controllers you're given in either hand, very few utilize the outer cameras to work with your actual hands and fingers as the operating units. In their latest developer blog about the upcoming VR title, they discuss the work they've been doing to make a better response system that won't require controllers. You can see on the blow how they tested out various different types of hands such as claws and tentacles, which were ultimately scrapped because of their limitations. You can read a snippet of it below and read the entire blog here, as we now wait to find out when this title will launch on Oculus and Steam VR.

In the earliest days of Vacation Simulator, we experimented with interactions beyond the player's immediate playspace. We created a hookshot where players could point at a far away object, grab it, and yoink it back towards them. The interaction itself felt fantastic. Unfortunately, it didn't fit well with the conceit for Vacation Simulator. Why would you bring a hookshot on your chill vacation? As an alien, however, it was time to revisit the mechanic. The best part of game design is getting to try, try again.

In Cosmonious High, the hookshot mechanic was renamed Distance Grab, and became an inherent ability of your awesome alien self.  With the addition of Distance Grab players could now teleport anywhere and grab anything. It felt like a monumental leap beyond the Simulator Verse, and we wanted more! It was time to get… hands on.

The most critical part of hand interactions is, well, your hand! We wanted an alien player character, so one of our first initiatives was concepting and prototyping all different alien archetypes we could think of. Tentacles, claws, energy beams–several concepts seemed fun, promising, and chaotic, but this was definitely a case where prototyping revealed all sorts of learnings we could never have anticipated on paper.

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