A case for city exploration games and why I'm making one
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- Опубликовано: 14 апр 2024
- I decided to share my motivation for creating Vuntra City and my vision for it.
Although the project is still in prototype stage and far from release, you can wishlist it on Steam:
store.steampowered.com/app/28...
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#vr #gameplay #gamedev #gaming #indiegame #procedural #citygames #unrealengine #virtualcity 
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Concept for game is appealing to me. Not just approaching and listening to NPCs but getting approached and talked by people out of nowhere is my dream game to play, like losing a sense of my own superiority as a player over other entities in a game space.
How a city is serviced might be something to think about if and when you add NPCs in. The pulse of the day with people going to and from their various jobs within it, how they get there and what load that puts on transportation. Prior to that you have trash collection, deliveries for the shops, street cleaning and of course gardening. In the later part of the day there are families out together, followed by people having dinner or entertainment together and then the revellers of the night.
Occasionally there will be festivals, marathons or other sporting events and touring entertaining aspects like art, music, comedy or theatre/cinema. There are seasons too, even in equatorial cities like Singapore. It is a big task you've set yourself and I hope you get proper assistance from those with the right abilities.
I look forward to seeing how your project progresses and can see this as being a great shared space for various people either as a game to be played or as a place to take part in to remove real world distance. It might take a while for everyone to get hardware up to the specifications to fully enjoy what you are offering, but people said that about smartphones 15 years ago and they are ubiquitous now.
Good luck with it all!
I love how the city is looking with the building environments looking lived in. I will say that the sidewalks and exterior look empty from my point of view, but if you like what you have don't worry too much about it. Hope you find yourself at the end with something you love.
Have you seen Shadows of Doubt? It implements a procedurally generated city with citizens that live there lives. The game is about solving procedurally generated murder mysteries. Highly recommend on how to populate a city with people.
Yes I love Shadows of Doubt! My gameplay idea is similar, although less focused on murder.
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*Many it's*
@@VuntraCity If you can create an open world with the kind of dynamic story generation they have, then you will certainly be on to a winner!
(Especially if you enable mod support... people will go crazy with it... probably adding storm troopers at some point)
2:50 that is such a flex but it’s well deserved. You’re taking on a monumental task on your own and I’m here for it. I’m excited to see how your game develops further!
This seems incredibly daunting, it's why almost nobody has done it. I wish you the best developing the project.
This gives me Shadow of Doubt vibes but in an utopian way! Can't wait to see more upgrades on the project!
Thank you for another video! I enjoyed it. Here are some thoughts:
1) Bonus points on top of buildings:Players could be motivated to explore the heights of the city by finding bonus points or badges on top of prominent buildings.
2) Role-playing system with bonuses:Players could find bonus points (add 1) that improve their abilities or offer various benefits. For example, an increase in speed, crash resistance (maybe just 1 percent)
3) Vehicle unlocks: players could earn points with which they could buy different vehicles, such as cars, motorbikes or even flying vehicles. Each vehicle could offer its own advantages and disadvantages.
4) City photography: players could be able to take photos of interesting places, events or NPCs in the city. These photos could be saved to their in-game album or shared.
5) Story Houses and NPC Characters: some houses in the city could have their own stories and secrets that players could uncover through interacting with NPC characters or searching for evidence.
6) The ability to be an in-game NPC: Players could be able to create their own NPC character with their own story (maybe even quests for other players?).
I'm enjoying the development of this project, even if the game doesn't come out :) Btw great English! Have a good weekend and time for build Vuntra City! :)
I am in awe of the seamless transition from outside to inside any building. Great job!
My answer to your question would be the ability to purchase products from stores or even services and then be able to decorate your living space with it. I don't need a crazy inventory of items just at least a collection of souvenirs or memories from my explorations. IRL when you explore a city you always find something to buy or just take a picture of that you really like, this would mimic that :)
Oh my gosh, yes! Searching dozens of streets till you finally find the procedurly generated piece that perfectly fits the look you're going for sounds like fun.
Id love the ability to interact with city services in meaningful ways; sitting and eating at a cafe, going to a bowling alley and playing a bowling minigame with online friends etc. I know some open world games do have little markets and restaurants for people but they arent necessary or important to game play. Sometimes points of interests are pretty to look at but empty in terms of any real use to the player. I think aspects of business, work and economy, and maybe a hunger system would be really good at adding utility that makes a player have to and want to explore all the buildings
This project is amazing. I've always wanted to explore a city where you can go inside every building too.
I really like what you got going on and looking forward to play the game.
If you ask me, you should focus on providing a great environment and then open up your game to creators who can purchase spaces where they can create custom quests, new items and just things to do, then you can have infinite gameplay, a virtual world that creates it's own destiny.
What I mean, it seems like a great layout for a MMO, that doesn't focus on combat but more on "social puzzles" and you could make a lot of money renting parts of your world for gameplay creators who could build and sell different experiences inside it, like:
1. A detective investigating a murder across the town
2. A mafia enforcer running errands, trying to convince shop owners to pay protection money.
3. If the lore allows fantasy elements, why not become a vampire and seduce girls in a nightclub?
4. A racing game as a pizza delivery guy. Deliver food to different buildings and maybe see some events unfold that change his life forever
5. A crafting game where you build custom apartments, custom interior design and sell it for clients and create offices, living spaces or shops
etc .
If you do it right, a game like that never dies.
This looks awesome :) I think the procedural generation aspect is the most interesting to me. Exploring a world that has never been seen before, checking out interesting places not (exactly) made by a person, that could have been missed and never generated again... It somehow feels more real and personal than non procedural worlds, that feels more that they were made for a player.
Do you know about Marian42's infinite wfc city ? It's a massively different vibe but the latest screenshots on his blog look really cool. I've wanted another explorable procedural city like this since I've played the available version and Vuntra City seems to be it, while also having actual gameplay elements :)
Would be neat if it also supported free car roam and steerwheels
You describe a vibe here that I cannot quite express how concisely it hits a spot in my heart. I want to make a game like this too. Well, the game would be something like Cyberpunk meets grand simulation but I do want to just drive around a carefully crafted environment, taking my time having fun in a virtual world. Because that's how I explore my own city. And it's great.
Best of luck on your endeavor.
GODTEIR PROJECT
I WILL BUY THE MOMENT IT RELEASES
Your videos got randomly recommended to me out of nowhere, so it seems RUclips is pushing you out (congratulations on that!). I always enjoy the idea of a Sims-ish kind of thing where you can meet different people, have different relationships, etc. As well as having an impact of some sort, whether that be having an impact in someone else's life, opening your own store, or going into real estate or politics, feeling like you matter in some way helps immerse me in a game. But whatever your vision is is what I want to see, good luck in bringing that to life!
I love this idea! I was planning a game like this too for English learning students. It would be a VR game and the player would accept quests from their in-game “parents” to go to the supermarket go to job interviews, or some other place to buy or retrieve items. This would require the player to navigate the city, take public transportation, and directly interact and negotiate with npc’s by using speech. The experience would simulate how I learned a foreign language - by wandering the streets of some of the world’s biggest cities and engaging people!
I have so much longed for such a game. I hope you can do it. I’ll be following you.
i love your work and i think what you try to achieve is really inovative. Keep up the good work!
Thank you so much 😀
Just one suggestion at this time: Please add a third person perspective for the player to use.
Can't wait for the finish game!
Wow! Great project. Keep it going! 😃👍
This is fantastic work, I’ve been dreaming of making a game like this for years (different theme, gameplay, and setting tho ofc) and it’s super inspirational to see you’ve made such progress either by yourself or with a tiny team, gives me hope to keep working on the project!
Looks sick mate
Your dedication to tackling such a complex endeavor as a solo developer is truly commendable, and the progress you've made is nothing short of amazing. However, while the technical achievement of exploring every nook and cranny of the game world is impressive, I question the necessity of being able to delve into each apartment, office, or building and converse with every inhabitant.
In real life, we don't engage with every person we pass on the street; it's the occasional spontaneous interaction that adds flavor to our daily lives. Sometimes, the hustle and bustle of big cities can detract from those meaningful connections found in smaller communities.
I find myself grateful when a game respects my time by sparing me from the tedious task of inspecting every room and completing repetitive tasks. In reflecting on my gaming experiences, I recall a stark contrast between Skyrim VR and Red Dead Redemption 2. In Skyrim, I made it a habit to engage with every NPC, looking for a new dialogue or a hidden quest, only to find in Red Dead Redemption 2 even you can say hi to every NPC, you only can talk with meaningful characters that have something to tell. This streamlined approach enhanced my immersion in the game, sparing me from the tedium of repetitive conversations.
You mentioned describing your city as a utopia, but what truly defines utopia? Is it cleanliness, beauty, and affluence? These qualities can exist within a dictatorship, leaving the fate of the less fortunate in question. Additionally, the size of the apartments raises questions about the sustainability and equitable distribution of resources. Is this prosperity built on the exploitation of other nations?
Considering the expansive nature of the city, I'm intrigued by the discrepancy between its designation as an island and the seemingly infinite urban grid. Typically, islands face limitations on space, prompting vertical or maritime expansion.
Perhaps, instead of delving into the minutiae of every building, focusing on select aspects and narratives of this utopian society would offer a more meaningful exploration of its complexities.
You're right of course, all of those things are worth considering.
@@VuntraCity Hey, just want to add that I took a long time to write that long text just because I loved what you have done, and your defense of the city exploration! As a gamer my first PC game was Simcity 2000, I have played many city builders and love city experiences like Mirror Edge or Cyberpunk 2077 (I only got it because of the city, even later I loved the whole game)
Keep going!
Really awesome to see the progress in this video!
The concept and style remind me of two specific IPs. The clean glass and open world aspect is a large part of why I was drawn to both Mirrors Edge games. Sure, the flow is nice, but clean future is so passed by in favor of dystopias within the last couple decades. The point about an artificial island city with political intrigue also makes me think of Olympus from Appleseed, both the original 80s and the later 2004 versions, something which has also been explored further elsewhere, but not with such a large scale for the city.
Your opening points really reminded me of the messages in the movie zootopia. A facination with cities from a distance, but up close problems reveal themselfs. I bet this game, like the movie will offer the satisfaction of turning that place into the metropolis it seemed like from a distance.
Yes that's why I like Zootopia!
Very awesome project! Can't wait for more of this! Immediately subscribed.
What I would like to see more in a city like this is pedestrian and vehicle traffic. Right now the city seems kind of empty. Also I think it would be cool to also have differently composed parts of a city(e.g. a suburb or just a poorer neighborhood).
Thanks! Yes it is empty right now but not for long. I am working on obstacle avoidance for vehicles right now so I can put more cars on the streets (if I put too many of them right now they all just end up stuck in traffic jams >.
Great job 🎉💯
Stay strong and keep moving forward 💪👏
This needs a million views! Awesome work
Good luck with your project. 👍👍
Just discovered this and I really like where you are going with the idea.
one thing I would say, is despite it being a Utopia, imperfection gives places character. So buildings will generally get dirtier, grass gets walked on, carpets get marked, some glass may not have been cleaned in a while etc. I am sure these textures etc. are the icing on the cake vs the other items you have on your to do list, but I think it is one of the reasons people can identify with dystopian cities.
As they say in the Matrix, the humans rejected the initial programs as they were too perfect.
Also, having rules for the city will give it character. For instance, do the people reject seeing things like cleaning/rubbish collection happening during the day.. if so then these activities can be done at night, and will give the city a 24 / 7 feel whilst exploring. Are the rich and famous brash, with outlandish custom vehicles, or do they reject that as "new money" going for more subtle opulence?
Is there any religion, or culture to the city, do they have festivals, gun control etc.
These kinds of scenarios will really help shape the city, and are common techniques used for world building.
Oh and for different districts to have different architectural styles, character, available finances, food, dress, vehicles, plants... Ok I am getting carried away now
A bit like Cyberpunk; where certain areas like the City Center are pretty much pristine and high end, and Pacifica, where ... well, everything has gone to shit. :p
Your city looks beautiful! Excellent work. It would be nice if some elements of gameplay that specifically reward exploration and interaction with the spaces themselves. Photography? "Yelp" reviews (for extra pretty locations)? Player housing? Climbing? Parkour? Zip lining/wingsuit gliding? Hopefully the city itself isn't just a pretty backdrop for NPC fetch quests (not saying it will be, but making that part both interesting AND infinitely scaleable sounds like a really hard challenge. Though you are clearly up for a challenge!)
Getting better & better! As a dev, I wish i could see your source, to learn how you're doing it... 😀
I love the idea though since this is a artificial island I would love to see some of the infrastructure involved in that in game things like power generation water pumps sewers/wastewater treatment plants ports and airports generally things that make the city work.
Yeah that's definitely in the plan. I want to create a network of underground/underwater interiors where all the maintenance takes place, just didn't get to it yet.
@@VuntraCity nice also will the game only be in VR or will you also be able to play it without?
I love this! In answer to your question, i would like to explore unfinished construction sites which might be completed as you progress, some distinct complexes like hospitals or universities, and npc emergency services (police is already common in games but fire and ambulance is more rare)
I like this types of concept. I'm tired of combats and missions all time insted of apreciate el ambient
I think this feels a bit like Elite Dangerous in that you (maybe?) will be a small cog in a large machine, your actions can have longlasting consequnces in the world (unless other actions nullify it of course).
It will of course be much more concentrated, but I think the idea is bout the same, you are a trailblazer living your life in a dynamic and living world.
I love this so much. Sci-fi Utopia games are very, very niche. I just really want to experience a world similar to Reboot
It's interesting that you brought up ReBoot. I loved that show as a kid and even though it's not quite what I'm going for, my city sometimes reminds me of it.
Have a massive city in a GTA for example, was always a dream. Don't need to be fully explorable, but at least let the player visit missions interiors before and after missions.
This looks like an awesome project! I haven't had the time to catch up on your other videos about it yet, so I have a question for you, as someone who works within a procedurally generated game world. Have you tackled the problem of truly 'unique' spaces within the generation? It's a problem that all procedural environments I have explored end up with - after a while you've seen it all because the generation can only come up with so much without a guiding hand. For example, will there be places where there are no tall buildings at all, or places where all the buildings are tall? In procedural worlds I rarely see elements or points of interest like that to seek out - where everything is different to the norm. Anyway, I look forward to following this project!
Woah this game with a built in editor would be phenomenal!
If you haven't played the Mirror's Edge series yet, it's highly recommended! It would be very cool if this game had an option to parkour through it :D
Mirror's edge is one of my favorite games!
@@VuntraCity omg, you have made my day! =D
Like-sub-bell!
This is incredible and i'm looking forward too it. But i must ask to also allow this to work outside of VR, as that would be neat. and also at some point you could maybe even use your tech to do subways or even house generation. that could be cool.
Thank you! There will be a flat screen version for sure.
It would be cool to be able to buy a property and manage or modify it however you liked. Obviously this introduces massive scope creep, so I understand if it's not at all on the table, but I imagine being able to even purchase an empty lot (or demolish an existing building) to design your own there. I think that would be some really cool gameplay.
Like design your own office building and rent it out to NPC companies or something lol. It's kind of far from the central exploration concept, but I think it could be really satisfying as long as the rest of the city were an immersive sim that could interact with whatever you were doing.
Buying property and also owning things like shops and offices is already part of the plan ;)
@@VuntraCity Oh nice, great to hear that.
Do you know the Skyrim mod that made an entire city to explore with stories and I think timetravel? That could have some inspiration. Also the Assassins Creed history modes.
I would love to play a game that is like grand theft auto 5 in the sense of where it is like los santos city and maybe other cities you can travel to and visit but without all of the combat and thug/gangster activity and gameplay that grand theft auto 5 focuses on rather I would love a much more expansive experience that combines games like sims 4 with city skylines to have a fun casual and relaxing experience in a virtual world where you can play the way you want live the life you want and explore the world and what it has to offer in the way that you want I love seeing cities at night but I also love driving around in games looking at the scenery and exploring the city but transportation should also be a focus like working airports train stations subways ferris taxis and to be able to have jobs you can interact with like being a farmer or a grocery store clerk or a truck driver or a pilot being able to experience the roles that the npcs would take but also being able to the roles and tasks that these games would have would be both fun and intresting but also adding a mechanic or system where you could work at one job and maybe have some hobbies like how sims 4 does it but also working 1 job or profession for a certain amount of time and then being able to do a career switch and experiencing a new job and profession that would be fun to these are just a few ideas i have but Im not a game developer or programmer so I would have no idea how to do this however if you decided to consider these ideas and maybe add them to your game vuntra city I would love to play your game and see what experiences scenery and memories I could find and make in your game
Impressive
love it so maybe add apartments and Hotels and things to do so player can sleep or live in so i feel its would be great :D
That's the plan!
Your city looks great! How long have you been working on this? This looks much better than my procedural city that I've been working on for years. Also, just out of curiosity, how many different models do you have in there? It seems like it would be very large on disk.
Thanks! Been working on this project a bit over 2 years and that's mostly on the environment, just recently started on the gameplay. The build is about 8GB right now, but there are things to be optimized yet.
Massive Win
damnn this is dope af
It has been a longtime dream for me to be able to play an open world city game where I can enter malls and shops to interact and buy things individually. Clothing, food, etc, with varying different purpose of buying them. So you wont just fill your health meter or hunger meter the same way by eating different foods. Oh yeah and cooking
Does the city have many areas that seem to be more residential rather than commercial or recreational?
I try to balance them, but I think I tend to show residential areas more because they look better on video.
What’s the story behind the world at large? Is there implied romanticism to the narrative or do you expect the merit of unbridled options to sustain the project? Why VR? A collaboration between this and the project Makan Gilani is working on tickles my brain. Does this fit neatly in specific genres or are you cooking gumbo? And is this single or multiplayer?
The narrative is still in the works, so can't say much at this point. VR because I love it, but I plan to have a flat screen version as well. Single player only. Also doesn't seem to fit into an existing genre so maybe it'll start its own :D
This looks cool, when I played Resist I would soend hours just moving around the city, and thats a small city with very limited interiors. Would love to get in and look around before the gameplay even goes in, any idea when even a tech demo would be ready?
I just started working on a demo, but a lot of things need to be polished until it's ready. Will try to release one by winter, maybe sooner. I will announce it.
Theres quite some pop in/out going on when moving around - have you looked into dither-dissolve shaders? It's commonly used in LOD systems.
I already use them where I can, but they are also pretty taxing on the performance. I'm constantly working on reducing the popping though.
Are you looking for helpers?
It's a really cool looking project
Yes I am always looking for help. My discord is lara_the_dev if you're up for it ;)
This is a beautiful game, ideologically (the visual beauty is self evident). The worldbuilder in me looks forward to the political storytelling you mentioned. The idea of a story focussed on political intregue that alows itself to be utopian, and optomistic is extremely refreshing.
Watchdogs 2 let me go in and order the same coffee from every store even if it was wired to be buying coffee at a bar (maybe that's normal in San Francisco) what no game has every simulated is the small talk between the cashier and other customers.
I'll take one virtual city, hold the people, with an extra side of cars.
Most of the time housing is werd in vidéo game. Like, you by some apprtment and "upgrade" from cheap to expenssive and that all. You never have to rent or be scar of sleeping in the streat, and the surche for a home and a job is never the point because most of the time the story gonna give you a home to choose and a lot of money easly. So yeah, a realistique housing renting systeme would be cool
Would love to collaborate on this!
I forgot if i asked this, but will there be an early release, of simply juat the city alone, before gameplay aspects are introduced. Like an early access?
First impressions are important, so I want to make sure there's a decent level of polish whenever I release a public build, even if it's a demo. And I'm not there yet.
You don't need to make a case for it, I have been wanting one since forever and already wishlisted hard :P
Are you using World Partition system? Data Layers of World Partition? Level Instancing of World Partition?
I'm not using those. I created my own system for loading and unloading parts of the world though.
this looks amazing!
I am a little worried about NPCs, cause it sounds like you'll use an AI chat bot for it. and from my personal experience, AIs gradually default to a bland personality with more and more predicable replies. it also gets immersion breaking with having to wait for answers to generate while talking to them, and with how conversations are played like Ping-Pong.
if I (who have no experience with making games outside of a little bit of 3d modeling and animation), where to think of something, I'd maybe do something like, having the dialog be generated on beforehand and giving the player dialog options. that way the AI could generate the entire conversation like how it generates stories.
or something like that, if that even makes any sense. I know nothing about making games, or what you are planning to do, so I hope I'm not sounding as if I think I do
I'm sure playing it will be a great time regardless, you've already made an amazing place in your game. I can't wait to try it one day :)
I am aware of the drawbacks of AI, that's why I won't be using fullly AI generated dialog. My plan for the dialog is to write branching dialog trees by hand and add algorithmic variation, like it was done in older games like TES: Morrowind. I might use AI to add tone and mood variation on top of that, but it will be pre-scripted, so no real time AI use.
@@VuntraCity cool, looking forward to seeing it :D
@@VuntraCityif it will run off of prepared scripts, it’s bound to develop a certain level of bias, which is fine if you have a solid foundation or aesthetic you mean to stick to, but I’d recommend outsourcing some of the writing. At least add a second pair of eyes. I read your credentials in another comment so I’m sure you have considered this.
Did you have programming experience before unreal?
I have about 18 years of programming experience, and it's extremely diverse (don't know if it's a good or a bad thing, but I switched fields quite a lot during my career). Started with computational physics, in which I got a PhD, then worked as a C++ graphics programmer, game scripter, then moved on to webdev with React and then Angular, and that's on top of having several side projects in Unity and Unreal.
I love the concept, but hate aesthetic. To me glass & steel Modernism is repetitive, ugly, and alienating it a way the exceeds even Brutalism.
Yeah, it's dystopian in its own way
Maybe this project just isn't for you then. I love brutalism 😆