Hey all, I am excited to finally release the EARLY ALPHA of this project I've been working on, my competitive arcade basketball VR game, released to celebrate the Steam VR Fest!
This has been a few years in the making. Through my crazy life the past few years, I worked on this game a bit each day. Some days were fun, some days were therapeutic, some days were rough. I've come to recognize why a game like this hasn't been made for VR, let alone by a solo indie dev like myself... it's a challenging type of game to make for VR! But I wanted it to be a thing, so I willed it into existence as best I can.
I'm proud of what I've made, and ultimately, this is a mix of many experiments I have had.
JAM GODS has VR motion controls for shooting, passing, dribbling, crossing the ball over, blocking, dunking, etc. I worked hard on making it feel like you are a superstar phenom out there, which I found to be more fun. At the same time, there are a lot of basketball simulation elements here, and I wanted to find that balance.
Then I created a RPG esque system where you can increase your attributes like SHOOTING, DEFENSE, SPEED, etc. You play against increasingly difficult AI opponents who vary in these attributes as well as your teammate.
I experimented with ragdoll physics, programmatic music depending on what's happening in the game (tracks made by my friends and I), cross platform play so you can not only play in VR but also in desktop, a first person view desktop mode (haven't seen that in a basketball game), a tournament mode, different game modes like 2v2, 1v1, or cutthroat (21), a variety of multiplayer modes (1 VR with up to 3 desktop players, or 4 desktop players), crazy story cutscenes, a crowd that responds and says stuff responding to the game, a coach that gives you curated advice after each game, and finally an online mode that I'm still finishing up testing for.
Whew. Yeah, that was a lot for a solo dev, to be honest.
But I hope you'll appreciate the start of this journey. I want to create the best VR basketball game that exists. This early alpha is only the beginning hopefully! I'm sure there will be things to improve, bugs to fix, features to add, but let's make this thing a reality, VR needs more games like this. Hope you enjoy!