BeachcomberVR: inspiring exploration: concepts in the production of a virtual reality game

Inspiring Exploration: Concepts in the Production of a Virtual Reality Game documents the themes, goals, and production of BeachcomberVR, a virtual reality metal-detecting adventure game where players explore and collect lost relics on a strange forsaken island. The audio-visual mechanics of the game, along with design patterns involving presence, proprioception, and intrinsic and extrinsic reward systems, aim to create an emotional, spatial, and tactile experience for the player. The core mechanics facilitate exploration and consist of traversing sand dunes with a metal detector and shovel in hand, detecting objects, digging them up, then keeping or discarding them. Players can then trade their found items to unlock new locations, narratives, as well as beach-themed VR toys such as beach balls. Other features include a simulated beach with weather patterns as well as day-night and tide cycles. The game aims to evoke calmness and a sense of place, allowing players to access a deeper connection with their own reality and achieve a feeling of self-actualization within their relationship to and influence on the environment, both in-game and out.