Play VR Game
Parallel Dispatch's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Use of Theme - How well the game incorporated the given theme. | #13 | 3.800 | 3.800 |
| Concept - How interesting or unique the game is. | #33 | 3.200 | 3.200 |
| Overall | #33 | 3.150 | 3.150 |
| Presentation - How well executed the game is. | #44 | 3.100 | 3.100 |
| Enjoyment - How much you enjoyed playing this game. | #65 | 2.500 | 2.500 |
Ranked from 10 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
What assets did you use in this project?
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Comments
Veeery interesting experience.
I opened Beta, but I think it closed again when I tried to get the parcel in it?
Aside from that, this seemed really ambitious to the point where most people will be severely confused lol I guess it’s part of the art and making it approachable would be a challenge for sure and I don’t expect to nail it in a jam.
However, I think you already did a great job with that aspect. Marking areas that you can interact with, lighting up areas to walk to. I like to see stuff like that in VR as they are needed in this medium where you can walk and move around so freely.
I think the biggest problem, is that you rely on the parcel to do anything in the offset worlds. So once you drop it, it becomes difficult to know what you are doing. Maybe offsetting the hand meshes or giving some kind of indicator would’ve solve this issue.
I liked your presentation. Great job with that. (It did give me the impression this could be a scary game at first, but thank god it wasn’t lol)
Really appreciated your comments! There are some really helpful points here. Will definitely put more thoughts into those areas in the future development, like setting up a reference to reduce the reliance on the parcel, and finding the balance between approachability and alienation.
For the VR medium, I would love to see more games that are unique and native to this medium, and push for what's possible.
I will look into the drawer issue in the Beat area. Sometime the drawers get closed by accident (like when the player collider accidentally touches the drawer collider). For now I'd just reopen it by pulling it, but will address this issue better in the updates.
I don't have the guts to play horrors in VR myself. I totally get you lol
You have such a cool concept. I love the presentation and the camera shake that you employed. I had some trouble picking up the second parchment. Great job. I hope you continue to develop this title.
Thanks for the comment. Yeah, it could be hard sometimes. I will work out some visual reference system in the updates. In this current version, personally I'd always RESET and go back to the normal dimension before taking the next task. It's just easier to move around normal world.
The atmosphere is very nice and I liked the shakiness of jumping and the visuals.
The colliders felt a bit buggy for me. After teleporting, everything was off and felt hard to grab/pick up stuff. Judging from other comments, that might be intentional, but when I was playing at the time, it just felt like a bug. Perhaps something visual might help to indicate that it is intentional?
Picking up stuff seemed hard. Sometimes I couldn't get low enough to pick up a package if it was on the bottom shelf - my hand would hit the floor. That might be more with my specific setup.
Great job though! I really like the aesthetic and environment you created!
Hey, thanks for the feedback. Yes, a lot of the difficulties here were made intentionally, but I also saw from comments that it also created confusion. Will develop and put more visual clues/references in there in the future to improve the experience.
Great concept and spooky atmosphere.
However, it seemed to be quite buggy and I wasn't sure how to deliver the packages. I think with more time on it and clearer instructions it'll be great :)
Thanks for the comments. Can you describe the bugs you encountered? Some difficulties might be put in there intentionally. My personal tactics in delivering the packages: 1) grab the parchment in the red the drawer, 2) dial to select the destination dimension (say if it's written Alpha on the parchment, dial and select Alpha on the panel). 3) press the JUMP button, and it will create an "offset" between the player and the surroundings, meaning you can only interact with object a few inches away from you. 4) Go to the destination grey drawer. If your parcel is Alpha and the dimension you are in is also Alpha, then the Alpha drawer section will be lit. Otherwise it won't be lit and wont work. 5) Input the pass code on the grey panel, the code is provided on the parchment, and if the code is correctly input a grey drawer will open. Put the parchment in the grey drawer and then close it. 6) go back to the red panels. I personally will always press the RESET button to go back to the "normal" dimension before taking the next tasks, it'd be easier to do stuff in the normal dimension. During the delivering process, there will be difficulties, since the Visual and the Physical are not aligned. But I didn't have time to test all bugs, it'd be very welcome if you could let me know about the bugs :)
Excellent - thanks for the description, I’ll give it another go! :)
The main bugs in the game I experienced were:
- You can walk through objects. The middle column, you can walk right through the delivery boxes. There’s also objects around the sides you can walk into too
- When holding the parchment and then jumping to another dimension, it’s no longer in your hand, but it’s several inches away without the explanation this looked like a bug
- I travelled to the next dimension after collecting the first parchment, and I had a code so I figured you use the number buttons on the wall, but a) The numbers of the code weren’t on the wall and b) I couldn’t press them as the collision stopped me reaching them.
At the time of playing, I didn’t know about the offset thing, so it would be great if that was explained somewhere in the game.
Really appreciated the feedbacks! Point 1 and 2 are probably by design, as you are set off, you'll likely be able to see inside objects you originally can't see in the normal dimension. You are right about the presentation. Will definitely add explanation content implicitly in the updates so that players won't see them as bugs. I will look into the 3rd point, might be a bug there. For the Beta drawers, I will sometimes travel inside the drawers and then look back, so I can see the buttons from within.
Getting the spooky vibes of the game
The game seemed to glitch me in side the tower with the drawers and I struggled to pick up the delivery tube .. but it reset me after a bit.
Awesome spooky vibes in this one! Cool experience! Definitely, this one could be a full game! I see here potential, there could be a voiceover or some communication with other dispatch and some conspiracy-themed story! The special effects during the travel between dimensions were awesome!
Happy you liked it. Great idea to involve dispatchers from other dimensions, will think about how actually to interact with people from different dimensions. Will definitely develop the background story if I push it forward to a full game
Wow the atmosphere and colors in this one are fantastic! It feels a little like the games CONTROL/INSIDE/PORTAL. Cryptic numbers and letters on the walls which I couldn't figure out and then it crashed on me but this just oozes atmosphere. Imagine if you had a month to work on this, drop some crazy sound design, interesting setpieces and maybe some different drawer mechanics to spice things up, it would be very very cool! Great job!
Glad you liked it! I was quite careful about giving too many verbal instructions, as I feel sorting out the mystery is part of the game, but I will include more visual clues in the updates. You are definitely right about sound design. I found out, for this particular game, sound is crucial, as visual feedbacks are weakened, which makes sound and tactile feedbacks more important, especially sounds. Great advice on drawer mechanics. I really hope to further develop it into a full on game, and see what comments I can get from other players. Cheers!