As VR games greatly expanded the players’ field of view, the players still could clearly see the distance between them and the monsters in first person view.
Various abilities are used through thought instead of using keyboard and mouse, dramatically reducing the chance of misplays.
At the same time of improving the immersion, Yan Zhenyuan also made changes to some aspects of the game that didn’t suit VR games quite well.
Tone down on the dark atmosphere, avoid making monsters that are too disgusting to avoid player discomfort.
The levels are designed to avoid the players being stabbed in their back so they don’t have to constantly look around and get tired quicker.
Suitably reduce the move speed of the monsters to reduce the difficulty of ‘kiting’.
Basically, the early stages of Thousand Hells allow the players to feel the satisfaction of hack and slash games so they don’t have to panic by adjusting the difficulty of the levels.
Moreover, the take took some inspiration from Diablo in terms of the ability system, equipment system, and post game.
More likely than not, the core enjoyment of the post game comes from grinding for equipment to kill more monsters.
Thousand Hells was quite small for a VR game as many of the resources from level to level can be repeatedly used. Moreover, as the levels are procedurally generated, designs for levels didn’t need to be stored either.,
At the same time, the game naturally had fewer story and additional game modes as it was a hack and slash game unlike other large scale MMORPG games, meaning that it was a smaller investment too.
(This felt a bit like Diablo 1.)
Therefore, Chen Mo guessed that Emperor Dynasty Entertainment would probably be quite happy with the game, and Yan Zhenyuan completed the task assigned to him by Lin Chaoxu.
Next was probably plastering advertisements all over the place to generate buzz for Thousand Hells, adding it to one of Emperor Dynasty Entertainment’s finest games.
But Chen Mo was confident that no matter how well Thousand Hells turned up, it would have a permanent problem it could never solve- number of players.
It might sound satisfying to hack and slash in VR, but VR games naturally had fewer players than PC. Moreover, these games with darker art styles had fewer players to start with.
Therefore, Thousand Hells would usually make money, but there was no way it would be hugely popular.
Of course Emperor Dynasty Emperor never expected it to make big money as VR games require a huge investment. It was a great sum of money just to have doubled their investment.
If Chen Mo made any other VR game, he really couldn’t be sure if he really could ‘win’. He hadn’t made a VR game afterall, and lacked experience in many different aspects in VR games, he’d have to fall into many pitfalls just to gain experience in them.
But Minecraft?
Chen Mo was confident that his VR version of Minecraft would shock the entire gaming industry.
—
Minecraft was out of development a week after Thousand Hells was released for testing.
This was the real, complete VR version of minecraft. Not only did it contain the classic elements of the PC game, there were many adjustments made just for VR, improving in many aspects.
THe graphics were dramatically improved while staying true to its core.
Perfectly fitted the VR platform.
The four game modes, the building trading system, a completely new tech tree… All of which were complete.
Cheers came from the office.
There were many doubters in the beginning, but there was nothing but praises once the finished game came out.
Everybody was shocked to see how well it fitted with VR, especially after experiencing the VR pod!
Although there were still doubts if the game could beat Thousand Hells, but everyone had the same idea, the game would surely be profitable.
It was hard to tell how much it would bring in as it had to deal with many different factors such as advertising, feedback… and luck.
“Thanks for working. We’ll spend our next days working on the rest of it. Yunting, find beta testers from players of Plants vs Zombies, Warcraft, and Don’t Starve. Make sure they are the really creative type, such as the ones who’ve made popular mods. They’ll be our first testers.
“There aren’t any VR gaming pods in the experience store so far, but we won’t have Minecraft on PC yet. If the players want to play Minecraft, they’ll have to download it on their VR pod at home.
Zhao Yunting nodded, “Alright, not a problem.”
Chen Mo continued, “Keep your eyes peeled for the feedback from these testers and send them to me. We’ll make changes accordingly. And everyone else who has nothing to do will build buildings in game.
“Don’t lose focus on this last stage, stand your posts.
“And Lin Xiao, let all major video game media know that I’ll host a game announcement event.”
Lin Xiao nodded, “Alright, should I prepare the powerpoint for the announcement event?”
“No need, I’ll do that myself. Arrange the location for me. I want a five star hotel nearby, try and make it as posh as possible. It’s our first VR game after all, so we have to make it as official as possible.”
Lin Xiaoo nodded, “Alright, not a problem!”
—
Minecraft and Thousand Hells both entered the last stages of development.
Thousand Hells’ advertisements were going full steam head, it could even be described as overwhelming.
The advertisements of thousand hells could be seen on various streaming sites, video game sites, major forums, and spots in VR gaming pods…
Many videogame media also released their articles as soon as they could.
The groundbreaking VR game masterpiece Thousand Hells is coming soon!
Emperor Dynasty Entertainment’s newest release, a shocking world of angels and demons!
Gamepaly of Thousand Hells leaked!
Analysis of Thousand Hells’ unique ability system
An incredibly satisfying VR game
Thousand Hells’ classes revealed, taking inspiration from the six realms.
Many fans have caught wind of this fairly early on and knew that Emperor Dynasty Entertainment was developing a VR game similar to Diablo.
Moreover, some players were in the beta test and have tried the game. Gameplay, classes and feedback were all leaked online.
Most players had nothing but praises for Thousand Hells after having played the game as it was an incredibly complete VR game. There were any noticeable flaws in the game, and it was filling in a huge market gap for VR hack and slash games too.
Many players had their eyes peeling for Thousand Hells’ official release.