ABOUT

BACKGROUND ⌄

OVRLRD is a solo project by me, Niall Slater, a 31 year-old London-based programmer and game designer.

Formerly a sci-fi author and Twitter idiot, I’ve spent the last few years as a software engineer, having been a hobbyist coder since 2008. I’ve made upwards of 20 games and prototypes, most of which will never see the light of day.

I’ve worn a lot of hats but by day I work as a developer for VR and AR apps in the impact entertainment space. OVRLRD is a nights-and-weekends hobby project, which is why it’s taken so long to build.

Find the presskit here

OVRLRD is a single-player high-lethality VR mech simulator with an emphasis on low time-to-kill, tactical combat, expansive outdoor environments and complex cockpit simulation.

OVRLRD began life as a prototype VR mech game in March 2021, resulting from experiments in reinterpreting old PC gaming classics for virtual reality. The prototype was to see if virtual joysticks and buttons were a practical way to control the movement of a big clanky mech in VR.

After two years of development, OVRLRD became partway between VTOL VR (an excellent flight simulator for PCVR) and a VR version of Steel Battalion, the classic XBOX mech game with a giant controller covered in buttons and joysticks. Development has been inspired by these games, as well as by the classic MechWarrior 4, and old-style milsims like Operation Flashpoint.

I started making OVRLRD because I couldn't find a game that offered exactly what I wanted – a VR mech simulator with interesting systems, physical controls and a dedicated single-player focus. As a solo developer, I need a lot of feedback and playtesting to ensure that OVRLRD works just right. There are a lot of questions to ask of a VR project: does it make people motion sick? Do the physical controls work as expected? Is it too complicated? Too simple? Too fast? Too slow? Does the combat feel right? The game will have to change in response to this feedback, and will require more and more testing as it grows. Early Access just makes sense.

OVRLRD is realistically scoped with achievable goals, so I expect the Early Access period to last no longer than six to nine months, resulting in an experience with a full single-player campaign, several mech platforms to choose from, a wide range of equippable modules and a replayable skirmish mode.

Early Access will be updated with more content (missions, mechs and weapons) as it goes on, with the plan that there will be a reasonably substantial campaign by the end. What constitutes a substantial campaign is subjective, but my feeling is in the region of 15-20 missions. In addition I expect the full version to have a randomised, replayable skirmish mode and support for user-created campaigns, as well as some other customisation features to improve replayability. I have no firm plans for multiplayer support. I'd like it very much, and I'm not ruling it out, but I won't consider it until the single-player game is complete.

OVRLRD currently has one pilotable mech, eleven weapon modules to choose from, and two available campaign missions, plus a training course and simple skirmish mode. Each mission takes place in a very large open map you can freely explore. Most of the difficult technical challenges have been overcome – large maps, VR performance, combat mechanics, physical interaction, scripted AI behaviour and custom content support are all in a good place. The game is built as a collection of many modular frameworks that are easy to expand on. Most of the remaining work is in content creation, like building missions, improving AI and adding more mechs, weapons and environments.

The game will be cheaper during Early Access. I think the appeal of the game is in the core interaction systems, which are already in place, but you won't get the full mech experience until these systems are more polished and there's a chunky campaign to stomp your way through. Some people will be eager to try out these systems even without a full campaign to play, so it made sense to offer them this early version at a lower price. I also think these early adopters are likely to be mech enthusiasts, and so will have a lot of intelligent feedback on how to improve the core game. I plan to use that feedback to make OVRLRD the definitive mech simulation experience by release day.

I hope to get feedback from a wide range of users on subjects like accessibility, virtual hand size, cockpit scaling, haptic feedback and all sorts of other concerns in making VR work for them. I also want to really nail the feel of piloting a massive war machine. Tweakable values like lurching, movement bob, recoil, speed and TTK are hard to get right on your own. I'll need community feedback to get that just right. If you'd like to provide feedback directly to me, you can post in the official discord server, or alternatively, tweet me at @niall_slater!

OVRLRD currently (June 2023) supports most Oculus, SteamVR and WMR setups with motion controls. It's broadly cross-platform but there are some gaps. There are currently some small issues with Knuckles controls but I'm working on fixing these.