Oculus
In days of filthy weather, the harvest season in the abstract lands of the Oculus reaches its peak when the eye-trees bear fruit. Oculus lets you explore the floating lands as a big eye-catcher, harvesting eyes from the trees to incorporate them into your own flaky body.
Gameplay
«Oculus» is a game about mind-controlled eyes. You control an accumulation of eyes, a lively but bodyless creature. You can diperse and contract your body to find your way through the level, where you have to find enough eyes to wake up the monoculus at the end who transports you to reach the next level. This concept of a modular body also inspired me to start my other game Mirage.
Project
I started working on this game in 2009 for a project at the Zurich University of the Arts for an exhibition at the Fantoche Animation Film Festival. Unfortuately I still never had time to continue and finish the project, for that reason the game is still in the state of a prototype. I'm not actively working on it, but probably I will release the prototype some day.
iOS version
During the development, I also started to port the game to iPhone. It worked quite well, but like the PC/Mac version I never had time to finish and release it.
Exhibitions
Oculus has been shown at several exhibitions:
- Fantoche, Baden, CH, 2009
- ZHdK Showcase, Stuttgart, DE, 2010
- Spiel Computer Spiel, Stuttgart, DE, 2010
- Fidena Figurentheaterfestival, 2010, Bochum, DE
- Figurentheaterfestival Basel, 2011, Basel, CH
- Realidades virtuais, Goethe Institut, 2011, Lisbon, PT
Game Modes
All levels are playable in different game modes whose goals differ. They're related to different seasons: In spring, the easiest mode, you only have to reach the goal with enough eyes to continue. In summer it is hot and the eyes don't have energy forever, so you need to reach the goal before the countdown ends. In Fall there are enemy eyes which attack you with lightning bolts. You can render them harmless by surrounding and attacking them. When there's no enemy left, the unconscious eyes get revived. In winter there are more and tougher enemies, and it's too cold to have the unconscious eyes revived.
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