Kill To Survive
XR, Game Development
August 2024 - October 2024
Overview
Kill To Survive is a fast-paced action VR game inspired by the classic gameplay mechanic of Sticky Paddle Catch, where players catch balls thrown by their opponents and throw them back for an attack, providing a more immersive gaming environment and challenging players' reflexes. Made for the Meta Quest 2 using Unity.
Technologies Used
My Role
Lead Developer: Developed core game mechanics including the catcher shield and thrower hand prototype; implemented visual feedback systems with color-coded trails and throw indicators.
Visual Effects: Created shaders for crystals and shields, designed explosion effects, implemented post-processing with bloom lighting
Narrative Designing: Contributed to game storytelling elements while supporting the overall gameplay experience.
Personal Achievments
Set up the initial unity environment as well as prototyped the catching and throwing mechanisms as the Lead Developer
Worked with a team with diverse skill sets to develop a VR game for the first time.
Introduction
Set in a cyberpunk post-apocalyptic world, you play as a warrior who has volunteered to save your village and chosen to participate in a sadistic game hosted by the rich and the elite. The prize is not wealth or fame, but energy crystals capable of powering a player's village for the next ten years.
As robots throw energy balls at the crystal, you have to defend it by catching the balls with your Tesla Coil, while throwing it back at the robots. Defeat three rounds of killer robots and take the crystal home to save your village, or lose the crystal and return home empty handed.
Stick Velcro Paddles (Image taken from Walmart)
Our project prompt required us to make a VR game that was based on a picnic/lawn game, like Frisbee, or Lawn Darts. After some brainstorming, we decided to finalize on making a game based on Sticky-Paddle Catch, which is a game consisting of a Sticky Paddle (usually with a Velcro) to catch balls with. We put our own twist on it, by adding a narrative in the game and changing up the aesthetics.
As the only person on the team with previous VR development experience, I set up the development environment, using Unity3D for our game engine and Meta Quest 2 as our target device. We used Perforce for our version control running on the university network. I also created a base prototype that implemented the basics of the sticky catch - one hand being able to catch a ball and the other hand for throwing the balls. Then the enemy AI was added, which just had the enemy throw an energy ball at you.
Early Prototype with catching and throwing implemented
Crystal with the three shields
It's Catch, not Dodgeball!
Our initial idea had the player having base HP, that would be deducted every time one of the balls that the enemy threw hit them. We quickly ran into a problem with this during playtestin, when players started dodging the balls instead of trying to catch them. So, to solve this we came up with the idea of adding a crystal behind the player. This shifts the focus of enemies' balls from the player to the crystal behind, making it necessary to catch as many balls as possible rather than dodging them. We decided to also add 3 force field like shields around the crystal, giving the crystal a total of 4 "lives".
Crystal with the three shields
This affected the plotline of the game as well, and we decided to change the game from being a deathmatch, to a "protect the prize" kind of game, where the player would have to protect the prize till the game ends to be able to take the prize home.
Making Scary Killer Robots
Every protagonist needs an enemy to feel like a hero, and so we needed a good target to throw the balls at. Our 3D artist Kai modelled , rigged and animated the Killer Robots in Maya, with three basic animations.
Robot Idle Animation
Robot Throw Animation
Robot Hit Animation
As per our cyberpunk theme, they were textured with a glowing punky vibe. Some emission maps, and some bloom in post-processing helps to sell the effect of how the robots look in the game. To help the players know which robot is throwing, we also made them glow red before they actually throw the ball. This also makes them slightly more aggressive and scary looking.
Robot glowing then throwing the ball
This was a team project, and could not have been possible without the rest of my team!
Team Showrunners:
Dante - Development
Natural - Development
Kai - Art
Skadi - Game Designing, Documentation
Ethan - Sound Designing
Aarnav - Development, Game Design, Art
Aarnav Sangekar 2025