They can't see!

Welcome to They can't see – Rescue Through Reality!

They can't see is a mixed reality (MR) game where players must act fast to rescue animals from a dangerous monster. Blending real-world interaction with virtual storytelling, this game challenges your coordination, multitasking, and spatial awareness in a thrilling rescue mission.

How the Game Works:
A monster lurks in the virtual world, ready to capture any animal that enters its radar. As the player, your mission is to save them:

• Use your left-hand controller to grab animals before they’re caught.

• With your right controller, draw a circular portal in space.

• Once created, throw the animal into the portal, which connects to your real-world environment, to save it.

Each successful rescue takes the animal out of the monster’s reach and back into reality.

Development Process:

What Went Right:

• Designed a unique interaction system where one hand handles animals and the other draws a portal in MR space.

• Integrated real-world visuals through portals, creating a mixed reality effect.

• Developed early enemy logic where animals are “hunted” based on proximity.

Challenges Faced:

• GitHub collaboration was difficult as a team due to syncing and version control conflicts.

• Programming animal roaming and avoidance of the monster’s radar proved complex.

• The portal's visual effects and animations couldn’t be implemented as planned, affecting the magical feel.

• Players experienced frequent crashes, likely due to null references and unused components like plane detection.

What We Learned:

• Improved our understanding of collider setup, VR performance optimization, and managing game states.

• Learned how to implement dual-hand interactions, including drawing mechanics in 3D space.

• Gained experience in handling player feedback loops, error debugging, and refining onboarding flows.

Playtesting Feedback & Future Development Plans:

Game Improvements:

• Add visual/audio feedback when animals are saved or eaten.

• Introduce material/animation changes when animals are being held.

• Increase player speed and make the portal auto-destroy after use.

• Improve animal grabbing interaction and prevent them from being tossed off the world.

• Remove unused systems like plane detection and unused hands for better performance.

• Prevent soft locks by adding boundaries and death zones.

UI & Flow Enhancements:

• Move the start menu to appear in front of the player.

• Improve collider accuracy and fix broken triggers.

• Add clear win/lose states and feedback animations.

• Integrate a Firebase leaderboard for scoring.

• Redesign the animal indicator and add tutorial UI for onboarding.

Narrative and Style Updates:

• Replace the monster with a villain carrying a cage for a clearer storyline.

• Add more narrative buildup and storytelling to enhance immersion.

• Begin exploring an AR sequel, where animals appear in your real-world space.

Save the Wild is an evolving project that aims to fuse play, rescue, and reality into one meaningful mission. Dive in, draw your portals, and become the hero animals need—before it’s too late!