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Photo: IT Times Jiang Liwen
30 seconds fast reading
Nowadays, script killing is becoming more and more popular, and script killing shops have also mushroomed. According to Tianyancha data, as of September 2021, there are more than 10,000 enterprises in China whose names or business scope include "script killing and board games". However, while the number of stores has increased dramatically, problems such as similar themes, short script life cycles, and poor consumer experience have also plagued entrants. How to stand out on the track of accelerating involution has become a problem that practitioners and the entire industry must consider.
As a result, the script killing industry has focused on VR. The report released by Insight Research Daily in July 2021 believes that the immersive script kill created by AR and VR has become a future development trend.
How does VR Script Kill work? What can it make up for the shortcomings of ordinary scripts? And what kind of development space is there? Recently, the IT Times reporter came to Quanzhen · VR Script Killing - H Realm Detective Museum, exploring the first script killing "Tailing" based on the concept of "meta-universe" in China.
01
"One mirror, two handles" immersive search
In the H-realm detective hall, the reporter saw that two reasoning rooms and an immersive script laboratory were built here, and the VR experience was in the immersive script laboratory, with a total of six sets of Quest2 helmets and handles, mainly used for the evidence search link of the script killing.
The traditional script killing reasoning search is carried out by issuing cards or simple physical objects, and the player can only understand the information of the evidence through relevant pictures and text introductions, but often because it is separated from the script environment, resulting in the lack of key information, VR search can make up for this deficiency.
The VR script of H-Realm Detective Hall is "Tailgating", which belongs to the reasoning script, two time and space police led four suspects to use the "time and space wormhole" to return to London more than 20 years ago to restart the investigation of the car park hammer murder. The player puts on the VR glasses and quickly enters the scene, holding a handle in each hand, and the position of the handle appears in the shape of two hands, and the left hand also has the character's name attached. There are three buttons on the handle, and you can grasp the evidence you see by pressing and holding the buttons where your thumb and index finger are located at the same time, such as documents on the table, paper balls in the trash can, and so on. When the player grabs the evidence, a yellow vortex randomly appears around it, and the evidence is thrown into the whirlpool, which means that the evidence is found.
There is a button directly below the handle that controls various switches, such as a flashlight found on the police station table, which can be turned on by pressing this button, and the player can use it to illuminate dark corners, which may bring surprises.
The "Trailing" VR script supports 5 to 6 people to search for evidence at the same time, and the search status of other players can be seen in the same virtual space. In order to allow players not to crash into real-world walls, the system also sets up a red and blue cordon, which will be prompted about 20 centimeters from the wall, so as to better protect the safety of players without destroying the immersive experience.
After the evidence search session, DM (script killing host) took out the real evidence according to the list for everyone to read and decrypt. Players can not only immerse themselves in the scene of the case to search for evidence, but also return to realistic reasoning to achieve the fusion of virtual and real.
After VR intervention, script killing can also add more interactive elements according to the needs of the plot, for example, the murderer can quietly hide key evidence in the corner, so that it is not discovered by other players.
02
Solve the problems of difficult scene implementation and high cost of changing scenes
The traditional script killing game hall in the scene interpretation, mainly through simple scene construction, players change into human costumes or the use of holograms to restore the scene, but are completed in the real environment, the space requirements are very high. If the venue is too small, the lack of interaction among players will lead to a poor sense of experience; if you build a story scene, such as the evidence search scene of "Trailing", you need three, including the British police station, the car repair shop and the suburban secret room 20 years ago, and different scenes must be switched at any time, and the input cost is greatly increased. In the traditional evidence search process, most of the DM issues evidence clue cards or verbally describes the scene of the evidence. The player doesn't have any "search" interaction, just simply gets the evidence.
The advent of VR can eliminate these pain points. Cao Haiyan, general manager of H Realm VR Script Killing, told the IT Times reporter: "The characteristics of VR multiplayer large space are very suitable for script killing, only need to leave 25-50 square meters of barrier-free space, without adding any props, you can let players fully immerse themselves in the script." Moreover, many scenes cannot be built in real environments, such as the 'time wormhole' in "Trailing", the explosion effect produced by the murderer's detonation bomb, and so on. ”
As we all know, a good script kills three major elements: scene, content, and DM. VR script killing and ordinary script killing are very different in these three aspects. Vr script killing system production goes through many processes such as device modeling, rendering, motion capture, and encryption import of VR devices. Ordinary script killing may only take one month, and vr script writing cycle takes at least three months. In terms of script content, creators should bring IN VR ideas, add more interactive clue settings, and scene imagination is no longer limited, because VR can be reproduced and realized.
In addition, in a script kill, DM is the key, and a good DM can make the whole reasoning go smoothly. VR script killing requires more DM, not only to have the ability to connect stories, but also to have an understanding of technology. Any problems that occur in the process of the player's device experience, such as not knowing how to operate, misoperation leading to device shutdown, etc. need to be solved by DM at the first time.
Because of the increase in input costs and the longer cycle, the current supply of VR script killing is not sufficient, and the unit price of the guest is about double that of the ordinary book. Despite this, it still attracts many players to experience the magic of VR. According to the manager of the H-Realm Detective Museum, "There are now 15 ordinary books and one VR book in the store. Since the store opened in October last year, an average of about a dozen script killings have been held every week, of which VR script killings account for five or six, and everyone still likes this way of detective. ”
03
Seek the best solution for business
According to the reporter's understanding, there are two main promotion models for VR script killing: brand joining and revenue sharing.
For example, the Mango Detective Gym established in 2018 belongs to the brand franchise model, with an investment cost of 980,000 yuan, of which the equipment cost is between 300,000 and 400,000 yuan according to the city situation, and it also needs to have a 300 square meter store. H-Realms Detective Museum is a sharing model, operating on a leased basis and charging a share to the store every month.
Cao Haiyan said that the main purpose of the H Realm's launch of the sharing model is to empower ordinary script killing, so that operators can add VR scripts on the basis of the original venues, bringing players an immersive experience of real-life script killing.
"VR+ script killing" is regarded as the landing of consumer-grade VR technology, "In fact, VR script killing can appear in many consumption scenarios, not only script killing." Cao Haiyan told reporters that for example, cross-border cooperation with digital museums and digital art galleries has created a unique VR script killing IP with unique venue characteristics, and scenes such as cafes, teahouses, and shopping malls are very suitable for the development of VR script killing on the ground.
It's not just the scene that's upgraded, it's also the equipment. At present, the unified equipment of VR script killing is the Quest2 helmet and handle, and in the future, it may be possible to "throw away" the controller, and realize the action of grabbing, opening, throwing and other actions by recognizing the player's gestures, thus bringing a stronger sense of immersion. In addition, virtual digital people will also join the VR script killing, to achieve the mode of virtual digital people and DM cooperation, VR scene interpretation can be completed by virtual digital people, enriching the form and fun of the game.
Judging from the reporter's observation, in the metaverse script killing, the protagonist C bit experience is great, while the NPC becomes omnipotent, not limited by the venue, etc., as for the OB (bystander) there is nothing to do...
"When an industry's growth is stuck in a bottleneck, technology and innovation are often the only right path." After entering the entertainment world of the metaverse with the help of VR technology, there are still many possibilities for future script killing, which is worth exploring and discovering for entrants.
Author/Jiang Liwen
Editor/Qian Lifu Kicked Sister
Typography/Ji Jiaying
Photo/IT Times Oriental IC
Source/IT Times public account vittimes