Cleptomania VR
Summary
An asymmetric cooperative VR game created in a single weekend for Ludum Dare 45. One player in VR and one on PC work together to pull off a heist, starting with nothing and aiming for a bundle of money.
Project Overview
This project was born during a weekend-long game jam for Ludum Dare 45, where the theme was “Start with nothing”. A team of four of us met up and rapidly prototyped a unique cooperative experience designed specifically around asymmetric virtual reality gameplay.
The Premise
Once upon a time, there were two brothers whose absolute passion in life was stealing things. In this game, players experience an ordinary day in the life of these siblings. True to the game jam’s theme, you start with absolutely nothing. If your teamwork is on point, you end up with a massive bundle of money. If things go wrong, there is a nice cold prison cell waiting for you.
Asymmetric VR Gameplay
Developed during an era when the HTC Vive was the pinnacle of VR technology and inside-out tracking wasn’t yet the standard, we wanted to maximize the hardware we had available.
The game requires exactly two players for the best experience:
- Player 1 (The VR Thief): Wears the VR headset, physically navigating the 3D space, manipulating objects, and executing the hands-on portion of the heist.
- Player 2 (The PC Hacker/Overwatch): Sits behind the desktop monitor watching the security cameras. Their job is to navigate the other brother in VR safely through the heist while simultaneously mining crypto on the side.
Because this was a rapid jam prototype, there was absolutely no networking involved. The entire game runs locally on a single machine, seamlessly splitting the experience between the connected VR headset and the standard desktop monitor. Together, the two players must communicate constantly and cooperate in the same room to succeed in their mission.