If anyone is interested, we are working on a VR Chat map based on #AmongUs Come check it out and join our discord! We would love to know what everyone thinks of it! https://t.co/cCfMGjaLSl#VRChat #VR #amongusfanart #AmongUsMeme pic.twitter.com/lGPtsyE3BN
— Shoobly (@Shooobly) September 25, 2020
Among Us, the wacky sci-fi party hit game of deception and betrayal, has quickly become the Fortnite of 2020. And because user-generated content communities inevitably schloop up and synthesize the interactive zeitgeist, it should be no surprise that a group of ten or so VRChat community developers have already been hard at work creating a fully playable VR-based version of the hit game. "Fully playable" might seem like hyperbole, but among the lead developers is "Markcreator", who also created this fully playable version of Minecraft in VRChat:
"I'm working with a team of artists to make a realistic VR rendition of the game, fully playable using Udon scripting magic," he tells me. (Udon being VRChat's scripting system.) In other words, don't confuse it for Among Us-themed roleplay in VRChat.
In fact, to judge by the teaser video above and screenshots below, Mark and friends are turning Among Us into a game of goofball fun into a foreboding space survival game with the added suspense of being in immersive VR, with VRChat's voice communication enabled. (In VRChat space, everyone can hear you scream.)
"Among Us is at its core a social deception game with a lot of visual interactions," as Mark put it to me, "which should translate really well to a 3D experience with voice communication while also providing a completely different player experience. The team also saw a lot of opportunity to lean into the horror aspects which the original game mostly omits with its art style. We are confident it can become a popular option in the growing catalogue of VRChat Udon-powered games... Our version is a feature-complete playable version of Among Us featuring a complete 3D interpretation of the game’s map."
More on interactivity: "There’s also plenty of physical UX interactions, as I like making those." (Mark is master of interactive VRChat buttons.) "We wanted to stay mostly faithful to the mechanics and spirit of the original game, and only take artistic liberty in the stylization and the user experience when the original 2D mechanics didn’t translate well to first person 3D."
Some more photos~ pic.twitter.com/ky5nOqIeIq
— Shoobly (@Shooobly) September 25, 2020
And what does he hope Among Us' official developer, Inner Sloth Studio, make of this unofficial spinoff?
"t would be cool if they ended up seeing it! If they did, I can only hope that they would take it well and like/appreciate what we made," Mark tells me. "Some studios really don’t like the idea of fan games pulling people away from their product, but I like making them (for free) and viewing them as interactive fan art. Hopefully they would see it the same way!"
Mark says most of the game is done, with artists finishing up the textures and lighting, and should be playable this month. Follow their progress on their official Discord. (Well, as "official" as an unofficial remake of a hit indie game can be.)
cannot wait
Posted by: Daniel Kinney | Saturday, October 17, 2020 at 05:48 PM