Behind the Scenes of ‘B-Team,’ Part 3 of 3

In Part 1 of this three-part series, we looked at B-Team’s campaign runner missions and Endless Runner mode. Next, the series continued with an overview of its shooter mode. Today, our series on the game for Oculus Quest and Oculus Go concludes with a discussion of B-Team’s minigames.

Virtual reality offers the player so many opportunities for unique interactions, and B-Team’s infiltration mode takes full advantage of this. As the members of the team close in on generals held prisoner by the invading aliens, they have to perform a series of challenges to break into the enemy stronghold and free their captured leaders.

These infiltration challenges take the form of quick-paced minigames forcing you to think on your feet and solve the puzzle in a time crunch. These minigames are all completed by reaching out and interacting with the environment in fun and novel ways. Reach out to cut the wires to disarm a bomb, place bandages on your wounded teammate and block incoming fire—all with the Oculus Touch controllers.

“We wanted to have little bite-sized chunks of varied gameplay similar to what WarioWare does, but a little less rapid-fire,” said B-Team Senior Engineer Mike Henry. “You still have to figure out what to do as you’re doing it, but it’s a little less reflex-based. As you get farther into the game and know what you’re doing a little better, we ramp up the difficulty on them.”

Each of these minigames also tells a story as you progress through the mission. For example, one minigame may have you shooting suction cup ladders onto the side of a giant robot, with the following mission starting with you on top of the robot to throw explosives into its weak spots.

“This was actually something that we planned in the opposite order from what we normally would, because that game mode evolved so much over time,” Henry said. “We had the story beats of the infiltrations planned out from an earlier design, so when we landed on the final gameplay, we went back to figure out which minigames best fit where. It actually led to some wackier scenarios than we might have come up with otherwise, because we had to justify, for example, why throwing footballs is the thing to do while standing on top of a giant robot.”

Much like the other sections of the game, the minigames also do a great job of reflecting the unique characters of the B-Team.

“The Leader isn’t a hands-on, battle-tested type, so we wanted her to focus on things like scouting and healing wounded teammates,” said Henry. “The Ranger likes to do sneaky things like stealing weapons and picking locks. The Engineer uses gadgets that look like he duct-taped together some things he found under his couch to hack computers and defuse bombs, and the Muscle does what the Muscle does best: smash.”

At the end of the infiltration, you’re treated to a hilarious cutscene featuring the likeness of famous actors who play the captured generals. As with all aspects of the game, the humor really shines through in these cutscenes, especially with the strong personalities of the B-Team.

Tips and Tricks:

• You only have four chances to clear each minigame, so learn from your mistakes. If something doesn’t work, try a different tactic.
• Each game has a timer, so make sure you act both quickly and carefully to complete the task in the allotted time.
• Be sure to keep your head on a swivel, because things can come at you from the periphery.

Thanks for reading! B-Team is available on Quest and Oculus Go.