Blasting to the Beat: Rhythm Shooter ‘GUN JAM VR’ is Out Today on Meta Quest 2

Don’t let the colorful environments of Mubel fool you: This is a city where music is used as a means of controlling the population. But thanks to a variety of weapons and a soundtrack that fuses EDM, TrapHop, and Metal, you’re more than capable of bringing freedom back to the masses! Kick off your rebellion in GUN JAM VR, now available on Meta Quest 2 and Meta Quest Pro for $14.99 USD.

GUN JAM VR is a brand new VR game based on GUN JAM, a flatscreen rhythm shooter that developer Jaw Drop Games is also making for PC. While the PC version is a fast-moving game that encourages you to run and jump during combat, GUN JAM VR is more of an arcade-like experience that has you fighting from a stationary point of view. But you’re still shooting to the beat of the songs while trying to dodge enemy fire. Be sure to check out our developer blog for details on how the studio built both games at the same time!

We recently sat down with Community Manager Sarah Carter-Evans to talk about the creation of GUN JAM VR, how their composer came up with the game’s “hyper-aggressive” soundtrack, and much more.

Sarah Carter-Evans: Jaw Drop Games is an independent game studio based in the U.K. We’re a collective of experienced and award-winning game development professionals with backgrounds in both AAA and independent development.

Our team is packed full of Unreal Engine specialists and we have a strong knowledge and expertise in first-person, adventure, puzzle, and multiplayer games. So we like to blend AAA production values with independent originality and creativity to create unforgettable games.

SCE:GUN JAM began as a classic light bulb moment. We were working on an FPS prototype and trying to think of a unique hook for it. Instead of trying to force an idea, we started pondering whilst listening to the backing track of the game, and that’s when the rhythm shooting idea came to us—“What if we're constrained to shooting to the beat of the music?!”

We immediately hopped back into the current build and focused on only shooting to the beat of the music. This. Felt. Good! It was the simple feeling of tapping your finger on your desk to the rhythm or head-banging to the beat. It just happened naturally. We started building upon this premise, which would later become the PC version of GUN JAM.

SCE: Much like action movie trailers with everything synced to the music, we wanted to adapt our PC game to VR for an even more immersive experience. GUN JAM has evolved so much from the initial prototypes and we tried out all sorts of ideas, eventually bringing us to a VR version of the game. We wanted to evoke that nostalgic feeling of playing an FPS game at the arcade but married with today’s tech.

SCE: The beat pattern is based on the tempo of the song. On every beat, the player is able to fire their weapon. The weapons specifically don't have an effect on the beat pattern itself, however, different weapons may be better in specific scenarios or against certain enemies. To get a high score the player is encouraged to use multiple weapons per level, as certain score achievements are tied to weapons.

We did experiment with having musical patterns that the player would shoot to during combat, but we found this made the game way too difficult and all of our player feedback resulted in the player constantly losing rhythm. Shooting, dodging, and trying to keep a consistent beat pattern were just too many different variables. In addition to this, we also played around with having certain weapons only damage certain enemies, but it just felt way too restrictive for players.

SCE: In the beginning, there was a lot of trial and error. More experiments resulted in even more questions as we tried to push the boundaries of what could be done with the rhythm. Our composer experimented with making the guns shoot melodies by writing short passages and cutting out the individual notes to be triggered when the player fired. Unfortunately, this approach didn't work because the guns were getting lost within the competing frequencies. We had to figure out so many variables. What tempo feels good to shoot? Which elements of the soundtrack will drive the rhythm—bass, kick, melody, etc.? What feels good to play for hours on end without getting fatigued? How does the soundtrack grow in intensity when we play each level?

If you’re playing a rhythm game, it’s to be assumed that the player already has a good feel for rhythm. Dumbing down the firing patterns would just take the fun out of the gameplay. So in the end, our composer went all out making the craziest music he could! After many playtesting trials, he took out the sections that were impossible to shoot to, leaving just the good stuff. The amount of audio assets that were left in the “maybe” pile or thrown away entirely is staggering. We’re pretty sure there’s enough material to score the game four times over! Our composer was driven to design hyper-aggressive music in a multitude of genres with a slamming mix, while also making sure it was functional for the game. After all, the music drives the game and the game drives the music—even the environment reacts to the beat!

The reaction we wanted from the music and gameplay was, “F*** YEAH!” So our composer chose the three most aggressive styles of music he could imagine: EDM, TrapHop, and Metal. Within them are many sub-genres, and he tried to bring as many of those different flavors into the tracks as possible. Gradually, the tracks evolved to overlap with one another. For example, Metal tracks have heavy amounts of synthesis in them, TrapHop has distorted guitars and neo-classical influence, and EDM has everything he could throw at it!

The entire soundtrack was completed within six months, including the lengthy experimentation phase. Writing and composing the music for GUN JAM pushed our composer past the limits of what he thought was creatively possible, and he started to wonder if he accidentally created new fusion genres in the process! We’re all incredibly excited about the release, but we also can’t wait to hear what people think about the soundtrack.

SCE: We started concepting the visual style of GUN JAM when we had our PC prototype back in 2018. Our art and lore were naturally drawn to a world where everything was amplified to the extreme and painted with dystopian undertones. In GUN JAM, everything revolves around “The Beat” and being a rhythm-FPS game, we started with having music references and metaphors everywhere. So entire buildings might double up as a speaker where the walls might shake to the pulse of the bass, lights may strobe in rhythm with each track, and signage around the City Streets levels would flash in time with the tune.

The inspiration behind the art style came from comic books, ‘90s cartoons, and animated movies. We wanted to combine the bold, outlined characters of these mediums with painterly backgrounds to create a unique visual experience. The central theme of music and sound influenced our shape language, using speakers and sound equipment as design inspiration.

The visual language was designed to support the gameplay, using bold and bright colors for the enemies to stand out on screen and opposing colors to differentiate characters. Each area was given a unique feel with strong, distinct shape language. The brief was to crank everything to 11, resulting in a visually stunning game world that’s both immersive and engaging.

SCE: Arcade mode is a linear playthrough of every level in the game. Each level is restricted to a certain weapon set chosen to make that level enjoyable and challenging for the player. Throughout Arcade Mode, you’re gradually introduced to new enemies and weapons. Each level has a pre-set Par Score and Par Time which the player can aim for to test their skills. Completing a level in Arcade mode also unlocks that level in Freeplay mode.

Freeplay is where we give all choices to the player. All weapons are unlocked from the beginning, and the player is able to choose whatever weapon set they decide. They can apply modifiers to the level to increase or decrease difficulty, which in turn affects the score the player receives at the end of the level. Each level has a global leaderboard attached to it. The aim of Freeplay mode is to experiment with different modifiers and weapons to get the highest score possible.

SCE: In addition to VR, the PC version of GUN JAM is also coming out this year! We’re wrapping up the development of that game right now and are excited for FPS gamers to get their hands on that, too.

Break free from Mubel’s hypnotic tones by shooting to your own beat in GUN JAM VR for Quest 2 + Pro.