Ninja Knowledge: VR Dev Tips from Coinflip Studios

It’s been less than two weeks since Ninja Legends launched on Oculus Quest and the Rift Platform, and it’s already racked up an impressive 4.5 average rating on both headsets. And in true Cinderella story fashion, indie upstart Coinflip Studios went from part of our Oculus Start program for up-and-coming developers to successfully shipping their first title on Quest. We asked Lead Developer and Designer David Geisert what advice he’d share with other indie devs looking to break into VR. Here’s what he had to say:

The Coinflip Studios team.

First, you’ll want to figure out a general game design paradigm that’s working outside of VR and hasn’t taken off in VR. Then ask yourself the question, “What about VR would make this concept really fun?” Do you pick things up, throw things, have fun physics interactions? Those are fun experiences for VR players. Also, right now in VR, focusing on a small, interesting mechanic will be much better than going really broad with mechanics. Go deep, not broad, with the scope of your game.

For UI, don’t try to reinvent the wheel too much. The home screens say it all when it comes to UI. These are the most polished VR UI experiences, so don’t waste your time trying to put every little bit of information in a game world object. It will be harder to use and confusing for most people.

Develop a community. This can be as easy as posting on social sites often, but the better path is creating a Discord Channel, Slack Team, Facebook Group, and/or subreddit where people can gather and talk about your game. Get them involved in the development of the game. Post dev logs about your work and your thoughts on the VR ecosystem. Demonstrate commitment to improving things and show you can accept criticism well. Don’t engage with naysayers, but counter any spurious claims they may be spreading.

Prior to getting their concept approved on Oculus Quest, the Coinflip Studios team began development using other VR hardware to ensure gameplay was satisfying and performance was good.

And here’s a checklist of must-haves:

• Demonstrate a market need with regards to other platforms (VR, mobile, or PC)—and how your title fills it.
• Show your team can deliver on the game you’re promising, whether in terms of your collective experience, having a prototype that’s pretty far along, or both.
• Have a refined core gameplay loop to show off.
• Talk to people at Oculus and get them excited about your game. Be persistent and professional.
• Have plans in place for ongoing support after launch, including updates.
• Your game needs to run amazingly smoothly at all times—invest in that.