Here’s Why a Developer Made a Huge Procedural Generated City in Virtual Reality called ‘Vuntra City VR’ with Shocking Features

Virtual reality (VR) games have been struggling to attract and retain players in recent years, due to the high cost of VR headsets, the lack of compelling content, and the technical challenges of creating immersive and realistic VR experiences. However, a new VR game is making waves on social media and gaming platforms, and it promises to offer something that no other VR game has ever done before: an infinite city that you can explore in any way you want.

What is Vuntra City VR?

Vuntra City VR is a VR game that is currently in development by a solo indie developer who goes by the name of Lara_the_dev on social media. The game is set in a futuristic city that is procedurally generated, meaning that it is created by an algorithm that randomly combines different elements and assets to create a unique and diverse cityscape.

The game allows the player to drive around the city in a car, and enter any building they see. The developer is also hoping to implement NPCs (non-player characters) that the player can chat with.

The game is still a work in progress, and the developer has been releasing updates and screenshots of the game on social media. The game has received a lot of positive attention and praise from VR enthusiasts, gamers, and media outlets, who are impressed by the ambition and creativity of the project.

Why did the developer create Vuntra City VR?

The developer of Vuntra City VR, Lara_the_dev, has revealed the motivation and inspiration behind the game in a short YouTube video. According to the developer, the game was born out of frustration with the limitations and restrictions of existing VR games, especially those that feature beautiful and detailed environments, but do not allow the player to fully explore them.

The developer said that they were tired of games where only the areas related to the story could be explored, and where the rest of the world was inaccessible or repetitive. The developer wanted to create a game that would give the player the freedom and the joy of exploring a city without any boundaries or objectives.

The developer wanted to create the relaxing feeling of taking a bus ride through a city, or driving around for hours, and never seeing the same thing twice. The developer wanted to create a game where every building had a unique interior, and where the player could discover new things and surprises every time they played. They posted about the thought process behind the game in a reddit thread titled “Why I made a huge procedural city in VR and What’s Next For It”.

How does the game work?

The game works by using a technique called procedural generation, which is a method of creating content using an algorithm that follows a set of rules and parameters. Procedural generation is often used in games to create large and varied worlds, such as in Minecraft, No Man’s Sky, or Terraria.

However, procedural generation can also pose many challenges and difficulties, such as ensuring consistency, coherence, and quality of the generated content.

The developer of Vuntra City VR has spent two years developing the algorithm that procedurally generates the city in the game. The algorithm works by generating each section of the city in real time, as the player approaches it.

The detail and complexity of the newly created section increases as the player gets closer to it, and decreases as the player moves away from it. This way, the game does not have to store or load the entire city at once, which would be impossible and impractical.

Each section of the city is generated from a seed, which is a number that determines the outcome of the algorithm. The seed allows a section to stay the same after it has been created, in case the player wants to revisit it later. This creates the illusion of a persistent and consistent city, despite the fact that every section is always procedurally generated.

The buildings in the game are composed of basic components, such as wall and roof sections, that are randomly combined and arranged by the algorithm. The interiors of the buildings are also procedurally generated, using assets that are either premade by the developer, or purchased from asset stores.

The algorithm also randomly places furniture, decorations, and items inside the buildings, such as shelves, containers, and cabinets. The developer has spent over a year fine-tuning the details of the game, such as the color palette, the lighting, and the sound effects. It definitely seems like this is one of those gaming projects where you just know the developer put their heart and soul into it.

Now that the city environment is mostly done and I am starting on the gameplay, I made a little showcase of what Vuntra City looks like in VR. #vr #vrgame #indiegame #gamedev #unrealengine #citygame #openworld pic.twitter.com/CLq9BlWosY

— Vuntra City VR 🌆 (@vuntra_city) July 21, 2023

What are the limitations and challenges of the game?

The game is not without its limitations and challenges, as the developer has admitted. The game is still in development, and the developer is constantly working on improving and expanding the game. However, a lone developer can only do so much when creating a massive scale game like this. This has lead to constraints in the development process of Vuntra City VR.

For example, according to the developer the procedural generation Vuntra City VR algorithm currently only works with rectangular shapes that are aligned with the axes, due to the complications and complexities of rotating and scaling non-rectangular shapes.

This likely means that the game does not have any curved roads, bridges, or buildings, which limits the variety and realism of the city. The developer stated they don’t have the resources to get around these complications at the moment.

Additionally the developer stated the Vuntra City VR only has 12 types of interiors, which means that the player will eventually encounter the same interior multiple times, even though the layout and the items inside will be different. The developer plans to add more types of interiors in the future, as well as more diversity and customization options for the interiors.

What is the future of the Vuntra City VR Procedural Generated Game Project?

At the moment it doesn’t seem like the game features NPCs that the player can interact with, but the developer mentioned wanting that level of immersion in the game. Wouldn’t it be cool if Vuntra City VR had a chat system that is powered by a natural language processing (NLP) engine like Chat GPT?

The NPCs could have different personalities, moods, and dialogues, depending on the time of day, the location, and the player’s actions. The conversation would always be different with this type of implementation.

The game is still in its early stages, and the developer has not announced a release date or a price for the game yet. In the mean time it’s clear the game is being constantly improved to make sure the finished product is a masterpiece. Vuntra City VR could be the future of procedurally generated Virtually reality games.