Superhero VR is a game project for the Oculus Rift for disabled gamers that makes full use of head-tracking to provide an accessible experience even for the fully quadraplegic. I did story, core game design, and accessibility research that helped result in the Canadian government funding the project for 2 million dollars. My primary research was on guidelines written by disabled gamer groups on how to design games accessible to their community as well as on the custom controllers and different input methods they use to interact with games.

I also made a prototype of one of the superpower scenarios we developed in Unreal Engine 4 using visual scripting. The project is still in development.

Some examples of superpowers I came up with for the first prototyping phase, with consideration of usability/accessibility, hardware/engineering constraints, and fun.

1. Flight - Player can fly.

Positives:

Freedom of movement, natural fit for head-tracking/Oculus.

Negatives:

Can be disorienting or nauseating.

Implementation:

Flight like a bird, or floating, or more like a glider or plane?

2. Laser Eyes - Player shoots laser beams from their eyes.

Positives:

Feeling of power, can be used while not moving character, and easy to control with just Rift head-tracking.

Negatives:

Can cause neck strain if used a lot.

Implementation:

Could require a lot of expensive environment destruction.

3. Incorporeal - Player can walk through solid objects for a short period of time. Also unaffected by most powers and attacks.

Positives:

Gives freedom of movement and a feeling of power.

Negatives:

Can be confusing as to where you are when you move through/into objects and structures.

Implementation:

Simply deactivate collision for a short period of time.