Recycle The Capitalists

Recycle The Capitalists: A VR Game for Environmental Awareness

This project, titled Recycle The Capitalists, was developed as a prototype as part of a team game design initiative. The goal was to conceptualize and create a virtual reality (VR) shooter game that blends immersive mechanics, humor, and environmental awareness. Players take on the role of an eco-warrior tasked with stopping capitalists from polluting a pristine environment by shooting their waste mid-air and reducing the pollution gauge. While still in its prototype phase, the project demonstrates the potential for engaging gameplay that raises awareness about environmental issues in a creative and interactive way.

GitHub repository of the project

One of the project's greatest strengths, as noted by my professor, lay in the technical execution—specifically the implementation of “invisible features” that are foundational to any high-quality VR experience. These features, such as fluid interaction mechanics and natural player immersion aids, often go unnoticed by the average player but are critical for making a game feel polished and intuitive. When present, they create seamless gameplay; when absent, the experience can feel clunky or unrefined.

This insight reinforced the importance of dedicating significant time and effort (often up to 70%) to these technical underpinnings, ensuring the game remained fluid and comprehensible. This focus on crafting subtle but impactful systems—such as responsive weapon interactions, teleportation mechanics, and intuitive visual feedback—not only showcased my ability to design immersive VR gameplay but also highlighted my proficiency in coding and integrating features in game engines like Unity or Unreal. Even in its prototype phase, the project demonstrated the potential for a well-rounded, engaging experience grounded in strong technical foundations.

Gameplay Design

In Recycle The Capitalists, players are immersed in a virtual reality experience where they interact with their surroundings and strategically manage pollution levels using a set of intuitive mechanics designed for VR. The gameplay emphasizes fluid interaction, environmental awareness, and fast-paced decision-making.

Immersive VR Interactions

The core mechanic revolves around the use of a versatile two-mode weapon, capable of both "destruction" and "fertilization." Players can switch between these modes with a tactile button on the weapon, while aiming is enhanced by a magnified scope that provides precision for distant targets. Balancing these interactions was critical to ensuring the mechanics felt natural and engaging, while maintaining the fast pace needed for the game. Players experience immersive feedback through haptic vibrations on their controllers during key actions like firing, teleporting, or successfully hitting a target.

Platform Movement System

Movement is another cornerstone of the gameplay. Players navigate a 360° arena using a teleportation system triggered by their gaze and a button press. This mechanic allows them to shift seamlessly between multiple platforms, each offering a unique vantage point. The need to move for better visibility and line of sight against obstacles such as trees or structures introduces a layer of spatial strategy, rewarding players who plan their positioning carefully.

Pollution Dynamics

The game integrates dynamic environmental feedback systems to provide players with a clear sense of progress and stakes. Pollution serves as the central mechanic, represented visually and mechanically to drive player actions.

Players must manage pollution levels by destroying trash with the correct mode of ammunition while avoiding penalties for incorrect actions. Pollution is depicted through color-changing clouds and an on-screen progress bar, creating a visceral sense of rising stakes as pollution intensifies. Trash contributes to pollution and must be destroyed, while fruits offer the opportunity to reduce pollution levels through fertilization. This dual-purpose mechanic creates a dynamic balance of risk and reward, challenging players to adapt quickly and make accurate decisions under pressure.

Trash increases pollution and requires destruction, while fruits decrease pollution and require fertilization. These mechanics create a dynamic balance of risk and reward.

Visual and Audio Design

The visual design embraces a minimalist, low-poly aesthetic to ensure clarity and performance optimization in VR. The stylized environment, featuring natural elements like trees and grass, contrasts sharply with the hyper-realistic trash designs, emphasizing their disruptive presence in the ecosystem. This visual juxtaposition reinforces the game's environmental themes.

To complement the visual design, custom effects and sound design play a vital role in enhancing immersion. Shooting trash produces distinct visual effects: explosions for destruction mode and butterflies for fertilization mode. These effects reinforce the humor and eco-conscious undertone of the game. Carefully designed audio cues—such as the sound of a gunshot, the hum of teleportation, or the distinct tone when switching weapon modes—help guide the player while amplifying the VR experience.

Level Design and Spatial Awareness

The level design takes full advantage of the 360° VR environment to challenge the player's spatial awareness and movement. Players begin on an external platform, overlooking a circular central map where the action unfolds. The layout is designed to encourage frequent repositioning, with strategic placement of trees and environmental obstacles that block sightlines, requiring players to relocate to maintain visibility of their targets.

The interplay of the map design and teleportation mechanic ensures that players are constantly engaged, scanning the area for opportunities to optimize their positioning. This movement-centric design encourages exploration, careful observation, and on-the-fly decision-making, while also fostering a deeper sense of immersion in the virtual world.

Skills Gained

During the development of Recycle The Capitalists, I gained significant skills across various areas of game design and development. In the realm of virtual reality game design, I mastered core mechanics such as motion-based interaction, and immersive aiming. This required a careful balance between accessibility and complexity to ensure the experience was both comfortable and engaging for players in a VR environment.

Gameplay programming was another key focus of this project. I implemented intricate systems, including the two-mode weapon mechanics and interactive aiming.