Disembodied | Devpost

About The Game

This isn't just hands first, it's hands only!

Disembodied is a MR platform game, where you control a pair of disembodied hands that copy the movement of your real hands.

The hands can run, climb and pick up objects. Find the power-ups, and you can make gestures to punch through walls, or shoot your hand gun.

The gameplay is split into fairly small, quick levels. So you can pick up and play for as long as you like. But you will always want to play one more.

Disembodied started as a project for the Presence Platform Hackathon last year. At that point it was a prototype that just about worked. Since then it's come a long way, especially with player movement and gameplay.

Physics

I've spent a very long time getting the hand physics right. I wanted the hands to react when they can't be in the same pose as your real hands, while also making them 'feel' natural. It was hard getting the balance right between the look and feel, but after a lots of experimenting with different methods, and hours of fine tuning, I'm pretty happy with it now. I really feels like a toy that you control with magic.

Better physics has enabled me to add features and interactions that I didn't think would be possible when I started. Like picking up dumbbells and walking along with them like stilts. And being able to walk along easily with one hand using your fingers.

I've also added a lot to the backend. Including a seated mode, where instead of walking around the level, you can rotate it by grabbing a button.

Meta Features

I wouldn't call Disembodied a Mixed Reality game, but it still takes full advantage of Meta's MR features.

If the hands fall out of the level you can run around in your room using the scene mesh, and other thing like the lasers and gun fire will collide with it too.

Everything in the game is occluded by your real hands (using a passthrough shader), and anything else like arms and cats (using the Depth API). I've recently made custom shaders to even occlude sprites and text mesh pro objects.

I use spatial anchors to save the position of your playspace between sessions.

I also use them to save the position of your light source, which I then use to set the game light. Even with just a basic directional light this makes a big difference.

Hackathon Update

My update for the Hackathon is a level editor. I was going to add one after launch, and it seemed like a big enough update for the competition. I was originally planning on using controllers, but in the spirit of the hackathon (and my game), I decided to try it with hand tracking. It works so well that I probably won't use controllers at all now.

I tried to keep everything as simple as possible. Flip your hand over to open the menu. There you can save and load etc. or choose a tool or item.

You have a 'cursor' between your thumb and index finger, which will snap to a place on the grid in the level. You then just pinch to select or place an item, or pinch and drag to move or configure it. At first I had issues with the cursor moving too much when you pinch, which meant the item would end up in the wrong place. But I've done a few things manage that and it's pretty solid now.

I made a system to check if an item will fit in a grid position, which was tricky using hexagon pieces. I didn't have time to set up the things that rotate, but it's good enough for now to stop you placing items on top of each other.

In Config mode you can change the rotation of some items, and setup what buttons do by pinching and dragging to a receiver.

You can set the tool/item for each hand separately, so they do different things.

I didn't manage to get everything done. I want to make tools for setting paths for moving platforms etc. And of course eventually you will be able to upload levels and play other peoples.

I will continue to work on this now, to the point that you can set everything up in the editor. It will make it much quicker and easier for me to make the levels for the game, and that should let me be more creative with them.

In the competition time I have also finished the upgrade to Unity 6 I was half way through (including changing all hand rigs to use openXR hands). And finished the 'pre game' menu, with light position and color.

What's next for Disembodied

I aim to release Disembodied next year, but there's still a lot to do. The big things are graphics, sound and level design, but I also hope to have time for a story mode. This would have a narrative where you are playing the game for some robots, to train their algorithms, and teach them how to use hands.

Any prize money from this would go a very long way.