‘#Archery’ Takes VR’s Bow & Arrow Mechanics to the Logical Extreme

Shooting a bow and arrow in VR is a satisfying game mechanic. It uses both hands in a 6-DoF interaction that couldn’t work with a traditional game controller. VR Unicorns’ new game #Archery takes this bow and arrow shooting mechanic to the logical extreme in a quirky fashion that’s similar to their game #SelfieTennis. Now available on early access, I had a chance to talk with #Archery developers Jakob Johansson and Max Nilsson at GDC where they talked about their game jamming and rapid prototyping process that’s motivated driven by novelty and getting bored easily.

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There are a lot of mini-games interspersed throughout these different shooting experiences that range from shooting newspapers into mailboxes, ingredients onto pizzas, boxes from conveyor belts, moving targets on the top of a roof, and even ice cream cones onto the heads of children. Check out the Early Access trailer heading this article.

There’s an interesting tablet interface available at any moment to navigate between the different environments and games, and there’s a range of mechanics ranging from impossibly difficult to casually destructive to training your brain to switch contexts and pay attention to many rapidly changing variables. Overall, #Archery is a lot of fun, and you can expect that the developers will continue to rapidly prototype and develop new and quirky game ways to shoot things with a bow and arrow.

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Music: Fatality & Summer Trip