PLEASE START US OFF BY INTRODUCING YOURSELF:
Hello. My name is Helen Megrabyan, I’m a scriptwriter for GoRapid Studio and I’ll be answering questions on our studio’s behalf.
TELL US ABOUT THE BURST.
The first thought that came to our minds when we just began was to make a game we ourselves would love to play and share with our friends and other gamers.
The Burst is a single-player VR FPS set in a dystopian future. The game combines parkour-style movement, fast-paced gunplay, interactive environment and a compelling storyline in a singular immersive experience.
We wanted The Burst to combine all we loved about VR. Any interesting game mechanic we saw, we put in after giving it an overhaul: wallrunning, driving, railsurfing, all the grappling hook interactions — we wanted to give the player as much freedom to interact with the world as possible.
VR is all about immersion, so The Burst pushes the player to move with their hands and to make choices through actions, not words. It’s extremely important for us to keep all interruptions strictly limited — you won’t see much of a UI other than grappling target indicator and damage vignette, framing the field of view.
HOW HAS THE DEVELOPMENT JOURNEY BEEN
We started as a group of 6 VR enthusiasts in 2022 with some experience in the field under our belt.
In time with passion, patience, dedication and a reasonable amount of finance we grew into a full team of over 20 specialists, all sharing the vision for The Burst.
WHICH GAME ENGINE DID YOU CHOOSE AND WHY?
When it comes to the engine — we could’ve written the whole comparison and pinpoint the reasons, but that would take a lot of time, so we will settle for a simpler answer.
For The Burst we chose Unreal Engine mostly because our team had more experience with it while working on previous projects. What drew us to Unreal Engine specifically was its open source code that could be modified according to the project’s needs.
WHAT'S BEEN YOUR BIGGEST DEVELOPMENT HURDLE SO FAR?
It wasn’t the biggest challenge per se, but our tech team found it exciting to work on implementing a seamless gaming experience without loading screens.
When it comes to the real hurdle, it’s safe to say that adapting several mechanics of the Unreal Engine gameplay framework definitely took a lot of time and effort. Things like the player’s hands and pawn simulation.
Still, I’m glad to say that we have tamed this beast and are ready for more challenges.
ADVICE FOR FELLOW DEVS?
First and foremost — love your game. It’s a cliche, I know, but it is incredibly important. No creation is complete with passion.
Second — don’t try to ride the hype wave. If someone makes an exceptional game in a certain genre and you basically reskin it to make a quick buck, you will end up with a soulless look-alike. It won’t be YOUR game and you won’t be the only one to try this approach.
Instead, what you should do is experiment.
Create your own toolkit, write your own utility tools. Take the base idea, but apply your individual vision and style to it. Don’t just reskin something you like.
Third — take a break. If you feel exhausted, take a stroll, a breather. Burnout is real and it hurts both the project and you as a developer.
Fourth — if you feel like giving up, try to reapply your idea to a different medium instead. Don’t bury it, just change direction.
ANY FINAL THOUGHTS?
We were excited to share a little bit about us and The Burst. If our insight could help even a single person on their journey into the impervious depths of game development, we would be happy.
-Helen
❤️
