GunSpinning VR

A ranch, an Old West town and a flying saucer: GunSpinning VR mixes western and science fiction in an arcade shooter. The player follows a guided route through a town overrun by zombies, with a strong focus on scoring. The ranch offers a place to learn the controls before starting the story or trying to improve a previous score.

Evolving a game alongside VR

The first prototype dates back to 2016. It used an OSVR HDK 1.3 headset and a Kinect for positional tracking. The first release, in 2017, led to a series of adaptations for other headsets, controllers and platforms. Development has also evolved, from Unity 5 through to Unity 6.7.

The project has been ported to platforms including Gear VR, Windows Mixed Reality, Oculus Quest and Xbox One. That history makes it a practical setting for working with very different input systems while retaining the same shooting, aiming and reloading actions.

GunSpinning VR was part of the launch catalogue for Microsoft’s Windows Mixed Reality headsets. The game was well received and popular with players when the headsets launched.

An experimental Unreal Engine port

In 2018, I also made an experimental port to Unreal Engine. This version contains all the levels and is around 70% complete. It was never released; the project is still kept in a repository.

Playing with your hands

Hand tracking lets players bring up their weapons, shoot and reload using gestures. Automatic firing and reloading options accompany this mode to make the interactions more accessible.

The game also works on a regular screen. The aim is to retain an immediate arcade experience, whether playing with a gamepad or motion controllers.

Download and try it

The itch.io page brings together the Windows, macOS, Linux and Android/Quest versions.

The iPad version is in preparation, with a release planned soon. The screenshots offer a preview of this adaptation to touch controls.