Uploaded May 2021 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Today we’re playing two games! Comparing Valve’s Half Life: Alyx and Stress Level Zero’s Boneworks. Excellent titles both, but we’re taking a critical eye to both to discuss VR game design and explore a few topics surrounding comfort, combat and puzzles. And propose what other games might take away from both.
This video may seem formal, but it is worth noting these are personal and subjective findings, very much slanted by what I want out of VR. This isn’t me saying how things ought to be, just how I’d like to see things progress.
This video features heavy gameplay spoilers and minimal ending spoilers, it does not go into the ending of Alyx. While about accessibility, I also neglected to go into the costliness of VR in this video as it has been heavily discussed elsewhere, here's a good video by @2kliksphilip about that:
youtu.be/-NBMdcUTC2M
Links
Patreon: patreon.com/tehsnakerer
Twitter: twitter.com/TehSnakerer
Ko-Fi: ko-fi.com/tehsnakerer
(Valve) Index
1. Introduction 00:00
- An introduction to today’s two titles and the purpose of this video
2. Roles and Premise 01:52
- The place each game hopes to fill in the VR space and how it influences their design and themes
3. Locomotion and Comfort 05:33
- How the games accommodate players and how it effects them
4. Tutorialising: Teaching Simplicity and Complexity 09:58
- Player teaching in a new medium is tricky, how do Alyx and Boneworks tackle it?
5. Combat and Freedom 11:56
- Exploring open and closed ended design in VR combat
6. Puzzles and Immersion 18:13
- VR opens many more possibilities for brain ticklers, and one of these two definitely tickles.
7. Progression and Story Presentation 24:14
- How progressing through each game feels
8. A Conclusion and Proposal 28:04
- Tying it all together and proposing a thought making this video brought upon.
Thanks to Skeletom, Mrcoolmanist, @hotcyder , @LambHoot , and Emily Nace for reviewing the script and suggesting fixes, additions, and asking questions.
Thanks to @hotcyder for the thumbnail!
Today we’re playing two games! Comparing Valve’s Half Life: Alyx and Stress Level Zero’s Boneworks. Excellent titles both, but we’re taking a critical eye to both to discuss VR game design and explore a few topics surrounding comfort, combat and puzzles. And propose what other games might take away from both.
This video may seem formal, but it is worth noting these are personal and subjective findings, very much slanted by what I want out of VR. This isn’t me saying how things ought to be, just how I’d like to see things progress.
This video features heavy gameplay spoilers and minimal ending spoilers, it does not go into the ending of Alyx. While about accessibility, I also neglected to go into the costliness of VR in this video as it has been heavily discussed elsewhere, here's a good video by @2kliksphilip about that:
youtu.be/-NBMdcUTC2M
Links
Patreon: patreon.com/tehsnakerer
Twitter: twitter.com/TehSnakerer
Ko-Fi: ko-fi.com/tehsnakerer
(Valve) Index
1. Introduction 00:00
- An introduction to today’s two titles and the purpose of this video
2. Roles and Premise 01:52
- The place each game hopes to fill in the VR space and how it influences their design and themes
3. Locomotion and Comfort 05:33
- How the games accommodate players and how it effects them
4. Tutorialising: Teaching Simplicity and Complexity 09:58
- Player teaching in a new medium is tricky, how do Alyx and Boneworks tackle it?
5. Combat and Freedom 11:56
- Exploring open and closed ended design in VR combat
6. Puzzles and Immersion 18:13
- VR opens many more possibilities for brain ticklers, and one of these two definitely tickles.
7. Progression and Story Presentation 24:14
- How progressing through each game feels
8. A Conclusion and Proposal 28:04
- Tying it all together and proposing a thought making this video brought upon.
Thanks to Skeletom, Mrcoolmanist, @hotcyder , @LambHoot , and Emily Nace for reviewing the script and suggesting fixes, additions, and asking questions.
Thanks to @hotcyder for the thumbnail!
