The game project "The Cathartic Escape" by Patrik Toth and Daniel Goncalves is a production of the Zurich University of the Arts and the master's thesis of the two students. The Catharic Escape is a first-person puzzle game for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, but can also be played on a normal PC.
After being trapped by a mad psychologist in his facility, you try to escape from there. The game is controlled by body movements. With the joysticks, the player can pick up tools and smash boxes with them. The concept sounds like a classic Escape Room. The Game The Cathartic Escape however, has a few completely new special features.
Video games are usually designed either for on-screen play or for virtual reality. The aim of this project by the two Master's students Patrik Toth and Daniel Gonçalves is to develop a hybrid game concept that works both on screen and with virtual reality systems while conveying the same game mechanics. To investigate the concept, a physical puzzle game was developed that takes up the catharsis thesis. This made it possible to show parallels and problems in the implementation of the respective system in a hybrid game.
A damage system was also designed and developed for the game. This simulates the material properties of objects and their behaviour during destruction, such as breaking and deformation, unified for screen and virtual reality systems.
Assessment of testers
VRjunkie says about the game: "The puzzle and skill interludes we have seen so far have made a very good impression, even if it was often not entirely clear which way we should go next. Often only brute force helps. The great physics calculation makes you want more and invites you to try out and experiment. The project is terrific for a master's thesis and we hope that one or the other feature will be added until the release.
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