My first VR game is out. Escape Room: Bank Robbery Gone Wrong is now available on App Lab for Quest and Quest 2. It's a single-player escape room built from the ground up for virtual reality, and it's my first game that I would call a big project.
How it started
When I bought my Quest 2, I fell for VR almost immediately, and it didn't take long before I wanted to build something for it myself. I joined a practical exercise at university for VR game development. I expected it to be harder to develop games for VR. It turned out to be very similar to developing mobile games. So after I knew I could do it - I spent the next six to seven months making this game.
I submitted it to Meta's App Lab on 21 December 2021. Then came the waiting: a little over a month of review before it was approved. Today it's live.
Why an escape room
I believe the escape room is one of the genres VR suits best. On a flat screen you click on objects. In VR you pick them up, turn them over, look behind and underneath things, and try them against each other with your own hands. The puzzles stop being menus and become physical. That's the whole reason I chose the genre for my first VR game.
The setup
You are the subject of a virtual test, transferred into a world where you're a customer in a bank that has just been robbed. You're left alone and locked inside a building full of secrets, with no one to help you except your own wit. Solve the riddles, uncover what's hidden, and find your way out.
A full playthrough takes around 90-120 minutes.
Finding it on App Lab
App Lab games don't show up in the main store the same way regular releases do, so most players find them through direct links, search and word of mouth. That's why every share and every review matters so much for a small game like this one.
If you play it, a rating or a short review helps more than you'd think. And if you get stuck or run into a bug, come tell me on Discord. I read everything.