The initial part of our Innovate UK project is now complete and along with laying the groundwork using Unreal's Gameplay Ability system, we've decided on an initial set of in-game player character effects that will be driven by it, and might give the player a reason to use the breath input. These are the effects that we'll (hopefully) start testing in October. In no particular order, here they are;

Internal Monologue

This one's going to be very powerful. It's also tricky just because we don't want it to be annoying. So, repetition is going to be a bad thing- we'll use AI tools to create alot of variation on a wide set of input phrases and words. And also train voice models on different performances so that we can create different emotional registers.

Having said that, this could be a huge area for both creative and even scientific exploration. We're collaborating with Dr Martin Turner at Manchester Met Uni who is a specialist in Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy, which has interesting insights into challenge/threat states. And personally I can see how we could characterize or even personify different aspects of the psyche. It could be both very dark and very funny.

Breathing and Heartbeat

Since the player character has a heartbeat and breathes anyway, when their nervous system is in Fight or Flight, the sound of the player character's breathing and heartbeat will become more noticeable and speed up. This might become quite intense if the player character is panicking, or in shock. Ultimately, hyperventilation could lead to unconsciousness for the player character.

Hand Tremor

This will probably be the most difficult to execute, because it could easily feel like a glitch. But we all know the feeling (or most of us do anyway). I once watched a soldier, newly arrived off a plane in a warzone, try and load bullets into his gun's magazine. His hands were shaking so badly he could barely do it. There was no immediate danger, no shooting going on except in the distance. Even if it's quite common in the real world, we'll probably be sparing with it, and listen to player feedback.

Sluggish Body

The old nightmare where you're being chased but you're walking in treacle. Probably affecting the whole body apart from the head movement, so that the player doesn't feel sick.

Stumbling

If possible we'll create stumbling, which could work along with the sluggish body effect. Again we'd have to be careful so that the head doesn't move in a strange way and make the player uncomfortable. It could also be a complete waste of time- in third person you'd see the effect clearly, it's debatable whether this effect would just be confusing in VR first person.

Changing Soundscape

Initially this will just be adjusting the soundscape so that certain types of sound are louder and others softer. And then we'll add distortion, attenuation to some sounds.