Factsheet

Description

Defend your city from alien invaders in this colorful virtual reality game! Aim, shoot, and protect your planet for as long as you can in a variety of game modes & special missions!

Planet Protector VR puts you in command of the biggest & best turrets in the world, and it's up to you to fend off alien invaders through your favourite virtual reality headset & motion controllers.

Travel around the world to famous locations, complete special missions, or defend your own city in a variety of game modes.

Developer:

BigfootDS

Based in Sydney, Australia

Release date:

October 13th, 2017

Website:

planetprotectorvr.com

Press / Business contact:

alex@bigfootds.com

General contact:

contact@bigfootds.com

Social media:

Facebook

Twitter

Releases:

Planet Protector VR - Steam, Google Play

Regular price:

$9.99USD

Planet Protector VR began as a student project named "Planet Defender" in late 2015, created by Alex Holder during his Bachelor of Interactive Media studies at the Academy of Information Technology (AIT). In the initial prototype, you defended a small city against invading aliens from afar, using your mouse & keyboard to control the game. It was deemed an "okay" game but just felt like it was missing a special something.

Then, in late 2016, Alex joined the Academy of Interactive Entertainment's (AIE) Graduate Diploma of Management to get into the AIE Incubator Program. After a couple of months of prototyping various game ideas, Planet Defender was thrown into a Google Daydream headset and adjusted to use the Daydream motion controller - and it was like striking gold. Renaming the project to Planet Protector VR, this new iteration of the game was found to be much more engaging & interesting to all who played it. Being right in the middle of the city, having everything explode all around you, and seeing gigantic UFOs loom over you all became so much better thanks to virtual reality!

Throughout 2017, Planet Protector VR has been constantly worked on & shown off at various expos & events in the greater Sydney region. BigfootDS has been involved in various education & general exhibitions and conventions to showcase new technology to a very different variety of demographics, and Planet Protector VR has been shown at dozens of events throughout 2017.  It's become a great tool to show new people virtual reality, being developed to become suitable for all age groups & demographics. While more intense competitors of this game may be more complex & deep in the long-term & great for gamers, they lose a huge chunk of players in target markets such as children & older adults - the non-gamers have been seen to pick up Planet Protector VR much more easily, so BigfootDS has doubled-down on that unique attribute to improve Planet Protector VR even further.

This project has become a tool that BigfootDS uses to introduce virtual reality to people of all demographics, getting people outside of the gaming market to adopt virtual reality through simple gameplay & engaging visuals. Planet Protector VR's ability to be played on all VR headsets that use motion controllers allow it to become a great stepping stone to introduce people to the wider world of virtual reality.

Since Planet Protector VR is being made for so many platforms, devices, and storefronts, it was decided to give it a staggered release. This allows BigfootDS to perform further testing on the game, create new content per player feedback, and improve compatibility with new & upcoming devices and platforms. The game will be considered "early access" until a comfortable amount of content is created and a variety of virtual reality devices are supported.

You can download these videos in a handy ZIP file here.

Alternatively, click on the links below to view each one via YouTube.

• Planet Protector VR trailer #1

Planet Protector VR is developed by BigfootDS. BigfootDS is currently made up of one permanent employee - Alex Holder! Being a sole developer, a lot of assets & other important items in the projects are provided by places like the Unity Asset Store and from other studios such as Synty Studios.

Alex Holder studied a Bachelor of Interactive Media (Games major) at the Academy of Information Technology, graduating in October 2016. Immediately following that, he enrolled into the Academy of Interactive Entertainment's Graduate Diploma of Management - the lead-in to the AIE Incubator program - and also began working as a freelance trainer/tutor for colleges & schools in the Sydney region of Australia until being hired by Redhill Education as a game development trainer in September 2017.

Alex is primarily an educator - currently fulfilling the role of "Trainer & Program Coordinator" for Redhill Education in Sydney across two of Redhill Education's colleges; Coder Academy and the Academy of Information Technology. Here, Alex can teach others about game & virtual reality content development - introducing great new technologies to schools that are keen on keeping their students on the forefront of the various technology industries.