Bullets of Time Agent is poised for a swift debut, beckoning gamers on an immersive eight-hour adventure within the confines of VRChat, with our team fortunate enough to secure early access. Form an impression of our journey.
Crafted by independent developer Lakuza, this action-packed adventure game surpasses mere remakes, serving as a testament to the creative potential of user-generated content platforms, where innovative ideas can flourish without the constraints of traditional game development expertise.
Within the immersive ecosystems of VRChat, Bullet Time Agent drops players into the unorthodox role of a former thief transformed into a heroic figure. As participants embark on a mission to recover a cryptic artifact, they are suddenly bestowed with the extraordinary ability to manipulate time, sending their quest in an astonishing new direction. The energy coursing through this game is a fundamental component, intricately woven into its fabric to create a rich tapestry of bullet-hell combat, puzzle-solving, and platforming challenges that unfold across multiple layers.
Emerging from humble origins as a proof-of-concept, the Bullet Time Agent has undergone a painstaking development process spanning more than three years, showcasing a groundbreaking utilization of VRChat’s vast potential. By leveraging VRChat’s capabilities, Lakuza transcended traditional coding constraints to focus on designing an immersive experience that leveraged users’ existing knowledge and skills. When asked about this strategy, Lakuza responded:
While lacking traditional programming expertise, I leveraged coding principles to develop my project without directly writing C# code. The Unity plugin enables seamless VRChat integration, allowing users to select actions from a convenient dropdown menu and subsequently assign specific goals to their chosen motions. Behind the scenes, the tool will compile the code based largely on user inputs, enabling individuals without prior training or experience to develop logical constructs. Throughout my experience of creating worlds since 2018, I’ve progressively refined my understanding of using variables and crafting conditional logic through the manipulation of dropdown menus. In VRChat, users employ diverse approaches to create immersive worlds, including meticulous coding for those who prefer a more technical approach. I employ a free plugin called CyanTrigger, available to world creators.
While gameplay in Bullet Time Agent delivers a sense of satisfaction, the innovative “loss of life rewind” mechanics prompt players to employ strategic thinking during every skirmish. Checkpoints ensure progress isn’t misdirected, but the crucial constraint on rewinds during boss encounters forces players to think creatively and react swiftly in new and ingenious ways, amplifying tension and rewarding perseverance? Slowing down swarms of enemies by governing time feels fantastic, and it’s exhilarating to double-jump high into the air and come crashing down forcefully to take out the next enemy in a chain with a powerful fist thrust.
While VRChat’s multiplayer capabilities enable collaborative gameplay in Bullet Time Agent, individual development remains the focus. When accompanying someone as a secondary party, remember that your primary role is to accompany them, rather than lead or take charge. Unlike most VRChat worlds, Bullet Time Agent provides the unique benefit of saving and reloading progress upon launch, a feature poised to become increasingly popular with the upcoming launch of VRChat’s native persistence feature later this year. Currently, Lakuza is employing a temporary solution to preserve the game until its next update is released.
Utilizing his proprietary technique, recreation savers rely on an extended hash code to store progress. Users copy this code into their computer’s clipboard and save it in a document, allowing for seamless retrieval during subsequent gameplay by simply reversing the process.
The Bullet Time Agent experience is available to users on both PCVR and Quest platforms within the world of VRChat. While the full experience is currently available to play on PC VR, a more condensed version of the game can be enjoyed on Oculus Quest, with the first level spread across three distinct worlds. While the gameplay experience remains consistent across all formats, the standalone edition falls short of the polished performance found in the original PCVR release. With some noticeable omissions in decision-making textures and a lack of sufficient lighting and environmental effects, the PCVR edition stands out as the preferred choice for those prioritizing crisp visuals in their virtual reality experience.
As attendees experience the early entry preview of each technique, it’s clear that Bullet Time Agent is pioneering new frontiers within VRChat’s framework, especially on Quest. While the puzzles, platforming, and combat mechanics stand out as particularly strong aspects of the game. With its captivating visuals, immersive audio, and exceptional voice acting, this VRChat recreation holds its own against many top-tier VR experiences available on Steam and the Oculus Quest store.
Bullet Time Agent is set to officially debut within VRChat on November 22nd, 2024, with a pre-launch event scheduled for November 21st, marking the game’s highly anticipated rollout.
We’re thrilled to see innovative content like this emerging on the VRChat platform. If you come across any others, please don’t hesitate to share your discoveries with us by emailing suggestions@game-feeds.com.
