Spellwing

Wizard's Tower with a friend
Starting the mission
Leveling up, upgrade options
Steering the dragon
Fireball!
Killing wasps
Explosions!
Sheep!
Flying around
Another level up, time to pick an upgrade
Nature breath attack
Flying together
And some more flying together
Fighting the boss

Spellwing - a VR Survivors-like, with dragons!

Please follow this link for the Spellwing How-To-Play Guide: link

The inspiration for Spellwing was born from a desire to pivot our design philosophy. While our previous title, Grokit, was designed as a high-energy, physically active experience tailored for new VR users, we wanted to explore a different direction. With Spellwing, our goal was to target the enthusiast audience, while shifting the physical paradigm to a more relaxed, "couch-playable" experience.

Our team has been deeply engaged with the "Survivors-like" (or bullet heaven) genre, drawing influence from titles like Vampire Survivors and Soulstone Survivors. We recognized a unique opportunity to translate those addictive progression systems into a fully 3D environment. However, the control scheme required iteration. We initially implemented the "Force" system from Grokit. While physically manipulating the creature was fun, the learning curve proved too steep for the relaxed gameplay loop we envisioned. We ultimately pivoted to the "Rubberband" movement mechanic from our earlier title, Vault of Stars. By applying this tether-like control to the creature rather than the player's avatar, we achieved a fluid, intuitive navigation style that works seamlessly with hand tracking.

Spellwing is built in Unity, leveraging the Meta SDKs and NGO. A key advantage in our development pipeline is the GroKit Core system. Over the years, we have compiled and refined modular systems from our previous titles (Vault of Stars, Space Dragon, and Grokit) keeping them integrated with current SDKs and APIs. Building Spellwing on top of this mature foundation allowed us to focus on refining specific game mechanics rather than reinventing the wheel. This architecture gave us the flexibility to iterate quickly on the combat and movement systems.

Development on Spellwing began in August as a side project. However, for this Hackathon, we decided to push the boundaries by integrating a feature we had only theoretically planned: Multiplayer. Adding multiplayer to a "Survivors-like" game presents unique design challenges, particularly regarding game flow. We had to revise several systems to ensure they felt responsive in a networked environment. A major design decision was making the leveling system shared; when one player triggers a level-up, the game pauses for everyone, allowing the team to coordinate upgrades simultaneously. This shared pause maintains the pacing and adds a layer of cooperative strategy.

The core gameplay loop is now solid, with the "just one more run" nature of the genre working beautifully with hand-tracking controls. Current Content: The build features a comprehensive tutorial, the first full mission, and avatar customization. Unlockables: Players can unlock the "Green Whelp" creature by completing the mission. Future Development: Our focus now shifts to deepening the spellcrafting system and expanding content (new zones, missions, and creature varieties). We believe the addition of multiplayer has significantly elevated the excitement of the playstyle, and we look forward to expanding the Spellwing universe.

Playing the Tutorial is strongly recommended for first time players.