Audioshield: a VR game that gets you into a flow state
I always felt somewhat insecure when it came to playing video games. Having had no access to any during my childhood in the Soviet Union, I failed to develop what my husband calls "nintendo reflexes". It was mentally exhausting to play games that required quick reaction time and hand-eye coordination, and my performance quickly leveled off which was discouraging. With the HTC Vive and other VR headsets, there are now a lot of games that are immersive, physically engaging and intuitive. One of the best VR games in my opinion is Audioshield, a music visualizer which involves blocking colored orbs rushing towards you in sync with the beat of a song of your choice. I immediately liked it because it came naturally to me, and I got to dance to my favorite songs and explore new ones.
The beauty of Audioshield lies in uniting the pleasure of dancing with the fun of competing with other players around the world. It is simple, intuitive, and instantly rewarding. Your goal as a player is to block as many orbs as possible with controllers, which appear as shields, while keeping your feet in one place. The orbs create a nice visual effect as they splash upon contact with the shields, causing them to vibrate. The game encourages you to punch the orbs and make wide rhythmic movements with your arms to score high on artistic expression, which makes it a good workout. You can choose a song from the game's menu, stream it from YouTube, or upload one from your computer. A big advantage of playing songs that are available in the game is having more competition which makes it more rewarding to reach the global top 10 list. In each song, you get to pick a level (normal, harder or elite), a shield (gladiator, monarch or spartan) and a scene or skin (VIP lounge, neon stadium or private amphitheater).
Audioshield is primarily a dance game that can help you get into a state of flow if you relax and let your body enjoy the beat. Even though you need to keep your feet stationary you can still engage your whole body which is both more enjoyable and more effective than just moving your arms. Audioshield has been available on Steam for HTC Vive since April 2016. The game was developed by Dylan Fitterer, a founder of Invisible Handlebar and creator of Audiosurf, a music visualizing racing game. I believe the game has a lot of potential for helping players develop a better sense of rhythm and appreciate different genres of music. It still has some room for improvement such as better syncing of songs to the movement of orbs, adding a larger repertoire of songs, especially more rhythmic ones, and creating more challenges for experienced players (such as shooting orbs from a wider range). One of the best songs to play in Audioshield is Rick and Morty`s "Get Schwifty (Andromulus remix)" which you can see on my YouTube channel.