by Saskia Bennecke, Michael Carsten Clauß, Peter Lindner
Arcactus is VR arcade shoot 'em up — think Space Invaders, but in virtual reality. You play as Arcactus, a cactus defending his desert city against waves of enemy balloons called Loonies.
- Fixed position — you can't move, but you aim and shoot by moving your head
- Shoot thorns to destroy incoming Loonies before they reach you
- Enemies spawn in waves from randomized positions within a <180° arc around you
- You start with 3 lives — the game ends when they're gone
| Type | Hits to kill | Points | Damage | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🔵 Blue (easy) | 1 | 10 | 0.5 lives | Fast |
| 🟡 Yellow (medium) | 2 | 20 | 1 life | Normal |
| 🔴 Red (hard) | 3 | 30 | 1.5 lives | Slow |
Randomly spawning gear pickups — green glow = power-up, red glow = power-down.
| ✅ Power-Ups | ❌ Power-Downs |
|---|---|
| Magnification (bigger targets) | Minification (smaller targets) |
| Rapid Fire | Slo-Mo Fire |
| x2 Points | /2 Points |
| 1 Up (restore life) | 1 Down (lose a life) |
| Freeze (stop all balloons) | Rush (faster balloons) |
- Engine: Unity
- Platform: Cardboard VR + Xbox Controller
- Graphics: 3D, custom models, textures & sprites, 32-bit color
- Audio: Music + sound effects
This (non-commercial) product uses the following third party ressources:
Source "freesound.org":
- Hitting (not killing) a balloon: „Balloon 42“ by wuola https://www.freesound.org/people/wuola/sounds/168300/ Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
- Popping balloon: “Balloon pop.wav” by Mart1001 https://www.freesound.org/people/Mart1001/sounds/54012/ Licensed under Creative Commons: No Copyright 3.0
- Firing thorn: “Wing Flap (Flag Flapping) 2a” by ani_music http://www.freesound.org/people/ani_music/sounds/244978/ Licensed under Creative Commons: No Copyright 3.0
- Hitting power-up / power-down: „Error_03.wav“ by distillerystudio http://www.freesound.org/people/distillerystudio/sounds/327736/ Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
Source "incompetech.com":
- Background music: "River Valley Breakdown" von Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Third party code:
- Google VR SDK for Unity
Our usage of these tools complies with the respective license conditions.