Doctor Strange Spellcasting

Mark Lipina

I was inspired by Marvel’s Doctor Strange, specifically the gestures he makes with his bare hands to cast spells, as I felt like that would translate neatly to a VR experience. I created two spells. First, the “portal opening” spell he casts by simply rotating one of his hands in a circle. and second, a more complex spell that fires a projectile, or in my case, applies a force to objects.

Casting spells with simple combinations of gestures and input seems very promising as a core mechanic. It simultaneously makes good use of VR’s affordances with the range of motion, and closely mirrors the fantasy of being a sorcerer like Doctor Strange. It also organically creates skill curves, where players can memorize and learn to execute more complex spells more quickly as they learn the motions required to execute them.

A problem I foresee with this system is how the player selects what spell they are trying to cast. Developers would need to get creative with the initial step for casting each spell so as to make them distinct, or offer some other way to detect (or allow the player to select) an attempted spell. I imagine a radial “menu” like Half Life Alyx’s weapon selection menu might work well for this, if it had a “circular magical rune” presentation.