⚔️

IK Demo — Lightsaber Deflection Practice

A proof of concept that turned an inverse-kinematics experiment into a VR training experience.

PROOF OF CONCEPT

What began as a simple inverse-kinematics test for arm and hand tracking quickly grew into something more fun: a lightsaber deflection practice experience. The goal is straightforward — hold a lightsaber, read the incoming blaster fire, and deflect every bolt before it gets past your guard.

⬇️ Download ARM64 Binary ik-demo.arm64 · Steam Frame

The Experience

You stand in a sparse training chamber while drones or turrets fire slow-moving energy bolts toward you. Because the projectiles are deliberately paced, the focus is not on frantic dodging but on clean form: angle the blade correctly, time the swing, and send the bolt back at the source. Good deflections reward you with audio and haptic feedback; missed bolts cost you a training point.

The saber is mapped directly to your dominant controller, so every twist, block, and slash is reflected one-to-one in VR. Body alignment comes from a minimal IK chain that keeps the virtual arm plausible without requiring extra trackers.

Assets & Attribution

The experience is built around a few high-quality community assets. The interior training space is Loft 16 Interior from Sketchfab. The lightsaber hilt is the Ancient Lightsaber Hilt, also from Sketchfab. The original IK demo concept that inspired this project is lukky-nl/ik-demo-4.6 on GitHub.

Controls

Y / B — extend the saber beam.
X / A — retract the saber beam.
Right joystick press — toggle between headset tracking and right-controller tracking.
Right analog trigger — initiate a right swing.
Left analog trigger — initiate a forward swing.

Core Mechanics

🎯

Blade Alignment

Deflections are judged by the angle between the saber blade and the incoming projectile. A clean perpendicular block sends the bolt straight back.

Physics Angle Check

⏱️

Timing Windows

Bolts travel slowly enough to read but fast enough to punish hesitation. The training mode gradually shortens the reaction window.

Reaction Difficulty Ramp

📳

Haptic Feedback

Successful blocks trigger a short pulse through the controller, giving an immediate physical sense of contact without full force feedback.

Haptics Feedback

📊

Score & Streaks

Consecutive successful deflections build a streak multiplier. The current score and high score are shown on a panel inside the scene.

Scoring UI

Why It Works as a PoC

It exercises controller tracking, IK, and collision detection in one coherent loop.
The mechanic is instantly understandable — everyone knows how a lightsaber deflection should feel.
It produces clear pass/fail feedback, making it easy to iterate on physics and timing.
The scope is small enough to remain a prototype while still feeling like a complete micro-experience.

Current State

Right now the POC is an open-ended deflection sandbox. There is no proper gameplay loop, no explicit goal, and no ending beyond continuous deflection. It exists to prove that the controls, tracking, and collision response feel right in VR. A real game mode — with scoring, waves, or objectives — may be added later.

Next Steps

The immediate goal is to tighten the deflection physics and add varied attack patterns — multi-shot bursts, angled shots, and a moving drone emitter. Once the core loop feels satisfying, the scene can be dressed up with a proper environment, saber sounds, and visual effects for impacts and ricochets.

← Back to VR ← Back to Projects