The Big VR Thread

[Dinosaursssssss]

alright I started messing around with the Vive SDK, which it turns out is extremely easy to get started with. At some point I'll probably share the stupid sandbox I'm goofing around in, but for now here's a teaser of the very dumb antics I've been getting up to.

 

 

While I was working I was thinking about how strange it is being able to change the properties of physics while inhabiting a virtual space...I was playing around with making throwable objects, and the ability to just change a slider and suddenly throw an object hundreds of feet is surreal. Tweaking weight and velocity and drag suddenly feels like wizardry. Also, living in the same world as the bugs you create is a different experience than normal game bugs...having an object stop behaving how you expect and just stick to you or suddenly get replicated hundreds of times is really jarring (and hilarious).

[root]

Oh man that is radical.  That wrist interface reminds me a lot of one of my favorite short films exploring VR -

 

 

[skamakazi]

The wrist control is very cool. Perfect for making you feel like you're in a sci-fi movie. Never thought of using a wrist object as either control or just a UI element ala that Justin Timberlake movie In Time. Opens up cool immersion opportunities.

[Dinosaursssssss]

The other teleporting method I've been thinking about is like...you can pick up and throw a teleporter 'beacon', and wherever it lands, a telephone box/elevator/whatever drops out of the sky and lands. Then if you go in that, it has buttons to bring you wherever. What's nice about this method potentially is that it means I can shut the doors and load a level, and have that cool moment where the doors open after a few seconds and you're suddenly somewhere else completely. 

 

I do like the wrist thing a lot though, so even if I do that I'll use the wrist for other controls.

[skamakazi]

I like this. Create some zany ideas. Do you have ability to walk to the teleporter?

[Dinosaursssssss]

I have some plans for experimenting with movement, but to start I'd like to try implementing the now-standard arcing teleporter-y thing. 

BUT I also had this wacky idea to tie the Vive controllers to your shoes and walk in place to move...

 

edit: Oh also, I think the idea for the wrist control thing came from this guy, who I think is a VR researcher at the goog now.

 

 

[clyde]

Y'all, Microsoft announced

-that MsPaint now uses and creates 3d meshes with UVs that can be drawn on, and can import from Minecraft.

-a phone that can 3d scan an object

-HoloTours which are 3d, interactive dioramas fro VR

-VR headsets that have inside-out tracking.

!!!!

 

[thainatos]

Got the PSVR, had my girlfriend over to try it, we had a blast. That saloon game in Playroom is fun as hell. I'm personally really into Driveclub VR though. The lighting effects while driving at night are incredibly immersive.

[Dinosaursssssss]

It seems weird to me that MS announced this vr headset before hololens got fully released, those things have been kicking around for a while now.

[plasticflesh]

4 minutes ago, Dinosaursssssss said:

It seems weird to me that MS announced this vr headset before hololens got fully released, those things have been kicking around for a while now.

 

Having done no research, my speculation is that HoloLens still has tons of progress before hitting the market. So, MS releasing their own separate VR goggles to compete with the others does make some sense. 

[plasticflesh]

22 hours ago, Dinosaursssssss said:

alright I started messing around with the Vive SDK, which it turns out is extremely easy to get started with. At some point I'll probably share the stupid sandbox I'm goofing around in, but for now here's a teaser of the very dumb antics I've been getting up to.

 

 

While I was working I was thinking about how strange it is being able to change the properties of physics while inhabiting a virtual space...I was playing around with making throwable objects, and the ability to just change a slider and suddenly throw an object hundreds of feet is surreal. Tweaking weight and velocity and drag suddenly feels like wizardry. Also, living in the same world as the bugs you create is a different experience than normal game bugs...having an object stop behaving how you expect and just stick to you or suddenly get replicated hundreds of times is really jarring (and hilarious).

 

This is exciting! I also really like your phone-booth teleportation method. It makes me think of that elevator in Fallout4 that exits the baseball field directly to the outside cell. Sitting forever in that elevator.

 

Have you messed around with change the player-scale at all? becoming a mouse or a giant?

[Dinosaursssssss]

I just took a stab at adding the ability to scale my size up during gameplay and couldn't get the math right, so I kept ended up with giant or tiny hands...Constructing a miniature scene to stomp around woulda been a lot faster I think, I'll probably give that a shot over the weekend.

[clyde]

8 hours ago, Dinosaursssssss said:

I just took a stab at adding the ability to scale my size up during gameplay and couldn't get the math right, so I kept ended up with giant or tiny hands...Constructing a miniature scene to stomp around woulda been a lot faster I think, I'll probably give that a shot over the weekend.

 

If you scale the scene, your physics might turn wonky. I'm not sure, but I would think you would have to re-adjust all your forces. I have a vague memory of having these troubles. It might have been due to my particular implimentation though.

[Dinosaursssssss]

I ended up taking a shot at building a tiny city and off the bat it seemed to work a lot better; physics was definitely a little weird, but it was still a LOT easier than trying to correctly scale the player and move the camera/hands to the correct places as you grew. I also had a friend play around a bit as well and she got nauseous from standing in place and scaling up, I think probably fixed-size mini cities to stomp around in is the way I'll go. 

 

Regardless, the night ended with her crawling around on the floor knocking buildings over and throwing a skyscraper sized hot dog at the town so I think it was a success.

[skamakazi]

Keep player same and scale objects instead actually makes sense. Obey physics will feel better if units scaled to match the equivalent scale of the objects and not yours

[plasticflesh]

VR Game idea: Apollo EVA Littering Mission

 

Re-enact famous Apollo Moon missions with the belligerence of a beer fueled car camping weekend. Visit the exotic surface of our planets natural satellite, and toss trash all over it. See how far you can toss that space trash. Make space-donuts with your space jalopy. See how far you can toss your space jalopy.

 

Based off Apollo footage of the astronauts tossing garbage around. I know it's in there somewhere

[Dinosaursssssss]

[Cordeos]

29 minutes ago, Dinosaursssssss said:

You are a god among men

[Dinosaursssssss]

Instead of just hijacking this thread I should probably make a thread in the game dev forum and post my learnings / gifs and take requests.

[skamakazi]

I'll keep eye open for it

[Roderick]

After trying out VR tech demoes in events in the last years (the usual stuff with rollercoasters and swings, the things that aim for a quick visceral thrill), I just now demoed the Playstation VR with a Drive Club level. The experience was underwhelming. Was it just with me that the world seemed hazy and blurry? And perhaps the device doesn't suit the fast-paced racing gameplay of Drive Club, since I found it difficult to race at all.

 

Now I'm thinking the whole VR thing might not really be my cup of tea. I'll try out other games as the opportunity arrives (some friends have the device), but I can just about see myself not liking most of it. I won't be spending 400 euros on a set any time soon.

[clyde]

It's hard to say what the hazy, blurriness you saw was. On the Oculus Rift, everything still looks like it is made of electronic display light and you can see distinct pixels. If the headset isn't adjusted correctly, everything can be blurry. I often adjust the headset by calibrating to the point that I can see individual pixels.

[Dinosaursssssss]

I have heard that Drive Club specifically looks really blurry...my guess is it's because of performance issues. Because everything needs to be rendered twice, and needs to run smoothly to prevent any vr sickness, the resolution has probably been dropped and anti-aliasing is also probably off (or lower than it'd normally be).

[thepaulhoey]

Drive Club VR looks pretty bad compared to other releases. On PlayStation VR both Batman VR and Job Simulator look very good.

[clyde]

The first Project Tango phone is out.

http://uploadvr.com/lenovo-phab-2-pro-tango-arrives/