First Virtual Reality theme park

It was expected. A gaming startup – dubbed the VOID – has announced plans to open a virtual entertainment centre in Salt Lake City in early 2016.

Visitors to VOID will be required to wear a virtual reality headset, similar to the Oculus Rift, and a vest filled with haptic feedback sensors.

With the headset switched on, players enter the 3D game environment and reportedly experience "changes in elevation, vibrations, heat and cold sensations, moisture, and simulated liquids and smells."

Entire rooms within the VOID complex will be built to fit the virtual game scenarios – and will include moving flight simulators, interactive panels, props and weather simulators.

Cofounder and CEO of VOID Ken Bretschneider said: "We are fulfilling a promise of what a virtual reality experience can and should be.

"Until now, we have only seen experiences like the VOID portrayed in science-fiction films and novels."

VOID has released a concept video which features footage of some of the virtual scenarios on offer at the upcoming theme park.

Source

Design Process: Photos

The design process is a pretty complex process. The amount of work integrated in my work is enormous. But there is still hunders of decision to be taken before the end of my master program and only two month left.

Here is a small dive in the process:

First playtest with my colleagues for ZHdK

Analizing classic point`n`click interaction system (Gemini Rue)

Working on the story

Hard decision on the graphic part of the project

Riging the character

Evolution of the game posters

All started with this concept

Lazarus Effect: Poster

The logo is finally ready so I used some minutes to experiment with it.

Consumer virtual reality will grow exponentially between 2015 and 2020

Several years ago, in the early days of this website, we predicted that virtual reality (VR) would see a major comeback during the second half of the 2010s. This prediction appears to be right on track.BI Intelligence, a cutting-edge research service from Business Insider, this week announced its latest report on the global market for head-mounted VR. 

While the current level of adoption remains low, it is likely to explode from this year onwards, achieving a compound annual growth rate of nearly 100% – in other words, sales will roughly double each year, reaching 26.5 million by 2020.Thanks to falling costs, exponential technology improvements, and a variety of well-known brands competing for market share, the industry will soon be a mainstream form of enteratainment.Just some of the companies involved now include Facebook (Oculus Rift), Google (Google Cardboard), Samsung (Gear VR), Sony (Project Morpheus) and HTC (Vive). Based on its recent patent activity and job postings, Apple is rumoured to be working on VR too. For those who enjoy being immersed in highly realistic virtual environments (and we strongly recommend Elite), the next several years look to be very exciting indeed.

Source 

Lazarus Effect Retro Posters

Found some time to be creative and did this retro posters for my game.

Positive and Negative Design Rules

Rules of PlayBook by Eric Zimmerman and Katie Salen

A small task from the university side was to define the positive and negative design rules of my project. Here is a short list of rules:

Positive:

1. Non-linear puzzle solving (Some puzzle can be solved in different ways).
2. Intuitive puzzle solving (Most of the puzzles use the same solving mechanism and as soon as you solve the first one you understand how to solve the others).
3. Explicit Environment (you see same puzzles mechanism and you clearly understand “This is a puzzle”).
4. Interactivity (The player can Hold/Move/Rotate all the small objects in the game).
5. No dead-ends (If you missed something you always can go back).

Negative:

1. No Inventory (You can take only two items simultaneously).
2. Game linearity (You can`t move to a new location till you don`t solve the puzzle).
3. Story is forced (Players are forced to read logs to find solution to some puzzles).
4. Limited actions (Almost all the gameplay is based on the hands control interaction).
5. You cannot jump (In my attempt to limit the functionality areas of the game I had to limit this exploration action – this was done because you could stuck by jumping in some areas of the game).

Gemini Rue VR (First Oculus Rift Test)

I have finally got the access to the Oculus Rift and it resulted in a virtual-reality reproduction of the "Gemini Rue". Using the Oculus Rift and Razer Hydra possibilities I am able to create one of the most immersive experience ever.

Gemini Rue is a cyberpunk graphic adventure game made by Joshua Nuernberger, and published by Wadjet Eye Games. Everyone who has never try it please do it'.

Screenshots (Alpha Build)

Here are some screenshots from the current Alpha Build. As this week the Unity 5 was released I am thinking to move on it. Currently sixense plugin is not working on it but I think I will be able to deal with this problem. I need to say that the framerate increases extremly in Unity 5 version and also the lighting looks better that why I definitely want to update my old Unity version.

Sony reveals new Project Morpheus build

Sony revealed the new build of its virtual-reality headset also known as Project Morpheus.

Key changes:

- OLED display: In exchange for the 5 inch LCD, the new Morpheus VR headset is equipped with a 5.7 inch 1920 X RGB X 1080 resolution OLED display. This new screen expands the field of view and enables low persistence, removing motion blur.

-120hz refresh rate: The previous refresh rate spec has been doubled for this new prototype, which means games for Morpheus can be rendered at 120fps. When combined with the OLED display’s high refresh rate and the power of PS4, Morpheus is able to output amazingly smooth visuals.

- Super low latency: We know how critical low latency is to delivering a great VR experience, and we’ve reduced latency to less than 18ms, about half of what the first Morpheus prototype had. Low latency is critical to deliver a sense of presence, at the same time making the VR experience comfortable to players.

- More accurate tracking: To make positional tracking more precise, we’ve added three LEDs to the headset – one on the front and two on the side – for a total of nine LEDs to support robust 360 degree tracking.

- User-friendly design: We’ve made the Morpheus VR headset easier to put on and take off, with a single band design and quick release button. The headband supports the weight of the unit on the top of your head, so there is no pressure on your face. Other components have also been adjusted and configured to make the headset lighter, so that players do not find the headset cumbersome or uncomfortable to use.

Sony stated that they trust that VR is the future of the videogaming and Project Morpheus should be a big step to this future.

Source

HTC and Valve announced new VR headset

HTC has just announced the Vive, a new virtual reality headset developed in collaboration with Valve.

The Vive Developer Edition uses two 1200 x 1080 displays that refresh at 90 frames per second, "eliminating jitter" and achieving "photorealistic imagery," according to HTC. The displays are said to envelope your entire field of vision with 360-degree views. The company says in a press release that it's the first device to offer a "full room-scale" experience, "letting you get up, walk around and explore your virtual space, inspect objects from every angle and truly interact with your surroundings."

HTC has just announced the Vive, a virtual reality headset developed in collaboration with Valve. It will be available to consumers later this year, with a developer edition coming out this spring. The company has promised to have a significant presence at the Game Developers Conference next week, where devs will have a chance to play with Valve's VR technology.

The Vive Developer Edition uses two 1200 x 1080 displays that refresh at 90 frames per second, "eliminating jitter" and achieving "photorealistic imagery," according to HTC. The displays are said to envelope your entire field of vision with 360-degree views. The company says in a press release that it's the first device to offer a "full room-scale" experience, "letting you get up, walk around and explore your virtual space, inspect objects from every angle and truly interact with your surroundings."

The device uses a gyrosensor, accelerometer, and laser position sensor to track your head's movements as precisely as one-tenth of a degree. Most surprisingly, there will be something called the Steam VR base station, which will let you walk around the virtual space instead of using a controller. A pair of the base stations can "track your physical location ... in spaces up to 15 feet by 15 feet."

Gattis added at MWC that "It's also really light, so you can wear it for a long time without feeling weighed down." There are headphone jacks on the side of the developer edition, but it sounds like the final consumer version will have a built-in audio solution.

It will be available with a pair of HTC-made wireless controllers for manipulating objects or shooting weapons through hand tracking. They're "designed to be so versatile that they will work with a wide range of VR experiences." While the Vive will certainly play nice with games, but it's also about other experiences, including virtual reality through partners like HBO, Lionsgate, and Google.

Source

Lazarus Effect First Playtest

This weekend I ran the first gameplay test. There are still a lot of bugs but you already can see what I mean by saying "An adventure game that you can touch".

Full body implementation

So the final 3rd semester of my studies have started and this mean that we get on the finish line. There are still a lot of things to be done. The alpha level should be done till the end of march so now I am focused on it.

Also I am still trying to figure out how to make the virtual-reality experience more complete. As a result of these thoughts I decided to work on implementing the full body in game, not only hands as it was previously. Here are the results of the first test:

Abstract : Deutsch

Diese These stellt eine Methodik dar, um Grafik -Adventures, bei denen man mit der Spielumgebung und Objekten mit einem Cursor auf dem Bildschirm interagiert, zu modernisieren. In den letzten Jahrzehnten haben sich grafische Abenteuerspiele nicht so entwickelt wie anderes Spielgenres. Die Such nach den Ursachen dafür könnte in der Genreverbesserung helfen.

Statt dem Spieler das gleiche klassische Spielerlebnis mit den alten Game­play-Mechaniken zu bieten legt diese Methodik den Fokus auf neue Tech­nologien, um dem Spieler die Möglichkeit einer Interaktion zu bieten, die er vorher noch nicht erlebt hat.

Interaktion könnte einer der wichtigsten Teile des Spielprozesses sein. Mit einem Virtual-Reality- Headset in Kombination mit motion-based Controllern, die die Position und die Rotation von Körperteilen der verschiedenen Spieler verfolgen können, bekommt der Spieler einen besseren räumlichen Eindruck.

Das Ergebnis dieser These wird für die Gestaltung und

Entwicklung eines frühen Prototyps zu einem fertigen Produkt verwendet werden. 

Razer Hydra: Interaction Part 2

I finished integrating some of the basic interactions of the game and used my wife as a tester. It was both fun and interesting to watch how someone who doesn`t play any videogames try to play my prototype. My wife described results of the test as: "Easy and fun".

Defining graphic adventure games: Recapitulation

Oculus acquires Nimble VR and 13th Lab

Another important step for Virtual Reality (VR) revolution was done today. Oculus VR has acquired Nimble VR, and 13th Lab.

Nimble VR is known for its skeletal-tracking software, which has been utilised in almost every motion controlled device out there – including Microsoft's Kinect sensor. One of the company's latest endeavours was the Nimble Sense: a small sensor that works in tandem with VR headsets to track joint and angle movements of each finger.

Much like Nimble VR, 13th Lab also brings a host of technology with them. The PointCloud SDK is a development tool capable of Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) along with image detection and tracking. In short, the tech can scout out an area and relay an outline of what the area should look like in a fairly-accurate fashion. So accurate, in fact, NASA uses the same tech on its robots to map unknown areas.

According to 13th Lab, the PointCloud SDK is also capable of taking a 2D image, and mapping it into a 3D environment.

Elsewhere, Oculus also announced that Chris Bregler has joined the team, and will be helming a vision research team at Oculus.

Bergler's recent projects include visual tracking for the Lone Ranger and Star Trek Into Darkness.

These news are another argument to start pioneering the VR possibilities. The future is near.

Source: http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/12/12/oculus-aquires-nimble-vr-and-13th-lab

Shaping the Future of Gaming: Introduction to Virtual Reality

Defining graphic adventure games: Narration

Narration is considered to be the main advantage of the graphic adventure game. One of the most interesting game stories were retold by graphic ad­venture games, e.g. Grim Fandango, Syberia, Heavy Rain etc. The story is often the most essential part of the genre. For in­stance, Gabriel Knight presented us the story that could compete with many classic detective books.

Note that adventure games put different emphasis on these components. Some, like Myst, involve more puzzles than story, while others, such as The Legend of Lotus Spring, focus on the story almost to the exclusion of puzzles.

Defining graphic adventure games: Exploration

Graphic adventure games usually uses environment exploration as a part of the gameplay. In earlier text parser adventures, you had to navigate by typing in the direction, e.g., “GO SOUTH”. Nowadays, the game developers create more intuitive ways to move in the environment.  In Asunder: Earthbound the players‘ movements are limited by sitting on one single airplane seat. The player could rotate the head to explore both the environment and the story of the game.

To make all this movement exciting, graphic adventure games usually offer players a beautiful surrounding. The opportunity to explore both the world and the story behind it makes players more exited.

Defining graphic adventure games: Puzzles

In my attempt to give you a better understanding of this specific game genre I need to list one more time the main components of the graphic adventure game: Puzzles, Exploration and Narration. It doesn’t mean that all these component should be equally proportioned to produce the core of the game, but it does mean that at least all of them should participate in this production.

Let`s take a closer look at all of these important components. 

Puzzles

Solving puzzles is mainly the most popular challenge and interaction in the graphic adventure games. Without this element the genre will give a feeling of watching a not-very-interactive movie, e.g., «Gone Home». Puzzles are stopping the players from a quick run through the game story. There a doz­ens of different puzzles, some are suited well to the story of the game, some are not. We could classify them in for big categories.

Inventory puzzles: Collecting items and using them to solve puzzle is one of the most famous puzzle methods, not only in the graphic adventure games, but also in some other game genres, such as platformers, action games and others. They could be as simple as using the item on another game object in the environment, or complex that forces you to collect multiple items and combine them before use.

Dialogue-based puzzles: Such puzzles use the interaction between the char­acters to accumulate clues about how to solve puzzles. Often the player needs to find the right way of getting this information, that´s why interroga­tion is a frequent guest in the graphic adventure games.

Environmental puzzles: Analyzing the information from the game environ­ment is also used in many graphic adventure games, especially point’n’click adventures. Usually this puzzle method leads to a “pixel hunting” (a process of clicking with mouse cursor all over the screen with the purpose to find the unnoticed objects).

Non-contextual logic puzzles: This method is usually not connected to the game story, serving mainly as a cerebral interlude. It could be a chess or Tic-Tac-Toe game. There are a lot of casual graphic adventure games that use this method as the basis for its gameplay.

Sometimes the puzzles are too unique to group them into those categories. «Loom» uses sound to produce clues for the players.