During GDC 2017, Khronos Group unveiled OpenXR as the name for their VR/AR API standard that’s currently being developed. We reported on the announcement and broke down a bit of why this standard was something for the VR industry and community to get excited about, but we also got the chance to speak with Khronos Group president Neil Trevett to get some questions answered.
OpenXR’s First Task
OpenXR’s immediate task is combating the fragmentation of the VR industry, something that can continue to get out of hand in the industry’s youth as many different developers and manufacturers create in incredibly different ways. Now that the name is out in the wild, the next step is to work with current working group members over the next 12-18 months on the specifications of the standard. The approach is to create an API standard where devs make their app and that app will be able to work on different VR SDKs with minimal changes as opposed to having to create detailed, custom code for each device.
“Less cost, less porting, and a larger available market is the bottom line for developers,” Trevett says. The Khronos Group is hoping to be able to ship the API around GDC of next year.
If it is not evident by the “XR” in the title, this standard isn’t going to be limited to VR experiences though that is the immediate focus.
“The fragmentation issue is most urgent to solve in the VR community over the next 12 months or so,” Trevett explains when asked about the consideration of augmented reality solutions.
He says he “absolutely believes” augmented reality will be addressed, but the major push for it will likely come in the 2nd wave after the API starts to ship out.
“We’re going to take care that we don’t paint ourselves into any VR-only corners,” he said. “We want things to be applicable as far as possible to different mixed reality devices in the future.”
Will Microsoft Join The Effort?
The standard Khronos is working toward has sparked excitement across the tech industry, to the point that those involved have specifically asked to have their logos added to OpenXR’s partner image. The current collection of partners is dominated by those more involved in VR, including names like Sony, Oculus, Google, and more. When asked if there were any specific entities missing that Khronos Group would welcome, Trevett immediately mentioned one of the biggest faces of AR: Microsoft. He noted the company’s input now would be around the emerging Windows Mixed Reality platform, which we recently did a hands-on with, but they’d obviously be able to bring AR expertise to that 2nd round of the API’s development as well.
While this initiative’s purpose is to simplify things across the mixed reality industry, one would wonder if having so many entities involved in the development of a single standard could get noisy despite the obvious benefits down the line. Trevett details a democratic decision-making process that includes voting mechanisms to resolve disagreements when they occur, but he says that’s a rare occurrence.
“The weird thing is we actually don’t need the formal voting mechanisms very often,” he says. “The working groups tend to, quite successfully, work to unanimous consensus. It’s actually quite normal for a whole specification to be created and no formal voting is needed. The whole process is surprisingly non-political.”
For the tech, film, and gaming exhibits SXSW, VR and 360-degree media will be leaving a major imprint. From promotional work for different brands to VR roller coasters, you’ll be hard pressed not to run into some sort of immersive content. Graphics chip giant AMD will be represented in many of the different sessions taking place, but they’re specifically going to have some new technology on display that could change journalism in a big way.
Journalists have started taking advantage of 360-degree media, even going so far as having dedicated shows that utilize the format exclusively. Cameras are becoming more accessible and powerful, but there are still strides to be made when it comes to the production, editing, and streaming of such content. AMD is trying to take steps forward with their Radeon Loom 360 stitching technology, lowering the complexity of stitching together the footage pulled from the many cameras needed for 360-degree video to enable stitching in real-time. UploadVR discussed the new technology over email with AMD’s head of software and VR marketing, Sasa Marinkovic, ahead of their SXSW panel “Virtual Reality: The Next News Experience” taking place on March 14.
UploadVR: How will real-time stitching impact 360-degree production crews the most?
Sasa Marinkovic: Previous hardware and software limitations meant that it would take many hours or days to stitch a high-resolution 360-degree video, which clearly posed a major challenge for 360-degree production crews. While some stories can wait, many cannot, especially those we consider “breaking news” events.
Radeon Loom, AMD’s open-source 360-degree video-stitching framework, helps to resolve this issue, empowering production crews to capture and stitch content in real time and produce immersive news stories with almost the same immediacy as other digital or broadcast mediums.
There are still a few challenges that need to be resolved, both in terms of the kind of equipment being used and how the equipment is being used. There are various types of journalism, from news reporting (short to intermediate time frame) to investigative storytelling and documentaries (intermediate to long term). The type of the story will dictate how quickly the story needs to be published, and therefore the kind of editing that needs to be applied.
For a real-time setup, placement of all the equipment also needs to be considered. Each situation is unique, but you can imagine several different scenarios, such as filming an interview with a single rig or broadcasting a live concert with multiple camera rigs. With 360-degree cameras, you don’t generally get to have a camera operator behind the camera since he/she would be seen. So you probably want to locate the stitching and/or viewing PCs far away or behind a wall or green screen, for example.
UploadVR: Could this be the type of technology that could help cable news networks break into the 360-degree platform for their live showings?
Sasa Marinkovic: As previously mentioned, previous hardware and software limitations meant that it would take many hours or days to stitch a high-resolution 360-degree video, which meant that 360-degree content was often reserved to longer lead mediums, like investigative reporting and documentary journalism.
Radeon Loom, in combination with our Radeon GPUs and the fastest CPUs, enables both real-time live stitching and fast offline stitching of 360 videos. What this means is that even breaking news stories can be shown in 360-degree video, creating the ultimate immersive experience in events as they unfold.
This has the potential to invigorate journalism, and really all storytelling, adding immediacy to immersion. Just imagine how impactful it would be to watch street demonstrations live in 360 degrees, such as those that have taken place in Cairo’s Tahir Square.
UploadVR: What are the immediate benefits of using VR for journalism? Any perceived obstacles that must be overcome?
Sasa Marinkovic: This innate desire by people to immerse themselves in 360-degree images, stories and experiences is not new to our generation. In VR, however, for the first time ever, the spectator can become part of the action – whether it’s recreating a historic moment or attending a live sporting event – from anywhere in the world. The experience in VR is like nothing we have ever experienced before, aside from real life. However, there are still some basic problems that need to be worked on, such as parallax; camera count vs. seam count; and exposure differences between sensors.
Parallax: First, the parallax problem. Very simply, two cameras in different positions will see the same object from a different perspective, just as a finger held close to your nose appears with different backgrounds when viewed from each of your eyes opened, one at a time. Ironically, this disparity is what our brain uses when combining the images to determine depth. At the same time, it causes problems when we try merging two images together to fool your eyes into thinking they’re one image.
The number of cameras vs. the number of seams: Using more cameras to create higher resolution images with better optical quality (due to less distortion from narrower lenses as opposed to fisheye lenses), also means having more seams. This creates more opportunities for artifacts. As people and objects move across the seams, the parallax problem is repeatedly exposed with small angular differences. It’s also more difficult to align all the images when there are more cameras, and misalignment leads to ghosting. More seams also mean more processing time.
Exposure variances: Third, each camera sensor is observing different lighting conditions. For example, taking a video of a sunset will have both a west facing camera looking at the sun and an east facing camera viewing a much darker region. Although clever algorithms exist to adjust and blend the exposure variations across images, it comes at the cost of lighting and color accuracy, as well as overall dynamic range. The problem is amplified in low light conditions, potentially limiting artistic expression.
Storage: The amount of data that 360-video rigs generate is enormous. If you’re stitching 24 HD cameras at 60 fps, you generate around 450 GB /minute.
We want to unleash the creativity in the industry for cinematic VR video experiences, and the mechanics of creating high-quality 360-video to become common place. We’re going to do everything possible to make it as easy as possible for developers and storytellers to create great content, in real-time.
Haptic feedback is developing into an elusive achievement for the VR industry. Many different companies are attempting to harness the additional immersion haptics affords you within the VR platform, but nothing has caught on just yet. We recently reported on the EXOS glove which lets you feel your way through virtual spaces and even a rifle accessory that adds realistic recoil to VR shooters. A vest is a bit more involved of a haptics project and, over on Kickstarter, Nullspace VR wants their players to wear the Hardlight VR Suit and feel a virtual world all over.
The Hardlight VR Suit comes equipped with 16 positional haptic sensors and vibration nodes. With so many sources, the suit should be able to give accurate feedback depending on where you’re hit and even have the sensation travel across multiple nodes like if cut across the upper torso by a sword. The suit covers a lot more of the upper body than older haptic vest projects typically do, bringing feedback to shoulders, chest, arms, abdomen, and upper back. It also includes a tracking system that augments the experience a VR headset can provide by supplying limb positioning relative to the headset while measuring inertia.
Feedback vests aren’t a new development for the gaming industry. At every convention or expo for the last handful of years, you were likely to come across some company trying to recreate the sensation of being shot or the kinetic impact of a grenade exploding nearby. None of those stuck, but the market for that type of device was incredibly niche considering they’d still be used in conjunction with a fairly uninvolved gaming experience. The technology is still pretty niche now, but it is certainly less so considering it is being developed as a companion to a platform built on the immersion such a device aims to enhance.
The Hardlight VR suit has been funded with over $127,000 on a goal of $80,000 and that will likely climb during the remaining 13 days of the campaign. The projected delivery time frame for the suit is September of this year, but in general hardware-based crowdfunding projects often result in unintended delays. We’ll have more updates on this project in the coming months.
There may not be any major new AAA releases for the HTC Vive this week, but if it’s the only VR headset you’ve got then there are plenty of good things worth picking up. AirMech Command is one of VR’s best strategy games and it finally makes its way over to the Vive, as well as the suspenseful horror thriller, Dreadhalls.
We also have a top list of the absolute best HTC Vive games — which is updated every few months with the latest and greatest options.
New HTC Vive Releases on Steam
Jupiteration VR, from Bartoš Studio
Price: $3.99 (Currently Discounted)
Jupiteration is a shooter where you take on the role of a stranded space craft pilot that has to shoot his way through enemy UFOs from small enemies to large boss ships.
Recommendation: Maybe grab this wave shooter on a big sale if you’re bored. Otherwise, we’d just pass.
SoundStage, from Hard Light Labs
Price: $9.99
SoundStage is a music sandbox that can serve as your room scale audio canvas. From drums to synthesizers, this app gives you a ton of ways to create the sound you desire as a professional DJ or just a hobbyist.
Recommendation: Very robust program. If music is your thing, grab it.
Discovery Space 2, from Discovering VR
Price: $9.99
Discovering Space 2 is a visually engaging exploration experience that simply wants you to take in all of the sights space offers. You can either follow a tour or take control of a vessel so that you can explore the solar system.
Recommendation: Of the space exploration titles released this week for roughly the same price, this one really makes you feel like a pilot exploring the solar system.
Paper Toss VR, from zhangwenlu
Price: $0.99
Paper Toss VR brings a timeless working-on-the-clock-but-not-actually-working pastime to virtual spaces as you attempt to drop some rolls of paper into a small trash can.
Recommendation: Simple premise with a low price and it’s actually pretty fun. Get this one.
Rota Craze, from GS
Price: $2.99
Rota Craze is some out of this world casual fun where players must think outside of the box to complete what’s essentially a new age match game. Figure out how to get by the barriers, time your shot, and look out for extra points to earn while your target rotates.
Recommendation: Neat idea, but production values are quite poor. Worth it if you love matching puzzle games, otherwise pass.
Dreadhalls, from White Door Games
Price: $8.49 (Currently Discounted)
In Dreadhalls, you’re trapped inside of a massive dungeon you must explore to escape. You’ll also have to survive the creatures that seek you out and the hazardous environment. The levels are procedurally generated so you’ll never know what’s around the corner.
Recommendation: A solid fright-fest from that’s absolutely worth your cash.
Rubber Ball VR, from Viraug
Price: Free To Play
Rubber Ball VR gives you a virtual space where you can practice your trick shots so you can absolutely ‘wow’ people at parties. There are multiple levels with different layouts and obstacles, so think carefully as you attempt each shot.
Recommendation: There are 3 ball types and 50 maps to bolster this fun experience all for free. Nothing to lose grabbing it.
SHOW MUST GO ON, from NiVision
Price: $7.49 (Currently Discounted)
This exciting jam of an experience is a rhythm game where you fill the stage with colors and lights as you successfully play to the music. You’ll also inspire the virtual dancers to start moving as well.
Recommendation: Only includes 8 songs currently, but it’s a fun game. Keep an eye on it as it grows throughout Early Access and maybe wait on a bigger sale.
In All Alone, you’re…all alone in a forgotten town and you have to find your way out. All you have is a flashlight and a few voices to follow. Choose wisely.
Recommendation: Kind of an iteration on the escape the room experience, but we’d probably pass on this one. Tired genre.
AirMech Command, from Carbon Games
Price: $19.99 (Currently Discounted)
AirMech Command aims to provide players with a definitive action/RTS experience on virtual platforms with tactical room scale control and up close flight controls if you need to jump into the fight yourself. The game includes a solo, co-op, and pvp mode.
Exterminator drops you into the world of a Japanese game show where you punch a mouse that comes out of a hole in order to score points. This arcade experience will give you quite a workout.
Recommendation: Pass on this one. You’ll find similar experiences with a bit more depth around this price or cheaper.
Pinball Inside: A VR Arcade Game, from Reality Reflection
Price: Free
Pinball Inside wants to give you the timeless classic experience the pinball machine provides with crisp visuals and an awesome machine.
Recommendation: Free and solid. Give it a go.
Spacetours VR – Ep1 The Solar System, from Vibrant Visuals – Christian Klötzel
Price: $9.59 (Currently Discounted)
Spacetours VR lives up to its name, taking you around our solar system and giving you a visually stimulating look at outer space. Asteroids and satellites will pass by as you take in the sights and sounds of the greatest mystery our solar system holds.
Recommendation: Pricey but certainly beautiful. If you’re enamored with space, it’s worth checking out.
Freedom Locomotion VR, from Huge Robot
Price: Free
Freedom Locomotion is essentially a movement tech demo with visually diverse and impactful settings for you to walk, jog, run, climb, and crawl across. The system gives you many choices for how you traverse, but isn’t really a proper “game” in the traditional sense.
Recommendation: Try it out for sure. Your feedback could be instrumental for VR devs solving many of the concerns with VR locomotion.
Recommendation: Steep price for something that’s just an integrated local browser. It’s definitely cool, though. Something like this will likely be standard in the future.
NIGHTSTAR, from SOLIDMESH
Price: $8.99 (Currently Discounted)
In NIGHTSTAR‘s world, you’ve been selected from millions of gamers to pilot the world’s most powerful weapon and defend your planet. Pilot the ship, dodge obstacles, and shoot down enemies through 8 levels of intense action.
Recommendation: It’s 3rd person but still takes advantage of the virtual space well. Grab it.
Mountain Mind, from Nebuch, Arligan
Price: $9.99
Mountain Mind turns the “stoner rock music” and abstract weirdness up to 11 and has you headbanging like never before. When you play, just be mindful of your actual surroundings as well.
Recommendation: An incredibly niche experience. No matter what we say, you’ll get it if you want it and you won’t if you have zero interest.
LightStrike, from Groove Jones LLC
Price: $3.99
Lightstrike drops you into a Tron-like VR arena where you stand on a floating pad while using a shield to defend yourself or a disc to inflict damage.
Recommendation: A cool spin on Tron-influenced VR experiences. Give this one a shot while you keep waiting for Sparc.
Dark Legion VR, from Ice World
Price: $16.99 (Currently Discounted)
Dark Legion VR is a first-person shooter with a science fiction environment that’s open to free exploration via teleportation (with full locomotion coming later). There’s advanced level design and structure, realistic weapon physics, and more in this robust VR shooter.
Recommendation: Very robust sci-fi shooter. Definitely play this one if you like shooting aliens.
Violet’s Dream VR, from Chinese Animation
Price: $4.24 (Currently Discounted)
Violet’s Dream is an action game with highly intense locomotion and shooting mechanics. Also includes some quick time events to keep things interesting as you traverse the post-apocalyptic world.
Recommendation: Unique concepts here, but it’s a pass for now.
Vektron Revenge, from Ludovic Texier
Price: $8.99 (Currently Discounted)
Vektron Revenge is a call back to the old school shooter with an all new VR flavor. The constantly changing playfield morphs into set ups that emulate different types of classic shooters. Destroy your geometric enemies and last as long as you can.
Recommendation: An arcade experience sure to make older players reminisce. Grab it.
Recommendation: A little unclear who the targeted end user is here, but give it a look since it’s free.
Typography Insight, from BRDY Studios, LLC
Price: $1.99
Experiment with a collection of typefaces and layouts in a 3D space, immersing yourself in a typography playground. There are even historic typefaces to play around with. This VR version is based on an app that’s a favorite across industries.
Recommendation: Really neat visualization tool for designers.
Unknown Pharaoh, from 4 Fun Studio Inc.
Price: $5.99
In Unkown Pharaoh, you take on the role of an archaeologist while he explores an ancient pyramid. You’ll journey through various chambers, solve puzzles, and seek out artifacts while avoiding spiders, scorpions, mummies, and more.
Recommendation: If you need another tense exploration experience added to your collection, take a look at this one.
Boofle’s Home, from Eden Agency
Price: Free
Boofle’s Home is a neat, casual sim where you explore a space, interact with Boofle himself, get into other activities like watering flowers, and catching butterflies, and just have a charming good time.
Recommendation: A free and relaxing experience. Grab it.
As the VR industry grows, higher profile productions and partnerships continue to spring up. Last year, production studio The Rogue Initiative attracted enough attention with their team’s talent to iron out a partnership with popular filmmaker Michael Bay for a series of VR content with Hollywood cinematic style. Now, Rogue Initiative is taking the pedigree that put them in that position and applying it to their own VR game titled Crowe: The Drowned Armory.
Announced at GDC this year, Crowe looks to blend fantasy elements with science fiction into a wave shooter as players take on the role of the young villager who’s also the titular character. Players will be solving puzzles with help from non-playable characters, combat aliens, and uncover the mysteries held within an ancient temple so that he can learn about his society’s past. On paper and visually, Crowe’s aesthetic and premise are somewhat similar to the recently released Horizon: Zero Dawn that tasks characters with unraveling the mysteries of a world that’s been regressed into archaic living circumstances but is riddled with beasts crafted from advanced technology.
The trailer only shows so much, but Crowe looks to start off by taking down the alien beings with a bow and deflecting their attacks with a shield. Whether by earned upgrades or a plot point, he looks to also gain possession of a couple guns that share similar design traits with the aliens he fights against. The game is slated for a Spring release this year and will include cinematic, story, and arcade-style survival modes in the full release. It’s not yet just yet what platforms the game will be launching on.
Virtual reality is a great platform for users to experience fantastic worlds and wonders, but it’s also a portal into the real life wonders very few humans get to enjoy. Outer space is one of, if not the, most incredible of those wonders and VR users are getting an opportunity to be an astronaut. In Mission: ISS, visitors will get to experience the International Space Station as only astronauts have.
Created by production company Magnum Opus in collaboration with NASA, the European Space Agency, and Canadian Space Agency, Mission: ISS is a simulation giving a window into a world only about 500 people have ever experienced. In it, you can explore the space station in zero-g and engage in the regular tasks of an astronaut inhabitant. You’ll be docking cargo capsules, conducting spacewalks, using tools for maintenance, and other mission critical tasks while being informed of the station’s history through videos from real life astronauts. The virtual space itself was developed with input from astronauts while also inspecting NASA models so that the development team could re-create it with incredible detail.
As we previously reported, Oculus is also partnering with the French Space Agency to send an Oculus Rift loaded with software developed by space agencies to European astronaut Thomas Pesquet. With it, he’ll be testing out how a true zero gravity environment affects a person’s spatial awareness and balance in a virtual space. Pesquet has also been using a 360-degree camera to capture footage in space, and we’re looking forward to seeing both those videos and photos of him using a Rift in orbit.
The Mission: ISS application is available exclusively for Oculus Rift for free on the Oculus store and the team is also working on a limited beta program where educators will be able to provide the experience to high school students.
Graphics powerhouse NVIDIA is a crucial part of the VR industry. The higher end virtual experiences are pretty demanding and need powerful graphics cards to push them. As VR continues to grow, so does the technology feeding them with NVIDIA’s new GTX GeForce GTX 1080 Ti as the latest example. NVIDIA is also a part of OpenXR, a working group that’s working toward creating an API standard for the VR industry. At this year’s GPU Technology Conference (GTC 2017) they’ll also be opening up for up to 10 companies or teams to present their non-gaming ideas and potentially win a cash prize.
GTC is a conference that provides a window into the vital advancements of the computing industry from self-driving cars to artificial intelligence. VR and AR are a bit newer to the scene, but having your ideas showcased here would be an big opportunity for exposure and partnerships. On top of that, those showcasing could win $30,000 and additional prizes.
NVIDIA is welcoming teams that have accrued no more than $5 million in total capital and must be currently or planning to incorporate GPU tech like GameWorks, DesignWorks, or VRWorks. They’ll have a 12×12 booth space on the exhibition floor which is where the judging panel will come to try out whatever demos the teams have on hand. Bring your AR/VR applications related to tech, education, medicine, art and other markets — but they’re not looking for gaming content.
All accepted companies will be offered:
Free demonstration space at the 2017 GPU Technology Conference (May 8-11, 2016)
Opportunity to speak at the VR Showcase
Marketing and PR exposure
Opportunity to participate in “Share Your Science” video series
The application for the showcase can be found here and the deadline for submissions is March 15. The showcase will be taking place at GTC from May 8th – 11th. NVIDIA asks to have at least two staff members on hand so that there’s always at least one person manning the exhibition booth.
This is sponsored content which has been produced by UploadVR and brought to you by NVIDIA. NVIDIA did not have any input into the creation of this content.
As the software ecosystem grows, developers are starting to find a balance that allows them to create solid multiplayer experiences on VR platforms. The community is welcoming massive amounts of VR players, but the MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) genre hasn’t really found a solid foothold just yet. Enter OrbusVR, the Kickstarter project looking to bring room scale combat, exploration, and crafting in VR MMO format.
You can see the trailer for it below, featuring a simple visual style and action-packed gameplay.
At the time this article was written, OrbusVR has accrued a funding amount of $23,997 on a goal of $10,000. Though this may seem meager by the standards set by other well known successful games funded on the crowd-funding platform, OrbusVR is no less ambitious with its plans. The gameplay teaser shows huge groups of players fighting in fields utilizing medieval fantasy weapons, exploring caves, teaming up against large boss characters, and even some fishing— the minigame that absolutely no MMO should ever go without.
“The support of this game by the growing community of VR enthusiasts continues to surpass our expectations at every turn,” says lead programmer Riley Dutton in a press release for the project. Dutton is also the Founder of Ad Alternum, the dev team making the game.
The game is adopting a low poly style that could be endearing to fans or a turn-off but, considering it was fully funded plus some, there are clearly fans interested in the project. The game is also not just in conceptual stages. The footage in the trailer is collected from 3 play tests in which 1500 players have played and things look to be quite functional from what we see.
“Our Stretch Goals represent things that we want to do in the game eventually, but didn’t have the resources to commit to doing before launch,” said Robert Dutton, Level Designer. “We’ve intentionally kept the scope of the project reasonable so we can meet our deadlines, but with the extra help from the community, we can do more than we originally planned, which is great.”
OrbusVR is slated to be released on HTC Vive and Oculus Rift. The Kickstarter is ongoing until March 13th and, while early bird funding bundles are taken, there are still many contributor awards available such as closed Beta and closed Alpha access.
VR headsets continue to be interesting avenues for movie production crews to promote their films, often immersing fans and those curious in an experience that adds another layer of understanding to the work it relates to. In late December, we reported that the upcoming Power Rangers film would be receiving a VR experience tie-in but Lionsgate is taking VR promotion to the next level with a live panel in VR where participants can interact with the cast from the film.
Lionsgate is holding a virtual reality Q&A session on March 9 at 1:30 PM PT to promote the new Power Rangers movie and launch the online ticket sales. There will be a gathering with press in San Francisco at the Upload SF office, with the highlight being a cross-platform VR engagement with the cast.
Powered by social platform High Fidelity, up to 100 total HTC Vive and Oculus Rift users will be able to join the live Q&A virtually, and select attendees of the virtual session will be able to speak directly to the cast or even participate in VR games with their favorite Ranger. Users without an HTC Vive and Oculus Rift won’t be left out entirely, though, as the streamed event will be available to watch on YouTube as well. In addition, the event will also see the debut of an exclusive clip from the movie.
High Fidelity is a San Francisco startup and social VR platform that can be used by creators, educators, and more to engage within interconnected VR environments. The High Fidelity team is creating new assets and enabling new features specifically for this session. Lionsgate is also partnering with Google and YouTube Space LA to put together the event. The 100 tickets for the interactive virtual experience are likely to go quickly and those that wish to participate should register for a free High Fidelity account and fill out a survey to show that they meet the minimum requirements for the event. Those accepted will receive an email on how to join.
The Power Rangers film hits theaters on March 24th, 2017, and features Bryan Cranston as Zordon and Elizabeth Banks as Rita Repulsa. It is directed by Dean Israelite, who is known for his recent film Project Almanac.
This is sponsored content which has been produced by UploadVR and brought to you by High Fidelity. High Fidelity did not have any input into the creation of this content.
CapitolaVR, as described on their website, is a digital agency all about action. They “don’t talk, buy prototype” and have built relationships through this ideal with clients such as Samsung and Ford. Via email, CapitolaVR’s Head of Digital David Robustelli shared a new development that was the result of the team charging forward with a fresh idea for augmented reality.
“At CapitolaVR our interns always have a window of time working on their own ideas as long as it fits CapitolaVR’s rapid prototyping strategy,” says Robustelli. Essentially the interns can brainstorm different things, if senior developers get involved, they can be worked on a bit more extensively. “For this particular case, they wanted to see if they could make a new HoloLens application in just a few days.”
The starting goal was to create an AR program that was easy to use for people not very familiar with HoloLens. Robustelli says the team wanted something based on physics to create a sense of realism, but also have a futuristic aesthetic to it. The combination of simple gameplay mechanics, the potential for cool visuals, and an example of how spatial mapping works with HoloLens led the team to a golf game.
When it comes to setup, you place the glasses on and set waypoints in an open space. The tool the team developed can then build tracks around those points, taking into account the surrounding obstacles. Once things are in place, you’ll see the course on the HoloLens. You use one hand to aim where you want the ball to go and then you tap your fingers together to shoot. The farther out you aim with your hand, the harder the shot.
This game is in the very early stages of existence, so there are no tentative dates for release. In the video we were shown, they have a functional AR program based on a cool concept so it’ll be interesting to see how this app and those like it evolve.
