andrew willans – Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation

November 15, 2017

Entwickler von Eve: Valkyrie – VR braucht keine Killer-App

Die Diskussion taucht immer wieder auf: Fehlt die Killer-App, um VR zum Durchbruch im Massenmarkt zu verhelfen? Der Chef-Entwickler des Spiels Eve: Valkyrie sagt ganz klar Nein. Erst vor rund zwei Wochen verkündete CCP Games, die Studios für Virtual Reality zu schließen und die Entwicklung von VR-Spielen zu stoppen.

Andrew Willans: Killer-App ist unnötig für den Massenmarkt

Im Rahmen eines Vortrags auf der letzten Develop:VR-Konferenz in London äußerte sich Andrew Willans zur Zukunft von VR. Der Chefentwickler von Eve: Valkyrie glaubt nicht, dass VR eine Killer-App benötige, um den Durchbruch zu schaffen. Zum Hintergrund: Das Team hat das Spiel aus der Eve-Reihe komplett für Virtual Reality neu entworfen. Als solches wäre es etwas völlig Neues für das Medium geworden. Auch jetzt, da man Eve: Valkyrie auf 2D-Monitoren spielen könne, bliebe die Erfahrung mit VR-Headset dem zweidimensionalen Erlebnis ganz klar überlegen. Für manche Anwender wäre das Spiel allein Grund genug gewesen, in die teure VR-Hardware zu investieren. Aber eben nicht für jeden.

Andrew Willans hält es für möglich, dass es vielleicht niemals eine VR-Software geben würde, die für alle Menschen ein Must Have darstellt. Und sie wäre gar nicht nötig, denn die Technologie selbst überzeuge. Willians vergleicht das mit Xbox Live von Microsoft, das seiner Meinung nach Online-Gaming in den Massenmarkt gebracht und damit einen Meilenstein gesetzt hätte. Zwar gab es für Xbox Live einige tolle Titel wie Rainbow Six und Ghost Recon, aber es war die Technologie an sich, welche die Spieler überzeugt hätte. Das gleiche soll für VR gelten. Man benötige einfach nicht die eine Killer-App, die Hardware und die große Bandbreite an neuen und bahnbrechenden Erfahrungen, die sie ermöglicht, würden schon reichen.

Zur Schließung der VR-Studios von CCP Games und die Auswirkungen auf die Szene hat Chris einen ausführlichen Kommentar geschrieben. Darin wirft er auch einen Blick voraus und schreibt, warum er weiterhin an die Zukunft der virtuellen Realität glaubt.

(Quelle: VR Focus)

Der Beitrag Entwickler von Eve: Valkyrie – VR braucht keine Killer-App zuerst gesehen auf VR∙Nerds. VR·Nerds am Werk!

November 14, 2017

EVE: Valkyrie Dev: ‘VR doesn’t need a killer app’

In the two years leading up to the consumer launch of virtual reality (VR) hardware, CCP Games’ EVE: Valkyrie was often positioned as the poster child for modern VR. Even this wasn’t enough to consider the title that all-important ‘killer app’ however, but moreover the title’s lead game designer doesn’t believe VR needs one.

As a videogame designed from the ground-up for VR, EVE: Valkyrie represented something new for the medium. Even now that the videogame has been made playable without a head-mounted display (HMD) it remains undeniably better when with one. An intense space-based dogfighting simulation, EVE: Valkyrie was for many the only reason needed to invest in the expensive VR hardware. But that wasn’t for everybody, and Andrew Willans, lead game designer on EVE: Valkyrie, suggests that there may never be an application that defines ‘must have’ for everybody.

Speaking at Develop:VR, Willans stated: “One of the things I hear most is, ‘When are you going to do Call of Duty in VR?’.

“We’re over a year into our journey with VR and that killer app is still waiting to appear. I think maybe we don’t actually need one.”

Willans explained by referencing landmark moments in videogame design, citing Super Mario 64 as a turn into 3D videogames and Xbox Live as the initiator of online capabilities both for gameplay and distribution.

“I would argue that Xbox Live was the next landmark moment. It was the dawn of mass market, consumer-friendly online gaming. Did it have a killer app? I don’t think so. I mean it had some great games like Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon, but it was the technology itself that showcased what was possible to players. It was a showcase of the future.”

VR Headset Price Wars Willans believes the same is true of VR. It’s not necessarily one single application that will inspire the flood of mass market adoption, but rather the hardware being positioned as welcoming to that audience and the range of experiences available with the technology appropriately represented as new and groundbreaking.

Meanwhile however, CCP Games has recently announced the end of much of its VR production, including putting up for sale Willans’ own CCP Games Newcastle studio. What the future holds for EVE: Valkyrie is unclear at present, but when speaking to VRFocus Willans remained confident about the title’s long-term prospects.

VRFocus will of course continue to keep you updated with all the latest from CCP Games and the future of EVE: Valkyrie.

April 9, 2017

EVE: Valkyrie’s Planet-Based Combat Will Not Differ From Space Battles

CCP Games’ EVE Fanfest is almost over for another year. The annual celebration of everything relating to the EVE Universe, including MMORPG EVE Online and virtual reality (VR) videogame titles EVE: Gunjack, its sequel Gunjack 2 – End Of Shift and EVE: Valkyrie has given us a number of updates over the last few days. Particularly in relation to EVE: Valkyrie and its forthcoming updates Groundrush, which will for the first time take users out of space and into the skies above the planet’s surface thanks to brand new map Solitude.

For pilots this gives not only a new map but a vastly different one, one that VRFocus has already tried its hand at (which you can read about in our hands-on) – but the announcement did leave an interesting question about Solitude. There’s a difference between flying in space and flying above the ground, so is that replicated in the game? And would regular Valkyrie players find any differences in how their craft played now they’re having to fly in atmosphere? We hunted back down EVE: Valkyrie‘s Lead Designer Andrew Willans to explain if there was any difference.

The short answer was no there was no difference in play between space-based maps and the new map of Solitude. That doesn’t necessarily mean though that such a move wasn’t considered.

“Deliberately so, the flight model stays the same.” Willans confirmed. “Whether you’re in space or on the ground the fun is the most important thing. If we introduce gravity in anyway that would be a bit of a curve ball. We consciously decided not to do that.”

VRFocus will have more from this year’s EVE Fanfest over the days and weeks to come so be sure to check back regularly for this and your regular updates of the latest in VR games and technology.

April 8, 2017

The Sounds Of Battle: Full Soundtrack To EVE: Valkyrie Coming Soon To Soundcloud

In outer space no one can hear you scream, but it’s always nice to have a decent soundtrack for tightly banking around a giant space carrier, shooting a well timed missile into a vital subsystem before swooping away, blowing apart an annoying fighter that had been on your tail with a twin burst of laser fire.
CCP Games are no stranger to a good soundtrack for doing just that, as owners of EVE: Valkyrie will likely attest. The good news for them and for anyone who appreciates the video sgame music is that, according to the videogame’s Lead Designer Andrsew Willans soon you’ll be able to enjoy the full spectrum of music from the title as the soundtrack is coming to Soundcloud.

EVE Valkyrie_wormholetubelaunch

Die hard fans will however know that CCP’s Soundcloud account already features music from EVE: Valkyrie, which was added shortly after EVE: Fanfest 2016 and which you can enjoy here. However Wilans specified to VRFocus that Soundcloud would be getting the ‘full soundtrack’. Which would suggest that any missing tracks from the initial release, as well as those added for the subsequent updates to the game – Carrier Assault, Joint Strike, Wormholes, Gatecrash and newly announced update Groundrush – will be added.

In a video interview released on VRFocus earlier this week, Willans described the difficulties CCP Games faced creating Solitude, with the new map (part of Groundrush) that has a floor and a horizon line. He revealed how this type of level wasn’t possible for the team to make around six months ago, and how it is only through continual development and learning that the CCP Games team was able to build it.

No indication was given regarding a specific date, however when the update goes live VRFocus will of course keep you up to date.

April 6, 2017

Hands-on: ‘EVE: Valkyrie’ Groundrush Update

Fanfest is upon us again, CCP’s yearly festival in Reykjavik for all things EVE Online, but to go along with the round table discussions and announcements surrounding the massive multiplayer is a new update to the studio’s sci-fi arcade dogfighter EVE: Valkyrie (2016). Coming April 11th to Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and PSVR is an expansion called Groundrush that promises to deliver even more of that Star Wars-esque spaceship experience with planet-based maps (and one that looks awfully like the planet Hoth) among a host of other updates.

Popping on the PS4 Pro-powered PlayStation VR headset, I found myself back in the game’s familiar launch tubes and sitting in the basic ship, the Banshee. My teammates, two disparate packs of German and Russian journalists, were conjoined for the mission and chattered on through the game’s comm system in their respective languages.

psvr groundrush valkyrie — photo by Road to VR

Rocketing out of the carrier at the same blistering speed I’ve come to know from the game’s many space-based maps, I flew out over what I was told would be Valkyrie’s first planet-based map, Solitude. Some sort of derelict research facility was at the center point, still showing the signs of an apparent attack. Craggy peaks covered in snow jutted out everywhere—a great place to smash into if you fly as bad as me.

Seeing the horizon where open 3D space once stood was hard to get used to at first. However the snowy scenery and comparably light skybox helped soften the disorientation I expected when engaging in the game’s wild corkscrew battles. The demo was only 10 minutes long, so I can’t tell how longer sessions would play out in regards to motion sickness, but I felt more or less the same flying in the topsy-turvy space battles I’m used to in space. So while the sensation of flying was mostly the same, I had a new foe to contend with: the ground. And yes, you can smash into it.

The map itself looks noticeably smaller than the space-based maps, and combat tended to take place near the ground, winding around the structures and geological features of the planet. Flanked on one side by the enemy carrier—another hazard to watch out for lest you want a quick death and a “killed by enemy carrier” message to flash at you before being dropped serendipitous into a fresh clone—and on the other was my own.

Flying with afterburners between the two took about 30-40 seconds. It was faster than I thought, but it seemed to keep combat at a brimming level. The match I played hosted 10 players, two teams of five, so there was plenty of action to go around.

I also noticed a number of interesting tight spots to chase enemies through, something that always proves to be a crowd-pleaser by invoking the iconic Star Wars trench run. Check out the video below to get a better idea of what Groundrush is offering.

Disclosure: CCP Games provided airfare and lodging for Road to VR to attend Fanfest 2017

The post Hands-on: ‘EVE: Valkyrie’ Groundrush Update appeared first on Road to VR.

April 6, 2017

New ‘EVE: Valkyrie’ Update ‘Groundrush’ is Bringing Planet-based Dogfights to PSVR

EVE: Valkyrie (2016), the arcade dogfighter from EVE Online studio CCP Games, is about to get a big update that promises to take the game in what lead game dev Andrew Willans says via an official Sony blogpost “new and exciting directions.” Called Groundrush, the new update—launching April 11th on PSVR—will include tweaks to existing systems and a brand new map, Solitude, that brings the dogfight to the surface of a snowy planet.

Besides Solitude, Groundrush promises weirder and wilder wormholes, a feature that was added 2 months ago that changes up the game’s maps in unexpected ways.

Co-op will also now include Control and Carrier Assault. According to Willans, “no matter which mode you select, all XP progression and rewards are the same. You play the game how you want to, and be rewarded for it. Squads welcome!”

Willan mentions in the blogpost that Groundrush will also include a new avatar animation feature. The feature hasn’t been specified, but “the animations will help pilots celebrate a victory or commiserate a defeat.” English subtitles will also be a part of the update.

Valkyrie League Alpha is also changing somewhat, as CCP will be improving Training modules, tweaking multiplayer playlists and fixing many bug and stability issues. Leagues is a system developed to increase player competition by offering 4 leagues in descending order of difficulty to enter; diamond, sapphire, ruby, and emerald—effectively providing a players across all supported platforms bragging rights. Valkyrie supports cross-platform play with Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and PSVR.

It’s uncertain when the update will hit other supported headsets.

Check back for our hands-on impressions of the new Groundrush update.

Disclosure: CCP Games provided airfare and lodging for Road to VR to attend Fanfest 2017

The post New ‘EVE: Valkyrie’ Update ‘Groundrush’ is Bringing Planet-based Dogfights to PSVR appeared first on Road to VR.