Category: Apelab

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Apelab and Technicolour Team For Development of VR and AR Content

The Technicolour Experience Center and Apelab are partnering together in order to make the future of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) content even easier to achieve for new developers, with the launch of SpatialStories, a full production suite for VR and AR content. Hopefully this will ease more curious content creators into the world of VR and AR development.

SpatialStories is being launched to make VR and AR development creator-friendly, aiding the creation of both VR and AR content for a variety of head-mount displays (HMDs).

Brian Frager is the Lead VR and AR producer at the Technicolor Experience Center, and he believes education on VR and AR is the way forward; “A large part of the Technicolor Experience Center’s mission is to educate the community on this brave new world of immersive media.”

Frager continues; “In order to thrive, VR and AR must have a wide diversity of voices contributing content and pushing the boundaries of creative possibility. We are thrilled to partner with apelab on their SpatialStories platform because it promises to democratize interactive content creation and make these tools accessible to anyone with a story to tell.”

Apelab’s SpatialStories SDK is available now for Unity and offers a simple interface that eases VR and AR content creation. Using it you can create VR and AR apps from within your HMD – removing the boundaries that usually hamper VR and AR development.

Developers interested in the SpatialStories suite and SDK should head on over to their website.

For more on the latest in VR and AR creation tools, be sure to stick with VRFocus.

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Watch: Apelab’s Intriging New ‘Break a Leg’ Running on Gear VR’s Motion Controller

Swiss / LA based developers apelab have announced their latest project for Gear VR. It’s called ‘Break a Leg’ and it puts you in the top hat of an “improvised magician” as he strives to entertain his audience. Here’s the game running with the soon to be released Gear VR motion controller.

The problem with peripherals, especially those which launch after older iterations of the original hardware, is of ensuring good and sustained software support. The latest Gear VR headset will have its own dedicated motion controller, as announced at this year’s MWC and detailed at last week’s Samsung ‘Unpacked’ event.

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Therefore, it’s important that Oculus and Samsung manage to entice developers to build compelling software for the controller, in order for the companies to avoid the chicken/egg situation of poor developer support leading to poor adoption and so on.

To that end, apelab have just announced a new Gear VR title built for the new motion controller, and the trailer for Break a Leg gives us more footage of the device in action.

Here’s the premise for the new title:

As you find yourself trapped in the backstage of an ancient theater, you are prompted to improvise a magic show without missing a beat. For centuries the owner of the Intergalactic Grand Theater has been kidnapping human illusionists, desperately looking for one capable of mastering the Greatest Power of the Galaxy as stated in the Ancient Book of Stellar Tricks.

Unfortunately, you are not a magician. But with the help of a mysterious ally, you will master the art of misdirection, conjuring, levitation, vanishing and more using all of the immersive functionalities the new controller can bring to mobile VR. But be careful, they really don’t like failure…

It’s a refreshingly original idea, and an ingenious way to utilise and encourage users to learn the new motion controller on the Gear VR platform. The actions performed with the new device – which derives input information via onboard sensors and doesn’t benefit from any absolute positional tracking – looks surprisingly effective in the trailer, although some actions by the player seem to be slow and deliberate, perhaps to hide the device’s shortcomings.

The project seems to be a collaboration with Oculus themselves, although it’s not clear whether the title was funded directly by them. Either way, clearly Oculus see the new motion controller as integral to the evolution of theirs and Samsung’s mobile VR platform – as evidenced by the promotional material released last week.

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The new Gear VR headset and controller will be available together for $129 from April 21st, but if you’re considering pre-ordering Samsung’s latest S8 mobile phone, check out the offer Samsung currently has to snag the VR devices free alongside your purchase. Break a Leg meanwhile will be launched via Oculus Home for Gear VR later this year.

The post Watch: Apelab’s Intriging New ‘Break a Leg’ Running on Gear VR’s Motion Controller appeared first on Road to VR.

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Apelab’s Break A Leg is Official Gear VR Controller Launch Title

Geneva-based independent game studio Apelab have announced that upcoming title Break A Leg will be part of the range of videogames and experiences that will fully support the new Gear VR Controller at launch.

The story of Break A Leg is curiously reminiscent of the plot to classic Doctor Who episode ‘The Greatest Show in the Galaxy’ in that the player takes the role of a person trapped at the mercy of the owner of the Intergalactic Grand Theatre, who has been kidnapping human magicians and illusionists in search of entertainment. The player character is forced to learn the tricks of the stage magician’s trade: sleight of hand, conjuring, levitation and more. A bad performance is a death sentence, so it is wise to master the techniques quickly.

The developers researched stage magic heavily as part of the development process, looking into the works of famous performers and illusionists like Houdini and Daniel Fritzkee, using their written ‘guide books’ to inspire the ticks used within Break A Leg.

Apelab previously worked on SpacialStories, an interactive script-writing tool designed specifically for virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR) applications. According to Apelab, Break A Leg was entirely built using the SpacialStories toolset. The developer claims that SpacialStories should be easy enough for beginners and non-programmers, but maintains the level of depth required for engineers and coders.

The first chapter is launching for free on the Oculus Store. The full experience is planned to be released later on this year.

You can watch the launch trailer below.

VRFocus will bring you further updates on Gear VR and Break A Leg when they come in.

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Apelab Announce Real-Time Virtual Environment Creator ‘SpacialStories’

Geneva-based development studio Apelab have announced that they are working on an interactive script writing tool for virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR) applications.

Apelab say that SpacialStories enables the real-time creation of complex virtual environments. It’s tool set was designed to improve workflow in the virtual reality and mixed reality pipelines. They claim it is simple enough for non-coders and beginners, but has sufficient depth for programmers and engineers to take full advantage of its power.

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According to the company their most recent game, Break A Leg, was entirely built using SpacialStories. Break A Leg won an award for ‘Best In Play Honorable Mention’ this year at GDC and is available for demo on the Oculus Touch at booth PL4726 at GDC.

SpacialStories itself is currently entering closed beta, and Apelab say they are still seeking creators to test the Software Development Kit.

VRFocus will bring you further information on SpacialStories as it develops.