Tobii’s new XR SDK Aids Eye Tracking Integration

As part of the Game Developers Conference (GDC 2019 this week, eye tracking specialist Tobii has announced a new software development kit (SDK) for XR applications.

HTC Vive Pro Eye

The Tobii XR SDK features a number of tools and resources for developers to use, enabling them to design immersive interactions that take advantage of head-mounted displays (HMD) with built-in eye tracking technology. Features include  Tobii Intelligent Objects which allow users to select items intuitively using machine learning and algorithms to map eye tracking signals to objects in a scene.

Or how about improving user interfaces so that navigation can become smoother and faster, with streamlined menus and unnecessary UI elements hidden when the user is looking elsewhere. Another use for videogame makers or social VR app creators is that eye to eye social contact, either with an NPC or chatting with someone on the other side of the world. Humans naturally respond to eye movement during a conversation, making for a more natural response.

“GDC is all about developers, so this year we wanted to provide the developer community with the most advanced and easy to implement set of APIs, guides, code samples, and tutorials that have ever existed for eye tracking integration,” said Henrik Eskilsson, CEO Tobii in a statement. “With the launch of these new SDKs, development tools and resources, it is now easier than ever before for developers to take advantage of eye tracking technology to create extraordinary experiences for users.”

“Eye tracking is quickly becoming a required standard in XR devices. Tobii is the leading supplier of eye tracking technology and the most experienced company in the eye tracking ecosystem,” Eskilsson adds. “We are bringing all of that knowledge to these new development tools and giving application developers a powerful advantage for creating extraordinary eye tracking interactions.”

In addition to new libraries and APIs for XR interactions, Tobii is making code samples, videos, tutorials and debugging tools available for XR development, along with packages and assets for Unity with Unreal support coming soon. For further updates from Tobii, keep reading VRFocus.

Beat Saber Adds the Game Developers Choice Awards to its Trophy Shelf

The Game Developer Choice Awards 2019 held its annual event at the end of GDC 2019’s first day, honouring the best videogames across the industry, whether they were AAA, mobile, indie or virtual reality (VR) in nature. Up for the VR/AR category were some of the best-known titles, but it was the all-dominating Beat Saber that won out.

Beat Saber POP/Stars

Beat Games’ Beat Saber was up against Budget Cuts, Tetris Effect, Moss, and Astro Bot Rescue Mission, adding another award to its collection. Additionally, Beat Saber was the only videogame out of the entire awards selection to win a second time, with the Audience Award.

It seems that there’s an awful lot of love for the saber swinging rhythm action title, which is still listed as an Early Access title on Steam. Currently supporting PlayStation VR, Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, it was confirmed this week that Beat Saber would be a launch title for standalone headset Oculus Quest.

“The Game Developers Choice Awards represent the most refined games of the year, and the sheer variety of games honored tonight showed that games can still represent wholly new and unique creative visions,” said Katie Stern, General Manager of the Game Developers Conference in a statement. “A number of independently developed titles like Celeste, Gris and Florence helped prove how internal or deeply personal turmoil can make for massively appealing games for millions of fans. While games like God of War and Red Dead Redemption 2 capture our imagination with poignant moments juxtaposed against epic tales of staggering scale and technical prowess. We embrace and accept all these amazingly creative works, and we’re proud to recognize these nominees and winners alike for the imagination and hard work that brought them here.”

The full list of Game Developers Choice Awards winners are:

  • Best Audio – Celeste (Matt Makes Games)
  • Best Debut – Mountains (Florence)
  • Best Design – Into the Breach (Subset Games)
  • Best Mobile Game – Florence (Mountains)
  • Innovation Award – Nintendo Labo (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)
  • Best Narrative – Return of the Obra Dinn (Lucas Pope / 3909)
  • Best Technology – Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)
  • Best Visual Art – Gris (Nomada Studio / Devolver Digital)
  • Best VR/AR Game – Beat Saber (Beat Games)
  • Audience Award – Beat Saber (Beat Games)
  • Game of the Year – God of War (Sony Santa Monica / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
  • Pioneer Award – Rieko Kodama
  • Lifetime Achievement Award – Amy Hennig

For all the latest updates from GDC 2019, keep reading VRFocus.

Turtle Rock Studios Working on Journey of the Gods for Oculus Quest

Today Oculus stole the show at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2019 showcasing the new Oculus Rift S head-mounted display (HMD). In amongst all that excitement, there were several videogame reveals for upcoming standalone Oculus Quest, one of which was Shadow Point, while the other was Journey of the Gods.

Journey of the Gods

Journey of the Gods is the latest virtual reality (VR) title from the developer behind the Face Your Fear series, Turtle Rock Studios. A stylized action-adventure with role-playing game elements, Journey of the Gods pits players against enemies big and small, from attacking waves of Moonbeasts to the giant Kraken boss with its deadly tentacles, they’ll have to utilise all manner of weapons to the fullest to survive.

Mixing up both melee and ranged combat, players can choose a trusty sword and shield or rely on their aim and the ever dependable crossbow. As with any RPG journey players will need to collect useful items on route, earning upgrades the more they fight and survive.

But it’s not all just highly stylish combat and violence, there’s some thinking to do as well, with environment puzzles littered around the worlds that’ll also slow and impede progress.

Turtle Rock Studios has released a trailer showcasing some of the gameplay elements involved, but the team hasn’t yet revealed the story and why players are fighting these fantastical beasts.

Journey of the Gods

Supporting both Oculus Quest and Rift, no release window has been confirmed for Journey of the Gods, and whether it’ll be available for Quest’s launch this Spring.

The wireless standalone device is expected to launch very soon, retailing for £399 USD. Offering wireless gaming thanks to a built-in battery, Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC and the inside-out tracking technology called Oculus Insight, the headset comes supplied with new Oculus Touch controllers and built-in speakers like Oculus Go.

As GDC 2019 continues through the week, VRFocus will continue bringing you the latest VR news.

Epic MegaGrants is a new $100,000,000 Initiative by Epic Games

Epic Games has just held its annual State of Unreal showcase at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2019 and the company has a few things to shout about. A couple of days ago the company awarded its final round of grants for its Unreal Dev Grants programme. Today, Epic Games has taken that idea to the next step, announcing Epic MegaGrants. a new $100,000,000 USD initiative.

Epic Games

Just as before, Epic MegaGrants aim to assist videogame developers, media and entertainment creators, enterprise professionals, students, educators, and tools developers who are working with Unreal Engine 4. Epic Games will award creators with grants that range from $5,000 all the way up to $500,000, plus they will continue to own their IP and will be free to publish however they wish.

“At Epic we succeed when developers succeed,” said Tim Sweeney, founder and CEO of Epic Games in a statement. “With Epic MegaGrants we’re reinvesting in all areas of the Unreal Engine development community and also committing to accelerate the open sourcing of content, tools, and knowledge.”

Grants will be awarded on a continuous rolling basis as funds allow, with no firm deadlines to submit. Simply head to the Epic MegaGrants website for additional details on eligibility and how to apply.

Epic Online Services

In addition to helping developers with financial grants, Epic Games has now launched Epic Online Services, a set of free tools and services. Designed to work with any engine – not just Unreal Engine 4 – Epic Online Services was originally built for Fortnite. It can offer developers easy access to key services such as game analytics and customer support tools all through a single SDK and developer portal.

“Building a game is only the beginning for developers. We know from experience that successfully managing and scaling your game requires a robust infrastructure, with numerous back-end services. With Fortnite we are now operating these services at an enormous scale, and we are glad to start opening them up to the game development community at large in order to make it easier for teams of all sizes to succeed,” Sweeney adds.

There’s going to be plenty more news coming from the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2019 this week, so keep reading VRFocus for the latest updates.

Oculus Rift S out this Spring for $399, Design Features Massive Overhaul

We all knew 2019 was going to be a special year for virtual reality (VR), three years since the original consumer headsets arrived it was time to bring some new toys to the table. HTC Vive did that with the Vive Focus Plus and Vive Pro Eye, while rival Facebook and its Oculus Quest headset is soon to arrive. However, it’s the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2019 and surprise surprise the Oculus Rift S has now been officially announced.

Rumours first emerged last November, claiming that the Oculus Rift S wouldn’t be a new model, rather an upgrade with slight improvements. From what’s been announced today ‘slight improvements’ doesn’t even scratch the surface of what’s been done.

Firstly, the Oculus Rift S is still a tethered headset, with Oculus’ head of VR Nate Mitchell mentioning to VRFocus at GDC 2019 that: “We didn’t think wireless was right for Rift S at this point,” referring to weight and balance when adding a battery.  The device has had the expected upgrades with a higher resolution display offering a resolution of 2560×1440 and improved optics to make experiences look even better, with new ergonomics through a partnership with Lenovo. There’s no mechanical IPD adjustment anymore, with the new headset featuring a face slider similar to PlayStation VR.

One of the biggest changes from the original Oculus Rift is that the Rift S now features inside-out tracking – so no more external sensors. It’ll have five sensors – one more than Oculus Quest – with the fifth providing a larger tracking area.

Thanks to Oculus’ software the Rift, Rift S and Oculus Quest will all feature crossplay compatibility to help populate multiplayer videogames, plus VR titles will be able to offer cross-buy compatibility as well – although developers decide this not Oculus.

When it comes to the controllers, the Oculus Rift S’ is the same as Oculus Quest, and they’ll both work with the original Oculus Rift. However, the original Touch controllers will not be compatible with the new head-mounted displays (HMD).

Oculus will be making a big push on Rift S and Quest this year, recently Oculus Rift has been getting harder and harder to find at retailers. “We’re in the process of phasing out the original Rift right now… we don’t expect there to be any crossover at all,” was the response VRFocus got from Mitchell on Rift vs. Rift S.

Oculus Rift S is scheduled for a Spring 2019 launch, with a retail price of $399 USD. With the headset competing with Oculus Quest at the same price point it’ll be interesting to see how the market develops. Oculus is confident, however: “We believe this price point and this hardware is right for the audience right now,” Jason Rubin, Oculus’s Vice President of Content commented to VRFocusAs further details are released, VRFocus will keep you updated.

HTC Vive Pro Eye is NVIDIA’s Preferred Headset for its VRS Technology

One of the surprise announcements during CES 2019 in January came from HTC Vive with the reveal of its enterprise-focused headset, the Vive Pro Eye. Today, as part of NVIDIA’s GPU Technology Conference (GTC), HTC VIve has announced that the upcoming device is the preferred head-mounted display (HMD) for NVIDIA’s Variable Rate Shading (VRS) technology.

HTC Vive Pro Eye

 

Variable Rate Shading is a new rendering technique enabled by the latest Turing GPUs like the GeForce GTX 1660 or the GeForce RTX 2060 for example. The process increases rendering performance and quality by applying a varying amount of processing power to different areas of the image. So combined with the eye tracking capabilities of HTC Vive Pro Eye, the two help optimize computer and VR performance.

“We’re continuing to see enterprise VR demands evolve, and Vive is meeting these demands for more toolsets within the headset,” Daniel O’Brien, GM Americas, HTC Vive in a statement. “Coupled with NVIDIA VRS, integrated eye tracking in the new Vive Pro Eye delivers a host of features to take enterprise and location-based VR to an unprecedented level of impact, rapidly evolving what enterprise users can do in VR.”

And to aid developers interested in creating software using eye tracking, HTC Vive has released an updated “Pro Eye SDK” today, which directly integrates VRS for foveated rendering. The Vive Pro Eye SDK (SRAnipal) is available on the HTC Vive developer portal.

HTC Vive Pro Eye

“Vive is among the best VR headsets available for professional users, and Vive Pro Eye takes it to the next level,” said David Weinstein, Director of VR, NVIDIA. “With NVIDIA VRS technology, users can now derive the benefits of foveated rendering and super-sampling to deliver the highest quality of visualization while increasing computing efficiency.”

At the moment HTC Vive hasn’t confirmed a launch date for the Vive Pro Eye, simply stating ‘Q2 2019’. Plus we’ve no idea how much it’ll cost. As the normal HTC Vive Pro retails for $799 by itself or $1,089 as a starter kit, expect the eye tracking version to be even pricier. As further VR announcements are made at GTC and GDC 2019, VRFocus will endeavour to keep you updated.

Make ARKit and ARCore Development Easier With Unity AR Foundation

When Apple and then Google launched their augmented reality (AR) development software ARKit and ARCore respectively, they provided a perfect avenue for creators to build immersive AR apps and videogames for mobile devices. But just like the Khronos Group is trying to solve with the issue of fragmentation using OpenXR, having both ARKit and ARCore meant more work for developers trying to support both. During the recent Unity keynote at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2019, the videogame engine company has a solution, AR Foundation.

Angry Birds AR Structure Destroyed

While devices like Magic Leap and HoloLens might be pushing the upper reaches of AR technology, some of the most interesting work is being done at a consumer level on mobile devices. Yet creators generally have to choose whether to focus on ARKit or ARCore. Which is why Unity created the AR Foundation framework, specifically for AR content developers, allowing them to build an AR app and then deploy it to both ARKit and ARCore.

AR Foundation also includes features to overcome common problems such as anchoring digital objects into the real world and the visual fidelity of digital objects. One of the options Unity focused on was AR Remote: “it significantly reduces iteration time by streaming sensor data from an AR-enabled mobile device directly into the Unity editor, explains a blog posting. “This allows developers to see changes on their target device in real time without having to publish to the device.

As AR Foundation is part of Unity, veterans of the software will feel right at home using its workflows and features to create AR content. They can even use the assets built for non-AR titles and use them in their new AR project.

Tendar

Unity is one of the most popular engines for virtual reality (VR) and AR development, supporting the industry from an early stage. Unity CEO John Riccitiello has previously claimed that around two-thirds of all VR and AR apps on the market were built using Unity.

As Unity continues to expand and introduce more features for VR and AR development, VRFocus will keep you updated.

Magic Leap and Weta Workshop Reveal Multiplayer Experience Grordbattle

As expected the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2019 is building up nicely with a growing number of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) announcements. During the Unity keynote, Magic Leap and Weta Workshop announced for the first time a new multiplayer project for the mixed reality (MR) headset called Grordbattle. 

Magic Leap One Lightwear

Currently, in an early prototype phase, Grordbattle is set within the universe of Dr. Grordbort’s Invaders, an offshoot of that experience where between two to four players can go head-to-head in battle. As you can see from the below image, the videogame allows players to select a character of their choosing, giving their head a new digital representation where their eye movements and voices are mirrored by the character.

Developed entirely in Unity, the original Dr. Grordbort’s Invaders is another collaboration with Weta Workshop and Magic Leap, creating a realistic action game in which evil robots have chosen the players living room to stage an invasion.

“We are thrilled to partner with Unity to showcase this exciting development in spatial computing. Unity has been a long-standing supporter of the Magic Leap platform. Developing in Spatial Computing requires a completely new way of thinking, with fresh opportunities and challenges for creators, said Magic Leap in a blog posting.”

Grordbattle - Magic Leap

Demos of both Grordbattle and Dr. Grordbort’s Invaders will be available to GDC 2019 attendees.

Magic Leap looks to be having a much greater physical presence at GDC 2019 than in previous years, likely due to the company being keen to ramp up content support by supporting the developer community. It was only last month that Magic Leap announced the 31 successful applicants for its Independent Creators Program, with the likes of Resolution Games,  Funktronic Labs, Felix & Paul Studios and Within all being selected.

The Magic Leap One headset is still very much a device for developers rather than a consumer version. While it’s now more widely available, it still comes with a retail price starting from $2,295 USD. As further details or Grordbattle are released VRFocus will keep you updated.

OptiTrack to Showcase its Signature Pulse Active Tracking Technology at GDC 2019

OptiTrack’s tracking technology is used by location-based entertainment (LBE) centres specialising in virtual reality (VR) around the world, and at GDC 2019 this week the company is showcasing its latest tech. 

OptiTrack Jenga Demo

Guests at the expo will be able to see OptiTrack’s latest six degrees of freedom (6DoF) system with its Signature Pulse Active tracking technology, via a custom-built demo based around Jenga blocks.

“We wanted to highlight some of the things that make OptiTrack technology so popular with the world’s location-based VR professionals, so we developed a live show that demonstrates that our systems track everything, which allows LBVR experience designers to fully express their creativity, without worrying about technical limits,” said Brian Nilles, CSO at OptiTrack in a statement. “So we built an LBVR set that will track everything within it, including two sets of Jenga blocks, which people can play live – and in VR, and we embedded our Active tracking tech in everything else in the experience in order to open people’s imaginations to the possibilities.”

The ‘Track Everything’ GDC demo features more than 130 objects tracked simultaneously with OptiTrack’s Signature Pulse Active, with the system specs reportedly delivering:

  • Positional errors  < 0.2mm
  • Rotational errors < 0.02 deg
  • Tracking areas > 10,000 sq ft (930 sq m)
  • Number of tracked objects > 250 with a single PC
  • Signature Pulse Active: each individual LED is tracked and identified independently
  • Enables tracking of 100s of identical items
  • 100% drift free tracking

In addition to Signature Pulse Active, OptiTrack will also be showing the new HTC Vive Pro HMD clip and its plug-and-play integration, a prototype Manus VR/OptiTrack hybrid glove, and the OptiTrack integrated Striker VR haptic feedback weapon.

VRFocus will continue its coverage of OptiTrack as the LBE industry continues to grow, reporting back with the latest updates and announcements.

Khronos’ OpenXR 0.90 Provisional Spec for VR & AR Devices Launched at GDC 2019

.Ever since the Khronos Group announced back in 2016 plans to have an open standard for virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) devices called OpenXR, the initiative has garnered more and more support. With the first public demos showcased at SIGGRAPH last year, for the start of the Game Developer Conference (GDC) 2019 the group has publicly launched the OpenXR 0.90 provisional specification.

OpenXR Solving Fragmentation

The whole purpose of OpenXR is to solve the issue of fragmentation within the VR/AR ecosystems – commonly referred to as XR – allowing developers to easily port content to a range of devices without having to spend serious amounts of time dealing with each their particular software issues.

As this is version 0.90 of OpenXR it’s not the final version, merely a provisional release so that Khronos Group can correlate feedback from users. OpenXR 0.90 specifies a cross-platform Application Programming Interface (API) so that platform vendor’s expose the functionality of their runtime systems, which can frustratingly different across existing vendor-specific APIs.

“OpenXR seeks to simplify AR/VR software development, enabling applications to reach a wider array of hardware platforms without having to port or re-write their code and subsequently allowing platform vendors supporting OpenXR access to more applications,” said Brent Insko, lead VR architect at Intel and OpenXR working group chair. “The OpenXR provisional specification—together with the runtimes publicly available at launch and coming in the next few weeks—will enable hands-on, cross-platform testing by application and engine developers. The working group welcomes developer feedback to ensure an OpenXR 1.0 specification that truly meets the needs of the XR industry.”

Khronos Group

Advocates of the OpenXR standard range across the industry, from Google and Epic Games to Magic Leap and Sony Interactive Entertainment.

“Epic believes that open standards like OpenXR are essential foundations for a vibrant, multi-platform VR and AR industry in the coming years. We’ve supported OpenXR since its inception, including powering the first public demo of OpenXR at SIGGRAPH last year, and hope to see the ecosystem continue to grow with the first public release of the spec at GDC,” said Tim Sweeney, founder and CEO of Epic Games. “Epic plans to continue supporting OpenXR in Unreal Engine 4.”

“Facebook and Oculus continue to believe in the value the OpenXR standard delivers to users and developers. We plan to provide runtime support for apps built on OpenXR 1.0 on the Rift and Quest platforms later this year,” Nate Mitchell, Oculus Co-founder and head of VR product, Facebook adds.

The new specification can be found on the Khronos website. For further updates on OpenXR, keep reading VRFocus.