Category: Game Developers Conference

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Survios Talks About its Latest VR Project Sprint Vector

Los Angeles-based virtual reality (VR) studio Survios has made a name for itself in the first-person shooter (FPS) genre with its well received title Raw Data. Then at the recent Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2017, the team announced a new project, Sprint Vector, VRFocus so took some time out to talk with Survios about the project. 

On the show floor, Andrew Abedian, Level Designer at Survios, gives a run down of what to expect of the team’s next title, describing it as an ‘adrenaline platformer’ due to the fact players have to swing their arms to gain momentum.

One of the main ideas for the project was to tackle VR movement – which tends to be tricky – so Survios has created ‘fluid locomotion’. This allows players to smoothly transition across obstacles and through levels with minimal jarring.

Checkout the video interview below, or read VRFocus‘ preview of Sprint Vector for a hands-on point of view.

VRFocus will continue its coverage of Survios, reporting back with the latest updates.

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Futuremark and OptoFidelity Showcasing VR Latency Testing Platform at MWC and GDC 2017

November 2016 saw computer benchmarking specialist Futuremark release its virtual reality (VR) software VRMark. Next week the company will be heading to the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2017 and Mobile World Congress to showcase a new VR latency testing platform for HMDs and mobile devices in partnership with OptoFidelity.

Combining Futuremark’s expertise in benchmarking software with OptoFidelity’s expertise in robotics, measurement technology, automation, and hardware, the system pairs VRMark with OptoFidelity’s VR Multimeter head-mounted display (HMD) solution. It measures key VR performance indicators such as motion-to-photon latency, pixel persistence, and frame jitter. The universal design of the platform means it works with PCs and mobile devices and can be applied to both VR and augmented reality (AR) systems.

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One of the platform’s key test cases measures motion-to-photon latency in a 3D rendering scenario. The test quantifies the impact of CPU and GPU performance for VR applications, analysing each frame to reveal the sources of latency, showing time spent in the 3D engine, the VR API, and the GPU. With detailed reporting, users can study late frames and the effects of timewarp. Configurable settings help you evaluate latency under different CPU and GPU load conditions.

Jani Joki, Director of Engineering at Futuremark, said in a statement: “By combining our strengths, Futuremark and OptoFidelity have created a VR latency testing platform that is a superior solution for a challenging problem. I invite press and VR industry members alike to visit our stands at MWC and GDC to see it in action.”
“The partnership between OptoFidelity and Futuremark shows how a shared belief in innovation and collaboration is helping to establish Finland as a world leader in virtual reality. We’re pioneering new ways to help VR manufacturers meet and exceed user expectations and I couldn’t be more proud to showcase the results of our cooperation at MWC and GDC,” commented Kimmo Jokinen, Chief Technology Officer at OptoFidelity.
For further updates on Futuremark, keep reading VRFocus.