Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation
What Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality developers are talking about
Stormland is the next game from Insomniac Games and it’s due out this November. We spoke with the Lead Designer about co-op, game progression, and end-game content back at OC6.
The post Stormland Interview: Game Progression, Co-Op, And End Game Content appeared first on UploadVR.
OZWE Games is a virtual reality (VR) developer known for its love of sci-fi action thanks to its two previous titles Anshar Wars 2 and Anshar Online (both highly recommended). Just prior to Oculus Connect 6 (OC6) the studio announced that it was working on a far more terrestrial title but one which was no less out of this world. Evoking classic vehicular combat titles like Road Rash or Destruction Derby, OZWE Games has created Death Lap, a racer that’s as much about driving as it is about shooting everyone.
Demoing Death Lap at OC6 on an Oculus Quest, this early version was a single-player experience with each race made up of six participants. There’s a loose storyline involving an evil villain who has created the races as part of a deadly gameshow, with some sort of nefarious plot woven in as well.
Storylines in most racing titles were never the most engaging or compelling and that seems to be the case here, which doesn’t really matter so long as the gameplay mechanics hold up. And it’s so far so good from VRFocus’ point of view, with Death Lap proving to be an enjoyable racer at the moment.
There were several tracks to choose from, set amongst dusty desert terrain with a variety of carnival style decorations littering and warping the track. Likewise, Death Lap offered a choice of vehicles to select, from small nippy buggies to oversized monster trucks. Naturally, each had several attributes setting them apart, from handling and acceleration, to their stock weapon loadouts for taking out the competition.
Racing was a lively yet still controllable affair, with wide open tracks allowing for plenty of ruckus and little bouncing of walls. OZWE Games has employed some visual trickery to ensure a comfortable racing experience no matter whether you’re pulling a power slide or flying through the air, pummelling an opponent with your guns.
Ah the guns. As mentioned, this is as much an essential part of the experience as those four wheels. Every car has a central roof mounted weapon of some sort. Generally resembling a minigun, plasma cannon or other heavy-duty weapon this is for long range attacks, completely controlled via the right Oculus Touch controller. It has a 360-degree shooting range, so when the track is right even those lagging at the back can get a face full of bullets. Super fun to use, the only worry was running out of ammo, handily littered around the track along with other surprises.
These could be both beneficial and deadly to your own race, offering boosts to jump ramps or more offensive capabilities like mines or an SMG – a personal favourite – which had limited ammo but allows you to shoot out the window, drive by style.
No doubt an arcade style racer, Death Lap offered short bouts of intense action where you almost don’t care if you come in first, evoking the often sought after ‘one more go’ mentality. The only factor that made it a little underwhelming were the visuals which certainly didn’t compare to other Oculus Quest titles at present or OZWE’s previous videogames. Oculus Quest definitely needs its own racing experience and Death Lap could well be the one.
Oculus Connect 6 (OC6) may have been a couple of weeks ago but VRFocus has one last interview from the event. OZWE Games, the studio behind popular virtual reality (VR) mobile series Anshar Wars and Anshar Online, was in attendance to showcase its latest project, a vehicular combat title called Death Lap, and CEO Stephane Intissar was on hand to discuss the title.
Revealed prior to OC6, Death Lap takes place in a twist race created by a villainous character called Nitro Saint Payne. Much like the film Death Race, OZWE Games’ experience isn’t solely about driving as fast as possible and keeping hold of pole position. There are five other racers on the track and they all have carnage in mind.
So Death Lap is about mixing speed with a variety of weapons and powerups, utilising the various environmental hazards on each track in the most effective manner. Prior to each race starting players can select one of five vehicles, offing different handling characteristics as well as weapon options.
All the cars are supplied with a central roof mounted gun which needs to be restocked with ammo littered around the track. This has a 360-degree aiming circle, allowing skilled drivers to shot any opponent within range, front or behind. The tracks are also littered with various items to pick up, from speed boosts and mines, to pistols which provide a little drive-by shooting action.
Demoed using Oculus Quest, Death Lap mixes both comedy and carnage in both multiplayer and single-player form. Intissar discusses some of the various mechanics employed in the experience and some of the various fun elements players can expect.
Also coming to Oculus Rift with cross play support OZWE Games doesn’t currently have a launch window for Death Lap although development is expected to wrap up in the next few months.
Check out the interview below or take a look at Mozilla’s interview from OC6 talking about how WebVR will play an important role in the future of the industry or ARVORE’s Ana Ribeiro discussing Pixel Ripped 1995. For all the latest updates about Death Lap, keep reading VRFocus.
Much of our daily lives revolve around the internet, whether it’s for your job sending emails or communicating long-distance, doing some shopping for new clothes or consuming vast amounts of entertainment via streaming apps. So it would make sense that with the growth of virtual reality (VR) developers would have embraced the web more. In fact, the web has played a bit of a side note, sure there are plenty of online multiplayer titles out there and apps like Netflix are available, but actually perusing the internet is another matter entirely. Which is why Mozilla created Firefox Reality. So VRFocus sat down with Director of Mixed Reality, Lars Bergstrom, at the recent Oculus Connect 6 (OC6) event to learn how they plan on helping VR users make that leap.
Firefox Reality originally arrived for headsets like HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and Google Daydream just over a year ago, offering a web browser specifically built for VR purposes. Since then, support has expanded to include Oculus Quest and Microsoft’s mixed reality (MR) device HoloLens 2, with work still ongoing for a SteamVR compatible version.
The app has a range of features designed to maximise the immersive potential of web-based VR, such as 6 degrees-of-freedom (6DoF) control for anything on the app, Enhanced Tracking Protection which blocks sites from tracking you and collecting personal data for ad networks and tech companies. Firefox Reality also supports 10 different languages, including Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese.
It’s not just Firefox Reality which Mozilla is developing for VR users. Another part of its ecosystem is Hubs, a social platform with Discord integration where users can create their own rooms to invite people to join. Online and open source, Hubs will work with virtually any headset, allowing users to add web content, watch videos, chat, share their screen/webcam feed, and pull in 3D objects from Sketchfab and Google Poly.
Bergstrom details all this and more in the OC6 interview below, so take a look if you’re interested in the future possibilities of WebVR. As always, when Mozilla announces any further updates to either Firefox Reality of Hubs, VRFocus will let you know.
At Oculus Connect 6, we had the opportunity to try out many of the new things announced at the event, as well as check out the latest work by developers and creators working in the VR space. In this article and video, we highlight some of the most interesting things we saw.
Introducing ‘Cas & Chary Present’
Cas and Chary VR is a YouTube channel hosted by Netherland-based duo Casandra Vuong and Chary Keijzer who have been documenting their VR journeys since 2016. We at Road to VR have become fans of their informative work over the years and are excited to announce that we’ll be bringing our audience a curated selection of their content under the banner ‘Cas & Chary Present’.
Facebook announced that they are building AR glasses. However, they are still in the early stages, so this will take a couple more years. In the meantime, they’ve announced an ambitious mapping project called LiveMaps which aims to serve as the foundation of how their AR glasses will track and understand the real world.
The Oculus Link is an upcoming software update that allows you to connect a cable from the Oculus Quest to a VR-ready PC. With it, you can play PC VR games on your Oculus Quest with ease.
At the event, there were two booth setups for the Link. In one, you were able to play Asgard’s Wrath and in the other Stormland. In both booths, there was a 5 meter (about 16-foot) USB-C to USB-C cable.
I tried the Agard’s Wrath demo, and the game was completely playable. I did notice some video compression before starting the game in the Oculus Rift Home environment, but not so much during the game.
The Oculus Link software is set to arrive in November. To use it, you will need a compatible USB 3 cable. Oculus will also release its own optical fiber USB-C cable later this year.
Oculus announced they are adding hand tracking to the Oculus Quest, and you won’t need to buy anything extra for it. They are going to use the inside-out tracking cameras that are already on the headset to track your hands. This means that once released, you’ll only need to update your headset’s software to be able to use it.
During OC6, we were able to try out one of the hand tracking demos. The demo I played was a room-scale Wizard’s experience. Everywhere around me were tables with interactive magical objects. There was stuff to touch, pinch, hold or throw. At some point, my hands even transformed into Octopus tentacles, which was a strangely immersive feeling.
The hand tracking could track each finger accurate enough. Though, I did notice a couple of limitations. Moving my hands over or close to each other caused my hands to disappear. The tracking also seemed to have a slight latency. The game was still playable, and I think it is worth noting that this could improve over time with software updates as Oculus has done in the past with its other tracking technology..
I think this feature will be great for business solutions, healthcare, educational apps, or watching movies. I have my doubts if hand tracking in its current state will be used a lot for gaming, but time will tell.
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Above are the things we tried that were announced by Oculus. However, we also met up with developers and creators to talk about their upcoming games and hardware. Here are five more VR highlights that we discovered at OC6:
TG0 is working on the etee controllers. These are lightweight controllers with a proprietary plastic surface that is capacitive, which can track each finger and detect how much pressure is applied.
You put your fingers through the handle, allowing you to open your hands without dropping the controllers. During the event, I tried a demo where I could see how it tracked on their laptop. In its current form, there are no buttons. Talking to the developer, they say they can add buttons based on feedback.
A business version of these controllers goes for £1,500. The developers are aiming for a consumer version for $200, which could make this a competitor to the Valve Index controllers.
Does Mario Kart meets Mad Max sound appealing to you? Death Lap by OZWE is a VR combat racing game with an art style much like the movie Mad Max or Borderlands. It has over-the-top combat with creative vehicle designs. Each car has its strengths and weaknesses.
A player has the option to sit in the car in first or third-person. Using the joystick, you steer. With your other hand, you hold a weapon that you use to defend yourself. You can also press buttons in the car to shoot a special power or launch a pickup bonus.
I’ve tried out a demo during OC6 and I found the races to be fast-paced, intense, and a bit frantic. Even so, I did not feel motion sick.
Death Lap is playable in single and multiplayer, and integrated VoIP allows players to communicate with their opponents. The game will release on the Oculus Quest and Rift platforms.
vCoder Hero is an educational VR puzzle-action game by Keith and Angela Patterson, this year’s Oculus Launch Pad Scholarship recipients. In vCoder, you learn the fundamentals of coding by playing a game. In this game, a rogue AI infected a virtual world. It is up to you to locate the bugs, hack the system, and rewrite the code to save it.
The game has bright and cartoon-ish graphics. It consists of drag and drop elements, so there isn’t actual coding involved. Instead, you’ll learn the logic behind it, which is essential if you want to start coding. There is no release date yet.
The sequel to Pixel Ripped 1989, and again a homage to retro gaming. This time it’s a nostalgic trip to the year 1995. A historical time when the first generation of home console players were maturing from teenager to adult. During that time, games were evolving from 16-bit to the 32-bit era and from 2D to 3D environments.
Pixel Ripped stands out in its way of transporting the player from a 2D to 3D world regularly – something that feels formidable in virtual reality. In this sequel, the player plays as a boy who is in love with a retro console game. He plays this retro game on a television in his bedroom. It is the player’s task to keep attention on the 3D environment and avoid their mother – who just wants the boy to go to sleep – while trying to beat the game-in-a-game as well.
Pixel Ripped 1995 will be available on all major VR headsets: Playstation VR, SteamVR, and Oculus Rift, and Quest platforms.
Pistol Whip is an upcoming rhythm VR game that is also part first-person shooter. In this game, you only use one controller where you wield a gun. The game moves forward automatically, like an endless runner game. You’ll need to defend yourself against the Superhot-like guys that are shooting at you. Everything moves with the music. Even when you dodge a bullet, that bullet follows the beat. Pistol Whip has excellent flow and makes you feel like John Wick in a movie.
Cloudhead Games are developing the game; you might know them from their beautiful VR puzzle game The Gallery. The game is set to release before the end of the year.
Disclosure: Facebook covered Cas and Chary’s travel and accommodations to attend Oculus Connect 6.
The post Cas & Chary Present: Nine Highlights from Oculus Connect 6 appeared first on Road to VR.
During Oculus Connect 6 (OC6) a couple of weeks ago VRFocus was lucky enough to get an early look at the third level of Pixel Ripped 1995, the sequel to ARVORE’s successful virtual reality (VR) title Pixel Ripped 1989. On hand was the designer behind the original videogame Ana Ribeiro – who is now ARVORE’s Creative Director – who gave a little more insight into the upcoming experience.
If you’ve never played it, the whole idea behind Pixel Ripped 1989 was a modern homage to retro gaming using VR technology. In that title, you play as Nicola, a gaming obsessed kid who just can’t put down her ‘Gear-Kid’ handheld console. Gameplay mixes between both 2D 80s era sprites and side-scrolling with more immersive 3D VR elements. The most notable section is early on where you’re gaming in class, having to mix between controlling the character on the handheld screen then distracting the teacher in the ‘real’ world through various means. VRFocus enjoyed it at the time, giving Pixel Ripped 1989 a four-star review.
Pixel Ripped 1995 takes that same formula and brings it into the 90s, this time putting you in the shoes of David, a 9-year-old kid from the US. While the child is different the enemy is the same with the evil goblin called the Cyblin Lord returning to cause chaos. As mentioned, the OC6 demo featured level three taking place inside David’s bedroom while he’s playing a Castlevania-style experience. The only trouble is his mum keeps coming in to ruin the show. Check out VRFocus’ preview of Pixel Ripped 1995 for further in-depth details.
In the interview, Ribeiro discusses how the team are planning an extensive franchise with five titles in total, 1989, 1995, 1978, 1983 and 1999. It’s all about travelling through different gaming eras and celebrating what made them great. The demo was available on both Oculus Rift S and Oculus Quest with the team also planning versions for PlayStation VR and HTC Vive.
Pixel Ripped 1995 still has a way to go with a release planned for some point in 2020. Check out the full interview below to learn more and for continued updates on Pixel Ripped 1995, keep reading VRFocus.
Well, it’s been a week since Oculus Connect 6 and by this point you’ve probably seen all the major pieces of news and all of the talks that are available online.
However, in the whirlwind of headlines last week, you might have missed some of our meatier pieces that gave a deeper look at the games and services announced. So for your convenience, we’ve summarized and linked our six best hands-on and feature pieces from Oculus Connect 6 below.
Ian tried an early version of Facebook Horizon while at OC6. He also asked Meaghan Fitzgerald, head of product marketing for AR/VR content at Facebook, and Eric Romo, product director at Facebook, some questions about the game. He covered moderation, Facebook integration, hand tracking and much more. It’s probably the best look we’ll get at Horizon before the beta next year.
David was so excited to share his hands-on with Respawn’s new VR Medal of Honor game, and it’s easy to see why. He called it “an authentic and welcome return for the long-forgotten franchise,” and went into great detail about the levels he played, the gun mechanics and some areas he hopes get improved before release.
It was one of the biggest announcements of OC6: finger tracking for Quest. There’s still a lot more to be revealed by Facebook regarding the functionality but Ian played around with a demo last week, and outlined his thoughts on what he saw.
After a long history of mobile games, The Room is coming to VR. David snuck in a quick hands-on with the game while Tatjana talked to Barry Meade, Co-Founder and Director of Fireproof Games, about the upcoming title.
Solaris: Offworld Combat, the next VR Shooter from the Firewall Zero Hour devs was first revealed in our E3 VR Showcase. However, this year during OC6, we shared some exclusive new details about the game, which is coming to Rift and Quest next year, and PSVR at some point after that.
Vader Immortal Episode II released during the first day’s keynote. Thousands of miles away from OC6, Jamie quickly jumped into a full play through of the hotly-anticipated second chapter and gave his thoughts on how it stacks up compared to Episode I.
Those are our biggest hands-on and features pieces from OC6. What are you looking forward to most? Let us know in the comments below.
The post Our Six Best Hands-On And Feature Pieces From Oculus Connect 6 appeared first on UploadVR.
Retro gaming is big business at the moment, from mini-consoles packed with 90s era videogames to indie titles inspired by those early sprites. For virtual reality (VR) fans this nostalgia became perfectly embodied in Pixel Ripped 1989, harking back to the NES and Sega Master System years. Developed by Ana Ribeiro and Brazilian studio ARVORE, the team has several titles planned with the next one in production being Pixel Ripped 1995. Only revealed a few months ago, during the recent Oculus Connect 6 (OC6) event the team showcased an experience which will be very familiar to anyone over 30.
While it is a standalone title, Pixel Ripped 1995 still continues the story from 1989, where you have to fight an evil goblin called the Cyblin Lord but this time you’re David, a 9-year-old kid from New Jersey. Keeping with the same mechanics as the original, Pixel Ripped 1995 is a mixture of 3D and 2D graphics, placing you in immersive locations to play videogames inspired by 90s classics.
The OC6 demo certainly encompassed that in droves, offering the third level to play through. This transports you to David’s bedroom at night, with lightning crackling outside and his mum trying to make him go to sleep. Of course, that’s not happening as David has a new console and TV in his room (big mistake by mum) and you need to complete a videogame inspired by Castlevania.
Naturally, David can’t be left alone to play happily, so just like Pixel Ripped 1989, the gameplay is all about juggling between both realms. When the mum disappears off to bed then it’s time to play, running through the 2D castle, jumping from platform to platform and shooting bats and skeletons along the way. To join the two worlds, whilst running through the wannabe Castlevania there are bells and other items which make loud noises, in turn waking David’s mum up. She’ll then switch on the hallway light which is your cue to do the classic turning off of the TV (whilst keeping the console on), pretend to be asleep, she’ll then mutter something about ‘hearing things’ and ‘going crazy’ before heading back to bed.
Pretty much anyone who loved playing videogames as a child knows this scenario in some form – less so now when playing online – perfectly representing the fun of staying up late to play and the frustration when getting interrupted. There’s even a boss battle at the end to properly test those expertly timed jumping and shooting skills when staring at a 14-inch portable TV (as was the way back then).
The level is a lot more sparse than those found in Pixel Ripped 1989, meaning aside from switching the TV off and on there’s nothing else to do or interact with. So unless you really struggle with 2D platforming it’s quite a short level, probably why it was chosen for the demo.
Much like Pixel Ripped 1989, VRFocus is looking forward to Pixel Ripped 1995 and the quirky gameplay it’s going to offer. From what’s been shown so far the sequel retains the atmosphere and humour of the original, whilst updating it with some awesome 90s mechanics and gaming references. With a launch planned for 2020 across multiple platforms including Oculus Quest, Oculus Rift and PlayStation VR, Pixel Ripped 1995 is one to look out for next year.
As proven latest week during Oculus Connect 6 (OC6), the company is heavily pushing standalone headset Oculus Quest, adding a bunch of new features like hand tracking, Oculus Link, and Passthrough+. Part of this strategy is to bring customers who have previously bought into either Gear VR or Oculus Go systems, making lots of their apps available for the new device. This means if you own select content you’ll be able to upgrade it for Oculus Quest, for free.
If you’ve bought an Oculus Quest and purchased any of the following 21 Oculus Go or Gear VR apps before 25th September 25th, Oculus says: “you may be eligible to upgrade to a Quest version for free. Free upgrades will run until Dec 31st, 2019 and will begin the week of September, 30th 2019.”
All you need to do is head to the Quest section of the Oculus store, search for any eligible apps you previously purchased and once on that app’s store page click the blue button that should say Free. And away you go.
Additionally, Oculus also notes: “If you already bought a Quest app that is eligible for a free upgrade, you’ll receive Oculus Store credit in place of the free upgrade.” Two conditions do need to be met to receive Oculus store credit:
AND
So with being able to play some of your old Oculus Go and Gear VR videogames on Quest and Oculus Link enabling Oculus Rift titles to be played on the headset from next month, Oculus Quest is becoming the multitool of VR. For further updates, keep reading VRFocus.
Oculus finally revealed that Quest will get controllerless hand-tracking input. We got to test the feature at Oculus Connect 6 last week and came away impressed. Hand-tracking will open the door to a range of casual use-cases that will broaden the headset’s appeal, but core gaming experiences will still rely on the precision and reliability of controllers.
Hand-tracking is coming to Quest early next year, Facebook announced last week at Oculus Connect 6. The appeal is clear: using your hands instead of controllers makes the headset that much easier to use; instead of learning the placement and functions of buttons and sticks, users will be able to throw on the headset and simply point and touch their way around virtual worlds.
At Connect, Oculus showed off the hand-tracking with a demo called Elixir made by VR studio Magnopus. The setting was fantastical witch’s workshop where I got to poke, prod, and play with spells and magic.
It was clear from the outset that the entire demo was designed and built specifically for hand-tracking. The demo revolved around touching, poking, and pinching interactions, but, notably, no ‘holding’ or direct manipulation of objects except in the case of a pen (which is a very purposeful choice that I’ll discuss more later).
Elixir is a sandbox-ish experience designed to show some of the ways that hand-tracking could be used for gaming interactions. In the experience I was asked to touch my hands to various objects which would turn them from human hands into magical hands which would give me unique powers.
For instance I was prompted to touch my hand to something which looked like a hot-plate crossed with grill which caused my hands to turn into fire-infused hands. Then when I waved my fire hands over some candles they were ignited. Another object I touched turned my hands into the hands of a creature with Wolverine-like claws which extended when I made a first.
The coolest and most inventive of these hand transformations was when I dunked my hands into a cauldron and they turned into octopus tentacles! The tentacles were longer than my actual fingers and they were physics-enabled, so when I wiggled my fingers the tentacles wobbled about in a gross but oddly satisfying way.
Aside from the hand transformations (and the ‘make fist’ gestures which powered them), a ‘pinch’ gesture was used at several points throughout the experience which, from a design standpoint, served as a sort of virtual button press. For instance, hanging above the cauldron was a liquid dispenser with an eye-dropper top which squirted liquid into the cauldron when squeezed. Elsewhere, a miniature bellows could be squeezed with a pinch to brighten a flame.
Because the pinching gesture naturally involves touching your own fingers, it provides a sort of self-haptic sensation which feels more natural than pressing a virtual button with no feedback at all.
This is the same reason why the magic pen—which was offered to me at the end of the experience to sign my name on a big scroll—was the only object in the experience which could actually be directly held and manipulated. It uses effectively the same pinching gesture as before (mostly replicating a real pen grip), which offers a haptic sensation since you’re actually touching your own fingers.
A good general purpose ‘grab’ gesture for arbitrarily sized and shaped objects—as has been attempted with gestures like making a fist or a ‘C’ shape with your hand—has remained quite elusive, as the lack of feedback just doesn’t feel quite right (not to mention issues with consistently detecting the pose to prevent items from dropping). That said, even a gesture-based ‘grab’ that doesn’t feel immersive could be perfectly useful for non-entertainment applications where immersion isn’t a high priority.
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