We just got word from developer Tomáš “Frooxius” Mariančík that his VR Jam 3rd place winner Sightline will have its IndieGogo campaign launch at 0:01 GMT 24th March (20:01 EDT 23rd March). The below link will only work after launch, so please don’t click until then.
And while you wait, the composer of Sightline’s music ‘Sakabi‘ (aka Ondřej Pultar) has a special exclusive preview of one of the tracks featured in the game. Sit back, enjoy the music and don’t forget to set those alarms.
And, check out Cymatic Bruce’s play through of VR Jam release here:
The Gallery: Six Elements from Cloudhead Games was among the first titles intended for VR from its roots, with development of the title starting shortly after the Oculus RiftKickstarter. Since that time, the devs at Cloudhead have been busy building an immersive experience that makes full use of both a VR headset and 3d motion controls.
Little icons accompanied many of the slides during Sony’s Morpheus announcement presentation at GDC 2014. One slide in particular included a nod to Oculus.
Ben Lang goes hands-on and shares his impressions of Oculus’ new tech demo were using to to showcase their new VR Headset, the Development Kit 2 – Couch Knights.
At GDC 2014, Condition One was showing a rough cut of their forthcoming virtual reality documentary, Zero Point. After experiencing the film first-hand, I came away extremely impressed and convinced that virtual reality cinema will be part of our future. Condition One is now offering discounted pre-orders for the film which will release this Spring.
Here’s more of the Sony PS4 VR Headset ‘Project Morpheus’ in action at GDC 2014. The videos had to be manually synced so apologies for any disparity in movement. This time we’ve got gameplay of ‘The Castle’ demo, one of several tech demos on show at GDC.
As part of continuing GDC 2014 coverage, Cymatic Bruce and myself had our first opportunity to experience Sony’s new Project Morpheus, the PS4 VR dev kit, earlier today.
The Oculus Rift DK2 and Positional Tracking Camera
Developing Virtual Reality Games and Experiences (Presented by Oculus VR)
Ben Lang’s fingers of steel know no limits as he continues his Live Blog marathon, this time he’s live from Oculus VR’s presentation on developing VR experiences. Tom Forsyth, Oculus VR Software Architect is presenting and it kicks off at 2:30 PDT (21:30 GMT)
GDC attendees wait in line to try the latest Oculus dev kit.
While VR enthusiasts scramble to get their orders in for the DK2, Oculus has been hard at work setting up and manning a booth at GDC. It was not a surprise that the booth was larger than last year, nor was it a surprise that it is once again packed with a line the entire day. However, it was surprising to see no less than 16 stations with DK2s ready to go.
Two of the many stations at the Oculus booth.
Every station had a DK2 unit, headphones, and a wireless Xbox 360 controller. An IR camera was positioned on a stand in front of each seat. There was also a TV facing each pair of stations, but interestingly most of the TVs did not display gameplay. Most either had a static image that referenced the demo at those stations, or a looping title graphic. I asked Product Lead Joe Chen about this change, and he responded that most are not able to get a real feel of the experience from watching the stereoscopic gameplay.
The newest Oculus demo, Couch Knights.The Oculus IR camera in front of each station.
The newest demo to join the Oculus stable is Couch Knights, an interesting action title made in collaboration with the Unreal Engine team. Couch Knights is a 2-player experience, in which your avatar is a standard looking guy in a standard looking living room sitting on a couch. A TV in the room looks as if it will keep score for the game. Looking down reveals that your avatar is holding a controller – it invokes a similar feeling to Lunar Flight. Positional tracking was fully functional, and I could not help leaning every which-way in the chair to test the limits. In this particular demo, it seems as if the positional tracking is 1:1. Everything felt very natural. The real kicker is that when you look across the room, you see your opponent’s avatar, complete with tracking! As the demo began, I looked at the guy across from me and gave him the standard head nod as a greeting. Non verbal communication in VR never gets old.
So the couch part is established. What about the Knights? Once the game starts, two mini female warriors spawn on top of the coffee table in the middle of the room, complete with shields and swords. Using the controller, you can make your small warrior run and jump any where around the room, even in your opponent’s lap. The round ends once you get 3-4 clean hits on your opponent’s warrior, producing a fantastic particle effect and starting another round. All together, the experience was tremendously fun. I hope to see these “trade show collaborations” find their way to the public someday!
One of the Eve: Valkyrie 4-player stations.
The other demo being shown was EVE: Valkyrie.
Two 4-player sessions of Valkyrie were setup. Each section had some fierce multiplayer spaceship dogfighting action! Most of the people in line were waiting to get a demo of Valkyrie, which has consistently impressed everywhere it has been demoed. The experience here was as expected: excellent. Even though it was my third or fourth time experiencing the demo, I still had a blast doing barrel rolls and blasting opponents out of the sky. As I have mentioned before, the positional tracking in Valkyrie seems exaggerated, allowing me to lean far forward into the cockpit to read all of the details on the neon displays.
Reactions from attendees varied from pleased to blown away, depending on the previous experience with the tech. I witnessed a few people go back to line up once again.
The Oculus booth is teeming with activity – and a hefty line.
Overall, the experience in the DK2 was phenomenal – essentially a sleeker and slightly more comfortable version of Crystal Cove. The housing is wider than the DK1, making it easy to play with my glasses on. The unit was just as light if not lighter than the DK1. The FOV of the unit is essentially the same as the DK1 – encouraging news, as the FOV in the preceding HD unit was lower. The positional tracking is excellent, allowing me about 230 degrees of rotation before reverting to the neck model. When turning around, the transition between optical positional tracking and the neck model is nearly seamless. The accuracy and precision of the positional tracking also does wonders for the comfort level within the VR space. The system picks up on all micro head motions and position changes, tapping into the oft mentioned subconscious feeling of “presence.” The additional clarity provided by HD screen and Low Persistence feature profoundly add to this sense of presence. The screen door effect is not gone entirely, but is very easy to ignore – its practically invisible in dark titles like Eve: Valkyrie.
The Oculus team was in great spirits, and the general impression from attendees was positive. A great kickoff to a groundbreaking year in VR!
Our roving report Ben Lang is on the show floor at GDC 2014 and has sent back a hands-on playtest with Sony’s new prototype VR Heedset, codenamed Project Morpheus.
In this episode, we continue our coverage of the big news coming from GDC 2014. Ben Lang and Cymatic Bruce report on the Oculus Rift Development Kit 2, Sony’s Project Morpheus, and much more.
Join Ben Lang as he presents yet another GDC 2014 Live Blog, this time from Sony’s talk on creating ‘Unique Interactive Experiences’ on the Playstation 4. We’re expecting some talk their VR Headset project, ‘Project Morpheus’ announced yesterday as well as a mix of other input devices and how best to develop for them.
Ben’s posts will update automatically, no need to refresh this page. Talk kicks off at 12:30pm PDT.
We’re here at GDC 2014 waiting for Oculus VR’s first session ‘Working With the Latest Oculus Rift Hardware and Software’ to begin at 11am PST. Join us as we live-blog the talk!
