5 ms·

Beginning VR Development (2015)

79 points by thedayisntgray 10y ago

Pfhreak 10y ago
Glad to see the callout to QA your game with people who are outside of not only your physical experience (different heights, ability, VR tolerance, etc.) but also your personal experience (gender, life experiences, technology expertise). VR experiences can feel vastly more real than other games, and it can be jarring to have a presentation of the self consistently out of line with your own self image. Ensuring you present the player with either something comfortable for them, or something deliberately challenging (ie, if you are going to make the character you inhabit male, it should be a deliberate choice knowing that there may likely be significant discomfort for some of your audience.) Don't assume that a virtual body/archetype that you are comfortable with maps to something that everyone is comfortable with!
AndrewKemendo 10y ago
Interesting to see this coming from Microsoft as they are more firmly footed in the AR space than VR. Note that they promote non MS products (Rift/Vive, Unity/Unreal) - because they don't really have any. I think this points to MS really embracing cross-platform friendliness.
- ryandamm 10y ago
  Right now, all tethered VR projects are arguably MS-dependent; there's no way to run those headsets on OS X or Linux, as far as I know. So it's an ecosystem thing. And for sure, it seems that Microsoft is more interested in AR than VR. It's a big company, though. They get to do more than one thing at a time.
  - aerique 10y ago
    Oculus used to provide drivers for Linux and OSX, up to v0.4 I think. (Around this time Facebook and Microsoft became involved but I do not know whether that had any influence.) Also, since Valve makes SteamOS which is basically Linux one would hope they'd make the Vive work on those platforms as well, but so far they have not :-(
    - pault 10y ago
      The vive doesn't work on steamos? That is... surprising.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
ngokevin 10y ago
Check out A-Frame (https://aframe.io https://aframe.io) for a super simple way to get started with VR in the browser. Even Liv who created this awesome introduction (almost a year ago) has been repping more WebVR at recent conference talks. Microsoft even recently announced intent to develop WebVR APIs for Microsoft Edge.
- anjneymidha 10y ago
  +1 to Kevin's note about Aframe - I've been building on it for a few months now, and can attest to it being the easiest entry point for devs with even the most basic chops. Plus Kevin and team run an awesome Slack group for devs that's very responsive. Here's a fun showcase of aframe projects: https://github.com/aframevr/awesome-aframe#scenes https://github.com/aframevr/awesome-aframe#scenes
- moron4hire 10y ago
  I can't wait for WebVR in Edge. They are doing it specifically to support Hololens. I recently did two projects for clients, a VR app in WebVR and an AR app in Unity. The ridiculously long compile and load times in Unity, plus the dual-headed editing experience of using the Unity editor and Visual Studio were significant impediments to the development process. In WebVR, I was significantly more productive because I could test so much faster, sometimes even tweaking settings on the fly without having to reload the app. Once Edge in Hololens gets WebVR, I can dump Unity and stick to my own framework, Primrose (https://primrosevr.com https://primrosevr.com)
- asenna 10y ago
  This looks pretty cool. I have a question for the VR developers here. I'm interested in content for architecture and a few other things, but is anyone seriously experimenting with content other than games? Maybe it's a bit too early.
  - misslivirose 10y ago
    Healthcare and education are two of the big use cases I'm seeing outside of the gaming space. Architecture and real estate is another space that is seeing traction. Right now a lot of energy is going into improving how people work with 3D tooling (engines, 3D modeling and formats, etc) but I can say concretely that I see quite a few non-gaming projects and companies working in a number of verticals with VR.
return0 10y ago
Wondering what HN thinks about VR. Will it grow enough to be a big enough market ? Till now it seems to be less than what it was hyped to be.
- anjneymidha 10y ago
  China is and will continue to be the largest consumer VR market for the near term (1-2 yrs). By 2018, will likely have ~4M HTC Vives live in cyber cafes, arcades and malls, and ~10M stand alone and mobile VR headsets across tier 1 cities. The rough math is about a $8B high end hardware market, $2B mid to low end mobile VR hardware market, and $2-$3B in software services and game revenues. Almost all of the high quality, AAA games and apps will be produced by US/European studios for this period, for consumption largely by Chinese consumers. (edited to answer your original question more directly)
  - m_mueller 10y ago
    Shouldn't Japan be a great market? People get familiarized with the PS VR and they have a thriving arcade culture.
  - kev6168 10y ago
    Last month I saw a machine similar to this [1] at a trade show in Guangzhou, I asked some kids after they finished playing, they all loved it very much. [1] https://detail.1688.com/pic/536274760161.html?spm=0.0.0.0.J09JvZ https://detail.1688.com/pic/536274760161.html?spm=0.0.0.0.J0...
    - thedayisntgray 10y ago
      I'm pretty sure that vr headset is the HTC Vive. Check it out: https://www.google.com/search?q=htc+vr&espv=2&biw=1920&bih=966&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiZ_pa7h6PPAhWEOSYKHdj7ADgQ_AUICSgE#imgrc=12ObzoDMeia3RM%3A https://www.google.com/search?q=htc+vr&espv=2&biw=1920&bih=9...
      - kev6168 10y ago
yoshko 10y ago
Basic, but helpful for total beginners!
stinethebean 10y ago
Liv also just published a guide to joining the Virtual Reality Industry. I found it a fun and interesting read. Check it out at: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LLHGAX6/ https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LLHGAX6/

Glad to see the callout to QA your game with people who are outside of not only your physical experience (different heights, ability, VR tolerance, etc.) but also your personal experience (gender, life experiences, technology expertise). VR experiences can feel vastly more real than other games, and it can be jarring to have a presentation of the self consistently out of line with your own self image. Ensuring you present the player with either something comfortable for them, or something deliberately challenging (ie, if you are going to make the character you inhabit male, it should be a deliberate choice knowing that there may likely be significant discomfort for some of your audience.) Don't assume that a virtual body/archetype that you are comfortable with maps to something that everyone is comfortable with!

AndrewKemendo 10y ago

Interesting to see this coming from Microsoft as they are more firmly footed in the AR space than VR. Note that they promote non MS products (Rift/Vive, Unity/Unreal) - because they don't really have any. I think this points to MS really embracing cross-platform friendliness.

ryandamm 10y ago
Right now, all tethered VR projects are arguably MS-dependent; there's no way to run those headsets on OS X or Linux, as far as I know. So it's an ecosystem thing. And for sure, it seems that Microsoft is more interested in AR than VR. It's a big company, though. They get to do more than one thing at a time.
- aerique 10y ago
  Oculus used to provide drivers for Linux and OSX, up to v0.4 I think. (Around this time Facebook and Microsoft became involved but I do not know whether that had any influence.) Also, since Valve makes SteamOS which is basically Linux one would hope they'd make the Vive work on those platforms as well, but so far they have not :-(
  - pault 10y ago
    The vive doesn't work on steamos? That is... surprising.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

ngokevin 10y ago

Check out A-Frame (https://aframe.io https://aframe.io) for a super simple way to get started with VR in the browser. Even Liv who created this awesome introduction (almost a year ago) has been repping more WebVR at recent conference talks. Microsoft even recently announced intent to develop WebVR APIs for Microsoft Edge.

anjneymidha 10y ago
+1 to Kevin's note about Aframe - I've been building on it for a few months now, and can attest to it being the easiest entry point for devs with even the most basic chops. Plus Kevin and team run an awesome Slack group for devs that's very responsive. Here's a fun showcase of aframe projects: https://github.com/aframevr/awesome-aframe#scenes https://github.com/aframevr/awesome-aframe#scenes
moron4hire 10y ago
I can't wait for WebVR in Edge. They are doing it specifically to support Hololens. I recently did two projects for clients, a VR app in WebVR and an AR app in Unity. The ridiculously long compile and load times in Unity, plus the dual-headed editing experience of using the Unity editor and Visual Studio were significant impediments to the development process. In WebVR, I was significantly more productive because I could test so much faster, sometimes even tweaking settings on the fly without having to reload the app. Once Edge in Hololens gets WebVR, I can dump Unity and stick to my own framework, Primrose (https://primrosevr.com https://primrosevr.com)
asenna 10y ago
This looks pretty cool. I have a question for the VR developers here. I'm interested in content for architecture and a few other things, but is anyone seriously experimenting with content other than games? Maybe it's a bit too early.
- misslivirose 10y ago
  Healthcare and education are two of the big use cases I'm seeing outside of the gaming space. Architecture and real estate is another space that is seeing traction. Right now a lot of energy is going into improving how people work with 3D tooling (engines, 3D modeling and formats, etc) but I can say concretely that I see quite a few non-gaming projects and companies working in a number of verticals with VR.

return0 10y ago

Wondering what HN thinks about VR. Will it grow enough to be a big enough market ? Till now it seems to be less than what it was hyped to be.

anjneymidha 10y ago
China is and will continue to be the largest consumer VR market for the near term (1-2 yrs). By 2018, will likely have ~4M HTC Vives live in cyber cafes, arcades and malls, and ~10M stand alone and mobile VR headsets across tier 1 cities. The rough math is about a $8B high end hardware market, $2B mid to low end mobile VR hardware market, and $2-$3B in software services and game revenues. Almost all of the high quality, AAA games and apps will be produced by US/European studios for this period, for consumption largely by Chinese consumers. (edited to answer your original question more directly)
- m_mueller 10y ago
  Shouldn't Japan be a great market? People get familiarized with the PS VR and they have a thriving arcade culture.
- kev6168 10y ago
  Last month I saw a machine similar to this [1] at a trade show in Guangzhou, I asked some kids after they finished playing, they all loved it very much. [1] https://detail.1688.com/pic/536274760161.html?spm=0.0.0.0.J09JvZ https://detail.1688.com/pic/536274760161.html?spm=0.0.0.0.J0...
  - thedayisntgray 10y ago
    I'm pretty sure that vr headset is the HTC Vive. Check it out: https://www.google.com/search?q=htc+vr&espv=2&biw=1920&bih=966&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiZ_pa7h6PPAhWEOSYKHdj7ADgQ_AUICSgE#imgrc=12ObzoDMeia3RM%3A https://www.google.com/search?q=htc+vr&espv=2&biw=1920&bih=9...
    - kev6168 10y ago

yoshko 10y ago

Basic, but helpful for total beginners!

stinethebean 10y ago

Liv also just published a guide to joining the Virtual Reality Industry. I found it a fun and interesting read. Check it out at: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LLHGAX6/ https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LLHGAX6/