You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
Knowledge<br />
VRUK<br />
CloCkwise from left Using full-fat VR is clunky,<br />
and that’s before you factor in something such as<br />
Virtuix’s Omni; Samsung’s GearVR is currently the<br />
best commercially available VR headset; as well<br />
as key talks, VRUK provides numerous workshops<br />
FIRST PeRSon<br />
Virtual reality<br />
shouldn’t be looked<br />
at as a way to create<br />
more immersive<br />
versions of existing<br />
genres, Ashforth<br />
believes. “You can’t<br />
frame genres in the<br />
same way you used to,<br />
as the experience they<br />
offer in VR can be very<br />
different. My feeling is<br />
that it’s more natural,<br />
more immersive, less<br />
about emulating the<br />
experience through<br />
abstract mechanics<br />
and more about you<br />
aiming and ducking<br />
and reloading, just like<br />
in real life. You don’t<br />
empathise with your<br />
avatar so much as<br />
inhabit it. People say,<br />
‘Look at my hands.<br />
Look at my body!’<br />
They frame it as<br />
themselves being<br />
there in the scene.<br />
That’s a fundamentally<br />
different viewpoint<br />
than most<br />
entertainment<br />
experiences offer.”<br />
whales swim past, for example, or<br />
playing around with tiny robots in a doll’s<br />
house – also represent the most likely<br />
point of confluence as the borders that<br />
separate documentaries, film, music<br />
and videogames begin to disintegrate.<br />
“The majority of our work – 60 per<br />
cent – is brands and advertising,”<br />
Stuart explains. “But it’s happening<br />
already with us where we’re having to<br />
fuse videogame engines with 360-degree<br />
video content. I mean, I remember the<br />
early days when they started putting<br />
cinematic content in videogames – first<br />
it was cutscenes, and since then it’s<br />
gradually become more and more<br />
integrated. Virtual reality could be like<br />
that, but it can go anywhere – it can<br />
go crazy from here.”<br />
It’s a line of thinking that echoes<br />
throughout the conference. Jaunt VR’s<br />
Michael Frackers discusses the challenges<br />
of creating cinematic VR, while Masters<br />
Of Pie founder Matt Ratcliffe charts the<br />
evolution of storytelling from campfires to<br />
the concept of a holodeck. William<br />
Latham, visual artist and former CEO of<br />
The Thing and Evolva studio Computer<br />
Artworks Ltd, muses on what VR<br />
environments could do for his Organic Art<br />
software. And as if VR’s broad appeal<br />
hadn’t been underscored enough, the<br />
BBC’s Christopher Nundy discusses the<br />
process of placing viewers at the centre<br />
of Strictly Come Dancing’s dancefloor.<br />
Interactivity and presence, it would seem,<br />
will soon no longer be the clear-cut<br />
differentiators for videogames.<br />
As borders between art forms<br />
increasingly break down, and other<br />
media formats take on the production<br />
requirements more commonly associated<br />
with videogames, there are key lessons<br />
that can be learned from game makers’<br />
experience. But among these lessons are<br />
new challenges for studios, too, as set out<br />
in an enlightening presentation from<br />
Rebellion marketing and PR manager<br />
Robbie Cooke. While an<br />
industry famed for crunch<br />
cycles and poor diets isn’t<br />
known for its concern with<br />
employees’ health, Cooke<br />
reveals that the Sniper Elite<br />
and Battlezone 98 Redux<br />
studio has had to draw up<br />
guidelines for developers<br />
working with pre-release<br />
code – bugs and framerate<br />
issues are more than an irritation if you’re<br />
strapped into a headset. To this end,<br />
Rebellion limits its team to 20-minute test<br />
sessions, builds in UI warnings (a big<br />
green tortoise flashes up on screen when<br />
the refresh rate is misbehaving), and<br />
discourages commuters from driving or<br />
riding home straight after wearing a<br />
headset. But disoriented employees<br />
can also be a boon, he points out,<br />
as particularly sensitive devs (or, as he<br />
calls them, “canaries”) will represent<br />
a large portion of your audience.<br />
Ensure that what you’re making is<br />
“At this age they<br />
just think, ‘Of<br />
course Daddy’s<br />
got magic goggles<br />
where I can see<br />
my pet dinosaur’”<br />
comfortable for them, and you’ll likely be<br />
in a good position when the game ships.<br />
One demographic that shouldn’t have<br />
any trouble acclimatising is children.<br />
Fourthwall, which worked on Mattel’s VR<br />
update of the classic View-Master and is<br />
currently developing a pet-care game<br />
called Dream Horse, is one of the few<br />
studios focusing on the younger market.<br />
Company founder Chris Etches is<br />
confident that the sector will grow rapidly,<br />
and kids will adopt VR tech as quickly as<br />
they have touchscreens.<br />
“The first version of<br />
Dream Horse had a<br />
dinosaur because I<br />
happened to have a<br />
dinosaur model lying<br />
around,” he tells us after<br />
hosting a kids’ VR game<br />
design workshop. “My<br />
daughter’s only three, but<br />
she loved it. At this age<br />
they just think, ‘Of course Daddy’s got<br />
magic goggles where I can go see my<br />
pet dinosaur.’ Very quickly, boys and<br />
girls who’ve played Tamagotchi or any<br />
pet-care games are going to get this.”<br />
But designing VR games for children<br />
comes with an additional set of problems<br />
– not least the perceived health risks. “The<br />
View-Master is a smart move by Mattel,”<br />
Etches continues. “There’s no head strap,<br />
and no drilled hole for headphone jacks,<br />
because you’re not supposed to wear<br />
headphones, you’re not supposed to<br />
keep it on your head. This is for holding<br />
10
Change language