Back with another blog post, and for Mission 7, I am being a bit more ambitious than usual. I did all three sub-sections Watch, Play, and Think, and here is my thoughts on the Social World in VR. I will start out writing about Rec Room, a social VR app that is absolutely awesome, then about Mark Zuckerberg’s VR Announcement in 2017, and ending on my predictions on the future of VR/AR Social.

Rec Room is a Virtual Reality app that allow you to connect with friends, play games, learn languages and in general enjoy a social immersive experience. It is my favorite VR social app because of 3 reasons:

• It’s absolutely free to download and play, the only thing you need is a VR headset.
• It’s very easy to get the hang of the environement, great for all levels.
• There are a ton of UGC (user-generated content ) that players have free access to.

In class , we tried out a VR Paintball Room within Rec Room, very similar to Call of Duty except it’s in VR. It got intense really fast, and I felt as if I was in that battlefield fighting the opponents. By that, I got a very good sense of immersion from the game. All the features and main functions worked as how I imagine a Paintball VR would work, so kudos to the Rec Room team!

Mark Zuckerberg , Cofounder and CEO of Facebook, did a keynote on some of the VR-related projects that they have been cooking up. Specifically, he separated all VR devices into 2 groups: Stationary & Mobile. I did talked a bit more about the differences between the two groups in the last post, but the name are self-explainatory. Basically, Stationary VR, like Occulus Rift and HTC Vive, are very powerful devices which needed to be connected to a powerful computer, allow developeres to write crazy programs, modify the contents and so on. On the other end of the spectrum, Mobile VR, like the Occulus Quest and Go, offer more mobility in their design -light-weight and compact- and isn’t tied into a computer system, yet you lose some of the powerful developing functionality. The trick is to find a sweet spot in the middle, where power and mobility reach equilibrium.

In my opinion, the Occulus Quest is that sweet spot in VR device spectrum: it’s not too expensive ($450), offer majority functions compare to the Rift, and very lightweight and mobile. I might invest in a VR device for myself in the future, although I heard rumors that the next generation of VR is coming out real soon.

Mark Zuckerberg said in his talk that VR is the future, just like smartphone was the future of brick phones, or Tesla was the future of generic car. It’s a medium where people can connect together and feel as if they are really there, where a gap of distance or waste of transportation can be removed, where the impossible become possible. i find that very similar to why i am so invested in VR technology. Although Mark did not explicitly say, he believes that VR would definitely be the next platform for Facebook (Facebook VR) to be thriving.

What are some of the ways that people might use social VR in the future? 

With the goal of getting 1 Billion people on VR in the next few years, Mark Zuckerberg will have to make VR affordable to everyone. An Occulus Go, cheap & mobile, does not offer 360 head movements and tends to make people sick when in it for a long time. An Occulus Rift, on the other hand, cost about $599 , or the HTC Vive, cost about $799, plus the powerful computer on top of that, aren’t so affordable for everyone. But, being in VR would completely change how people will interact with each other. I can’t express enough how mind-blowing being in VR is like until you actually try it.

What are the uses that are most likely to be successful or achieve mass adoption? 

• Educational purposes:replacing boring textbooks with VR experiences with immersive experiences
• Jobs : simulate first-hand on-the-job experience, simulate expensive/dangerous / impossible trip like going to the Moon or landing an airplane.
• Communication purposes: reduce transportation time, brings people all around the world together
• Art : Artists like Scobot has changed the way we look at a drawing forever, and it will soon be changed as technology & people discover this new system.
• Gaming : VR Gaming has taken a huge stride in the last few years, and I would love to see where it will go in the future

Are there any technical obstacles that still need to be overcome, if so, what are they? 

Financial: it would love to have VR to be a bit cheaper than what it is right now, but I’m sure prices will go down as population increase their demands.

Accessability: Refering to what Mark Zuckerberg said in his talk, Occulus Rift (Stationary) VR devices are still limited in term of space and movement. There needs to be an improvement in the design soon if VR needs to take to the next step.

Accessories: Right now, there are only a few accessories that comes with VR devices. I would love to see more of them, like a driving wheel for VR Racing Games, or guns or similar simulating objects.

To conclude, I find VR very interesting, and would love to see more of them in the future. I believe it will make a big change in the world, positively and permanently.

Best,

VN

I’m a little behind on the missions, but better late than never! For this week Mission, I decided to go with the Watch option, which is to watch a talk from Don Carson, one of the concept artists for Disney theme parks, who later started to work more frequently with virtual, rather than physical worlds. In this talk from UX Week 2013, Don talks about his journey from building real worlds to building virtual ones, and shares some lessons that theme parks can teach us when we look at storytelling in virtual spaces. 

First off, it’s fascinating to hear someone with first-hand experience in design Disneyland theme park. I grew up watching Mickey Mouse and Goofy, and just a few years ago I was fortunate enough to attend Disneyland theme park with my family. The place was so big it took us an entire day to scratch a corner of it. I even noticed different smells, lighting, and sounds that created a magical and intriguing atmospherics. It’s my honor now to know the guy behind that great work, at least some of it. Even though he wasn’t the smoothest talker in the world, he express such deep passion about his work from the Disneyland themepark, MIST themepark-based game , or the newest ‘Tiki Archeture’ – hawaiian-themed VR experience.

I already got a dip into his creative process, and how some of the creation was made. He started out with a 3D-vision in his mind, then draw it out on paper as he goes. He paid lots of attention to details, in term of scales, color, and/or positions of objects. All of that was to communicate with different parts of the team , whether graphic designer, programmers, architectures, etc, so they can get the bigger picture right away. i like how he went the extra miles to include others in his project, which is fantastic. Then, he either rendered the 2D model into Unity/Unreal to see how things scale and position very quickly, as he said a 2D Model on paper can turn into 3D in Unity within as short as a week; or he hands over the 2D design into the architectures, which will soon turn that idea into a bricks&stone project at a physical theme park. His original model was detailed enough to allow that flexibility in the industry, making him a superior theme park designer.

I definitely learned something from this talk, and looking forward to next week’s mission!

Best,

VN

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In this week’s mission, I will be talking about an article called “Making Great VR: Six Lessons Learned From I Expect You To Die” by Jesse Schell, a lead developer and UX designer for the experience of the same name. I believe he had a lot of interesting insight to share, so i’ll try my best to summarize those key point here on this post so the reader don’t have to. Basically, there were a lot of useful knowledge in this article, at the same time they were a lot of ambiguous and far-fetched ideas that I will have to slowly digest.

Lesson one: motion sickness can be eliminated

Since virtual reality is trying to mimic the real world, in some degree, any discrepancies between the two world can cause an unpleasant experience known as in general as ‘motion sickness’. When there is a slight disconnection, as in shaking camera movement or low resolution, the user can experence slight headache, dizziness or loss of balance. When taken to the extreme, as when your brain thinks that you’re moving but your body say otherwise, the discrepancies can cause some to vomit, have serizure or faint. That, of course, varies from person to person, but as VR designer and developers, we have the responsibility to minimize that as much as possible.Jesse pointed out some of the key point that could help minimize these unpleasant effects:

• Low frame rates. By low, he means anything below 60 FPS, as the brain can easily tell that the experience s fake. Trust me, it won’t be fun to play that game.
• Avoid virtual camera movement. Your vision dictates how your body reacts, and when your eyes tell you that you;re moving but in fact you’re staying still, that disconnection can , again, cause motion sickness.

Lesson two: Design for the Medium

As a VR designer, it;s very important hat we know the strength and weakness of our platform so that we can cater our application accordingly. In VR world, you get a really strong sense of place, the ability to touch and manipulate objects, and even connect on an interpersonal level with others. On the other hand, it’s terrible with different camera view, sudden change of scene and fast acceleration. By maximizing the strength and minimizing the weakness, we will create the best experience for the user to, again, avoid motion sickness.

Lesson three: immersion is more important than gameplay

By immersion, Jesse define that as having a sense of place as if you’re really there yourself. Imagine you walk into a friends house, food is cooking in the kitchen, everybody’s talking at the dinner table, fireplace is warmly lit and illuminate the entire house. You instantly get a sense of belonging: immersion. The art of creating an experience in VR is emulating that very sense of place so the user really immerse in the experience .

Lesson four: looking around takes getting used to

Yes we have mostly grown up with flat screen TV and iPhone screens, most of the application design in the last 40 years are on a flat surface. We are so used to just staring into the screen, with everything displayed in front of our eyes. Now with the creation of ER, the user has to look around to explore the entire world, which might take some getting used to at first, but they are over that learning curve, VR World is much more superior than flat-surface (2D) Design. There are much more room to work with for the developers!

Lesson five: Different VR platforms enables very different experiences

In this fairly new age of technology, there are basically two types of VR devices: stationary & mobile. Sationary VR would be connected to a powerful computer, like the Occulus Rift or HTC Vive, allowing user to develop & experience more RAM-heavy, GB-storing games and apps, yet, stionary VR restrict the movement and space that the user can inhabit. Mobile VR, like the Occulus Quest or Google Daydream, allow full 360 degree motions & sight, yet it is not as powerful as its counteroart, and limited developing and extensions. By knowing which VR type is out there, developers and designers can create the best suitable and pleasant application accordingly,

Lesson six: iterative process is crucial

Making a game is all about trial and error. There will be hundreds of hours of coding, hours of play testing, spotting & fixing bugs and making the game overall more fun to play. All of that takes time, but good developers and designers are the one patient enough to follow through with the process, and adapt to new technologies as they come around.

These six lessons, while massively summarized here on this post, act as the foundation in designing and developing any application, game or experience within Virtual Reality Realm. A good developer know when to use what , and vice versa. I hope you learned something out of this post, as I surely did, in your coding journey. To conclude, I would like to quote a famous principle that I find very crucial in the creation process, in 2D, 3D, VR, or even life in general. It’s called the ‘4F’ , made popular by Jason Vandenbergh : Fail Fast, and Follow the Fun…

Cheers to a bright future of technology & creativity!

VN

For this week’s mission, I decided to watch a throwback 80’s or 90’s movie with VR as a main theme. As the concept of Virtual Reality was quite popular in that era, lots of “virtual reality movies” was created to accommodate for the curious & rebellious audience who wants more than just an ordinary film. With 1080p resolution, decent recording equipments and limitless creativity, some of the best movies are made in this era, including the Matrix, Pulp Fiction, Titanic, etc. that has defined the decade and has set out to change the film industry once and for all.

The movie that I watched this week is called “The Lawnmower Man” (1992) , a sci-fi movie based on the novel by Stephen King with the same name, that takes the concept of Virtual Reality to the next level. The question repeats itself several times as how can we use Virtual Reality to “upgrade” the human cognitive behavior / conciousness, where would be the limit and how would we know when to stop. Even in the 90s, people have already realized that this technology isn’t just all fun and games. One wrong code or action could potential take away someone’s life.

The movie starts out quite slow, with a scientist in a semi-sketchy lab trying out a new formula that he is experimenting that he think could eventually help the humankind to push/define the limits of our 3-dimensional world, a common theme in many of these VR-centered movies. I find it fascinating because it was created in the late 1980 – early 1990s and a lot of its prediction turns out to be quite accurate. And just to see how they created the actually equipments back in the days was nice, i.e the VR headsets, the connecting cords, the bionic suits, the omni-directional hamsterwheel – which you can hook in your arms and legs, and essentially become one with the Virtual World. The mad scientist , Dr. Angelo, was a neighbor to an average Joe, who is known to have a mind of a 10-year-old. Joe was a son of a farmer, he was working out on the farm and mowing the lawn everyday as so he did get ripped. Some girl actually liked him before he got his “superintelligence” as Joe was a decent-looking guy with a good frame and lots of strength. Even so, I have to admit that Joe was looking quite crazy with his hair undone!

One day, Dr. Angelo asked if Joe wanted to play a game. Out of curiosity, Joe was like “Hell yea! I wanna play a game”, so Joe & Peter went at each other at a rocket-racing game. There were obstacles that they had to dodge, curves and corners that they have to maneuver around, plus a few cool features that regular 2D game just couldn’t deliver. It was a pretty interesting game 🙂 Joe lost, and he got butthurt, indeed so butthurt that he didn’t want to do anything else. Fastfoward to the point where Dr.Angelo tells Joe there is a game that could boost Joe’s intelligence. Joe was tired of people calling him dumb and akward, so that gave him a status quo to overcome. From my perspective, Joe was more innocent than dumb, which people mistaken him as. So, Joe decided to take the serums that Dr.Angelo just created which boosted his intelligence.

Soon after, his intelligence allowed him to do superficial things he couldn’t before, like driving a car, seducing women, kinetic abilities etc. Not long after, Joe’s intelligence got the better of him and he decided his consciousness to the “NET”. This guy is crazy!! He thinks of himself as a god. He started terrorizing people with his god-like superficial abilities, or in other words, revenge against the people who did him wrong before he got powers. A reverse role of villians and superheros are quite interesting. Dr.Angelo was supposedly be the villian with several PhD & personal Lab, Joe was a poor farmboy with ill-wit intelligence; and as the movie progresses, Joe became a villian with crazy superpower, and Dr. Angelo “fixing his mistakes” , trying to help Joe to become civil again. The movie takes me on a rollercoaster of emotions, some good, some bad, but mostly excited the whole time to witness what is about to happen next. Although the quality of product is fair incomparision to today’s technology, I find it beautiful made and full of wonderful details! Thanks James & Bruce for offering a chance to watch movie for credit, and I’m looking forward to a hopeful quarter.