VR Sea Legs – Update 6

The story:
You start in a gray and neutral place. You look around, and a voice begins to speak. She tells you that you are in Conversion. She guides you through the steps necessary to re-embody yourself in her experimental robotic host body, and you enter conventional reality in her laboratory. The mysterious voice is the Inventor, an experimenter in alternative sources of energy and dimensions, and she needs your help. You’ll run, fly, swim, and drive as you explore strange new worlds in your quest to restore power to the portals and get back to your real body.

Project status:
This week we added the foundation for the rest of the planned levels. The basic setup for each level now integrates all of our self-created systems: VR movement system, haptics system, grab and throw, crafting, and interaction system. We configured the movement system for each area and created a small test area in Procore to provide the starting point for future level blockouts. We also created our logo for the project (see image below).

Content Unlocked!
This week we have unlocked FPS Grounded and Rubber-band Grounded.

At this point in the flowchart diagram, the player has learned the basics of movement, including teleport and hand-guided movement with two speeds. They have learned to use the basics, feel pretty good about movement, and now we are ready to transition them into more traditional controls!

We consider these advanced movement systems because they require more thought than simply pointing and pressing a button.

FPS Grounded can use the head direction or controller as the forward direction, based on user choice, plus uses joystick direction for strafing. This leaves our hands free to do stuff like chomping, punching, or fighting your favorite zombie.

Rubber-band movement puts an anchor point down and allows you to control both direction and speed, just like an analog joystick. This VR joystick lets you move in 3 directions, and gives you the most precision in your movement controls.

Hey ya’ll prepare yourself for the Rubber-band!

Rubber-band movement does not require wrist movement in order to move in full 360, making it easier to move precisely… you can back up with intention, keeping movement completely under your control.

Up next: Advanced flight!