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[belbeeno]

Like it or not, VR is getting closer to becoming consumer accessible hardware and is already getting into the hands of both big-budget developers who can afford high end units AND shoe-string budget indies with models like the VR Smartview, Google Cardboard and the Gear VR which have Unity support out of the box.  This opens up a lot of potential for creative exploration of the VR space, but with it comes many new design challenges that need to be addressed.  Much like the early years of mobile games, I'm seeing a lot of design choices in the first generation of VR games that maybe made sense for other platforms but usually don't work in VR and in some cases can be down right harmful.

So let's talk about this!  It doesn't matter if you've just played a game or two or have been developing for years, my hope is that we can all discuss VR seriously!

Some things I'D like to discuss:

• What are some good rules of thumb and pitfalls to avoid when designing a VR game?
• What are some things that work on PC/console/mobile that you tried to carry over to VR?  How did that go?
• Are there things that some VR games do particularly well?
• What about VR games bugs you or makes you sick?  Any examples?
• How do we keep people comfortable in a game?  How do we avoid VR sickness?

[belbeeno]

I'll start it off with some of my findings, specifically on Cardboard:

Things to avoid

• Moving people when they aren't expecting it
• Constant acceleration
• A large HUD that's right up against the player's face with a moving 3D background
• Frame rate MUST be constant, and ideally as quick as possible
• Don't be a dick!  When players put on the headset they are also putting their trust in you, and nothing ruins VR for someone entirely like exploiting that opportunity to throw a jumpscare at someone.

I'm still trying to figure out what does work, but that seems to be a lot more work to find than mistakes. Much like with mobile though, a big focus initially will have to be on intuitive controls which become the standard.  What is VR's 'A to confirm, B to cancel', or hamburger button?  Do buttons even make sense in VR?  How about VR's equivalent to mobile pinching and swiping?  One example I've come across; people generally prefer nodding to confirm versus staring at a button because as it's a natural response to being asked a question.

[Evilperson]

While I can't speak from expierience as my low-end phone doesn't support Cardboard, I heard that people find that VR experiences with minimalistic or abstract graphics are less nauseating than those which favour realism.

Another more popular, and almost obvious design choice in First Person experiences is to not depict the protagonist's arms in the game. This makes me wonder if/when is someone going to introduce elbow tracking technology.

Another big limitation (until the Virtuix Omni becomes cheaper) is the fact that walking type movement might cause motion sickness. I think that is the main thing that will cause VR gaming to evolve just like smartphone gaming. You can already see cool projects that don't require movement of the legs (Notably Hover Junkers, Surgeon Simulator VR and the similiar Job Simulator 2050).
Oh yeah, and the wire stuck to the back of your head kinda limits the movement too.

[belbeeno]

Another more popular, and almost obvious design choice in First Person experiences is to not depict the protagonist's arms in the game.

Definitely; for the arms, IK matching the hands to the shoulder without tracking the players' elbow is a difficult problem.  If they're being tracked, rendering the hands (or some representation such as a gun, the actual controller, etc) is something that's quite common in current VR games.

I'm wondering now; are there many VR games that render the character's body or do most games just do a disembodied camera and maybe hands?  Do they limit the angle of rotation as you look down, or can the player look down far enough such that they can see into their own neck?  And if they do limit the angle of rotation, how does it feel as a player to try and look at an angle that the game doesn't allow?

Another big limitation (until the Virtuix Omni becomes cheaper) is the fact that walking type movement might cause motion sickness.

I don't feel like there's as much funding from the people with money going into things like the Virtuix Omni as there are going into just the VR headset and tracking for room-sized games.  I'm unsure if this will change, but my gut tells me if a developer could were to support something like the Virtuix Omni (on top of already going all in on VR) they can expect their audience to be the intersection of people interested in the game, people with the device in question (which will be fragmented the more headsets there are) AND people who have an Omni.  For the time being, I'm going to say that most of the lower end devices are going to have games that focus on either cockpit-style or on rails gameplay rather than a lot of walking...

It is worth noting that the space that people will be playing in may be restrictive.  As I'm living in a small apartment, were I to pick up a Vive or PS VR I doubt I'd pick up many games that had me do anything more than standing in place or seated on a stool.

[belbeeno]

Just as an addenda to the last post, I was just introduced to Budget Cuts, a game that gets around the restrictive walking space limitation by making heavy use of what I can only describe as the Translocator gun from Unreal Tournament.  Video seems cool, but also disorienting.  Plus, I'm curious about the accuracy of knife throwing, and how much of a learning curve there is to doing it repeatably.  Will have to try this to see how it feels and decide whether this is something we'll be seeing more of in the future of if it's just this game's gimmick.

Also, just as an observation (curious if y'all have seen this as well), but playtesters for VR physics games and particularly new playtesters LOVE to just throw shit around.  Like, if you can pick something up most peoples' first reaction is to try and either hurl it, lob it in the air and try to catch it, or toss it over their shoulder.  Anybody else noticing this?