Post on 16-Apr-2017
Title
Virtual Reality gaming: analysis of Yon Paradox developmentAuthor: Fabio Mosca AnotheReality
MILAN 25-26 NOVEMBER 2016
About me
CTO at AnotheRealityGame designer & programmerVR designer & addictedUsed the Oculus DK1 for 45 minutes at the first time, without suffering sickness
Summary Today well talk about:
Summary Today well talk about:What seated VR implies for your design
Summary Today well talk about:What seated VR implies for your designUnderstanding simulator sickness
Summary Today well talk about:What seated VR implies for your designUnderstanding simulator sicknessCase history: Yon Paradox
Summary Today well talk about:What seated VR implies for your designUnderstanding simulator sicknessCase history: Yon ParadoxSupporting both VR and normal PC
Summary Today well talk about:What seated VR implies for your designUnderstanding simulator sicknessCase history: Yon ParadoxSupporting both VR and normal PCDesign choices in Yon Paradox driven by VR
Summary Today well talk about:What seated VR implies for your designUnderstanding simulator sicknessCase history: Yon ParadoxSupporting both VR and normal PCDesign choices in Yon Paradox driven by VRPerformance issues
Summary Today well talk about:What seated VR implies for your designUnderstanding simulator sicknessCase history: Yon ParadoxSupporting both VR and normal PCDesign choices in Yon Paradox driven by VRPerformance issuesResults: what went well, what didnt
Summary Today well talk about:What seated VR implies for your designUnderstanding simulator sicknessCase history: Yon ParadoxSupporting both VR and normal PCDesign choices in Yon Paradox driven by VRPerformance issuesResults: what went well, what didntTakeaway
What seated VR implies for your design
What seated VR implies for your designSEATED Fixed position
What seated VR implies for your designSEATED Fixed position
No movement (both inside and ouside the game)Actions strictly bound to your gaze (or hand controllers)
Limitations come from head movements and arms tiredness
What seated VR implies for your design
SEATED 1 person movement
What seated VR implies for your designSEATED 1 person movement
No movement outside the game, movement insideAutomatic movement or directed by controlelrs
This mode is subject to simulator sickness, expecially if not well handled.Movement is key both to succeed and fail
What seated VR implies for your designSEATED 1 person movement
No movement outside the game, movement insideAutomatic movement or directed by controlelrs
This mode is subject to simulator sickness, expecially if not well handled.Movement is key both to succeed and fail
Also 3 person movement
What seated VR implies for your designRoomscale experiences
Lo sviluppo di Edge Guardian VRMarco Giammetti, Maurizio Tatafiore
Understanding simulator sickness
Understanding simulator sickness
To know your Enemy, you must become your Enemy Sun TzuHuman specs: 3 motion-sensing systemsVisual ( eyes detect vection )Vestibular ( inner ear )Proprioceptive ( body sensation )
Normally, the three systems agree.
Understanding simulator sickness
Simulator SicknessIn VR theres only visual illusion- Room scale with real locomotion GoodVirtual locomotion VectionVection: visual cues, but not the other 2
Body interprets sensory mismatch as poisoning and reacts by purging.
PLEASE DO NOT FIGHT IT.
Understanding simulator sickness
Until we get those, we have to find our workarounds!
Understanding simulator sickness
Eletric signals to your vestibular system?
Case history: Yon Paradox
Case history: Yon Paradox
Case history: Yon Paradox
Yon Paradox is a survival puzzle game where the hardest puzzle is yourself. Set in a cyber dimension, an antimatter-powered time machine broke, causing periodical time rewinds. You will have to solve riddles to repair the time machine, while avoiding your past alter-egos to not create paradoxes.Released on Steam from 06 May 2016. It supports Oculus and HTC Vive, as a seated experience
Case history: Yon Paradox
Yon Paradox is a game born for VR: we were able to make it run on a Sapphire Radeon 7850 at 90 FPS on the Oculus CV1. You can imagine then how smooth is without an headset
Supporting both VR and normal PC
Supporting both VR and normal PC
Supporting both VR and normal PC
Market & Revenue:130M users on Steam150K 200K VR users ( estimates of Oculus and HTC Vive)Gameplay Design: Experience needs to be good both in VR and on PCUsually VR has more limitations and problems: better to start from VR design and then migrate to desktop version.
User testing: Double testing: need to test both in VR and desktopVR testing is troublesome: needs lot of time for check simulator sickness, requires bulky and expensive hardware).
Supporting both VR and normal PC
Design choices in YonParadox driven by VR
Design choices in YonParadox driven by VR
The problem: performanceVirtual reality is performance hungry. Target is 90 frames per second, 2160 x 1440 resolution, without frame drops.
Design choices in YonParadox driven by VR
The problem: performanceVirtual reality is performance hungry. Target is 90 frames per second, 2160 x 1440 resolution, without frame drops. Our solution: aesthetic
A graphic style that does not require lights (all is unlit)
Close to no textures ( 130MB download from Steam)
Worked only on shaders
Design choices in YonParadox driven by VR
Our solutionWe started to design the graphic style starting from this.
Design choices in YonParadox driven by VR
Our solutionBefore: standard toon shaders, with static light
Now: custom shaders, no lights.
Design choices in YonParadox driven by VR
Our solutionAntichamber:Prevalence of white / light colors.
In VR means more pixels turned on, more strain on the eye
This isnt a real problem, but having the screen darker is a bonus for who plays in VR extensively
Design choices in YonParadox driven by VR
Results
The aesthetic initially thought for performance saving has turned in a strong selling point of the game.
Players who tried the desktop game naturally think that this is a VR game
Design choices in YonParadox driven by VR
The problemAs a first person game in a large space, locomotion is required. The game is prone to cause motion sickness, and we cannot really use teleport since it breaks the core gameplay of the clones and paradoxes.
Design choices in YonParadox driven by VR
The problemAs a first person game in a large space, locomotion is required. The game is prone to cause motion sickness, and we cannot really use teleport since it breaks the core gameplay of the clones and paradoxes.Our solution
Movement with constant speed.
Rotation rachets to turn your head, simulating the eye blinking
Level design without any vertical movement
Design choices in YonParadox driven by VR
Our solution
Confort mode / rotation rachets
Design choices in YonParadox driven by VR
Our solution
Constant movement speed, without accelerations
Design choices in YonParadox driven by VR
Our solutionLevel design of the environment tailormade, without using any external asset.
All the game is on the same height level. No uphills / downhills, and no ability to jump.
Design choices in YonParadox driven by VR
ResultsEven if during our playtests we had very few people that got VR sickness (less than 5 people on 100), on Steam all the bad reviews come from the ones who had nausea.
Design choices in YonParadox driven by VR
The problemHow do you show information in a VR UI? We do not have a screen with corners. Where would you put information?
Design choices in YonParadox driven by VR
The problemHow do you show information in a VR UI? We do not have a screen with corners. Where would you put information?Our solution
Diegetic UI
Menus made only with 3D elements
Design choices in YonParadox driven by VR
Our solution
See the hourglasses? Theyre placed in the game context, and give you information about how much time before a time jump.Thats what diegetic means!
Design choices in YonParadox driven by VR
Our solutionMain menu, pause menu and [spoiler] credits are entirely made with 3D modelling, instead of 2D icons and text. This is to make the most of the Oculus / Vive, where you can lean forward and backward.
Design choices in YonParadox driven by VR
ResultsAfter a lot of iterations in all various levels, the UI is self-explanatory enough to be understood to all our target users.
The only UI not working well yet is in the astrolabium, probably due to the lack of animation.The UI works perfectly also for desktop gameplay
Takeaway
Takeaway
Takeaway
VR in games forces you to find workarounds for performance. Use them as a strong point. Games in VR does not require absolutely photorealism.
Users who get some motion sickness will surely write a bad review about this. People without sickness wont write a good review because of that.Tell your users very clearly about this, or give them various options to choose for the movement.
TakeawayThe experience you make developing games in VR, the constraints, the users is easily converted for B2B VR applications, which have a real market, NOW.
Consider to make games prone for commercial licenses (Arcades / VR caf), which is an exploding market right now.
Ready to join the VR Community?
Thanks!
MILAN 25-26 NOVEMBER 2016
All pictures belongto their respective authorsfabio@anotherealityvr.comwww.AnotheRealityVR.comTwitter: @GounemondFacebook: AnotheRealityInterested in VR? You can join the Virtual Reality Milano Meetup!