Superhot VR is an independent first-person shooter (FPS) video game developed and published by Superhot Team. The game originated as an entry in the 2013 7 Day FPS Challenge, which Superhot Team expanded into a browser-based demonstration that September. In August 2019, A rebuilt version of the game to better support virtual reality, Superhot VR, was released for the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and PlayStation VR headset devices.
SUPERHOT VR Launch Teaser
Why this game is engaging:
SUPERHOT is a first-person view shooting game that breaks the line between careful strategy and daring fighting. The concept of the game is very engaging. In the game, time only continues when the player moves, and this clever concept of time manipulation gives the player the superhuman reflexes of a slow-motion hero. At the same time, at the end of each level, players can also enjoy and save the movement with the regular timeline.
The level design of SUPERHOT-VR is also engaging. Each level is only the size of the player’s movable range in the real world, allowing the player to move freely in the VR world without causing the player to feel VR motion sickness. Furthermore, each level was divided into several trim levels. Carefully observe each trim level to find the previous level’s route, making the game feel linear even though there are many levels.
At the same time, the art style of SUPERHOT-VR is also very engaging. All items and enemies are displayed in the form of polyhedrons. Every time the player kills an enemy, the enemy will be broken into smaller pieces. This art style can not only give players the pleasure of smashing glass but also reduce the requirements for the host and allow more players to play this game.
What Can Be Improved:
One of the shortcomings is that the game production team needed to add more save points. The production team hopes to let players experience each primary level’s linear flow and story. But players will have a strong sense of frustration when they die because once they die, they will need to start all over again. I often get killed by the last enemy and replay the same level again when I play.
Another point that can be optimized is that there are only few weapons in the game, only individual melee weapons (katana, fist, etc), throwing weapons (wine bottles, wine glasses, etc.), and some firearms (pistols, shotguns, etc). It’s also missing random events to change each level at different times. The game only support story and endless mode. These make the process of each game similar, and players will inevitably feel bored in repeated games.
Conclusion:
Superhot VR’s ingenious concept of time manipulation allows players unparalleled reflexes. Smashing wave after wave of glassy enemies while deftly dodging threats with body movement is an exciting and worthwhile challenge in both stories and endless modes.
Citation:
Stapleton, D. (2017, August 4). Superhot VR Review. IGN. Retrieved January 19, 2023, from https://www.ign.com/articles/2017/08/04/superhot-vr-review
Superhot VR on steam. SUPERHOT VR on Steam. (n.d.). Retrieved January 19, 2023, from https://store.steampowered.com/app/617830/SUPERHOT_VR/
YouTube. (2016, December 5). Superhot VR release trailer. YouTube. Retrieved January 19, 2023, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzG7Wc6mbwE
YouTube. (2019, May 21). Superhot VR Quest launch teaser. YouTube. Retrieved January 19, 2023, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9qNP5EPFEE
Tentacular is a VR game released by Devolver Digital where you are a giant tentacle kaiju monster. Raised alongside the humans the story begins on your 16th birthday. You become an official citizen of the island of La Kalma and have to do adult things like getting applying for jobs. Hopefully, you will be to prove to yourself that you can be an outstanding adult.
Why is Tentacular engaging?
First of all the premise and aesthetics is quite silly, childish, and playful which is something look for when I am taking a break from studying. This is what initially hooked me into the game.
The game’s main loop is puzzles/minigames are heavily physics-based. Mini-games include things like projectile motion and angry birds style that happen when buildings and ships get thrown around. This is fun for me to watch because of the randomness that happens when two physical objects interact. While fun to watch, physics also makes you feel more immersed in this world. It feels like objects have a sense of weight when you can interact with them. Additionally, the tentacles wiggle which makes you feel like a tentacle monster.
In this game, there is some freedom to do what you want. Unlike what it seems at first glance, you are supposed to be the gentle giant in the town, but you as a player have a choice to wreak havoc and destroy things you aren’t supposed to. The game doesn’t feel too restrictive and at the end, you have this sandbox mode where you can do what you want.
Specific features I liked / What can be improved?
This game has a fair bit of dialogue. I liked how we initiate interactions with characters by tapping the top of their head with our tentacle. It makes it feels more immersive despite the cartoonish graphics because we feel like we are getting a direct response to our actions (vs pointing in their general direction and then tapping a button. This was also possible because the tentacles extend from your controller past your actual hands, there was no need to “teleport” the object towards your in-game hands/tentacles.
I also like how a speech bubble appears that seems to be attached to the person talking. The sentences are also purposefully made extremely short with big clear text, usually under 6-8 words at any given time to ensure readability. Additionally, you can tap them again to speed up/ mute their text in case you get bored like me.
One downside to this system was that you have to be looking at the bubble to understand what the NPC is saying since there was no true voice acting. The “voice acting” was random gibberish sounds like the Wii characters. There are parts of the game where someone is talking to you while you have to look somewhere else to complete the current timed task. This can be frustrating if you are someone who doesn’t want to miss dialogues.
One interesting thing I got when reading an interview with the developer was that having giant monsters’ main characters were tricky [1] . If the monster was too big, it would translate to you as the monster mostly looking down at the floor which will be annoying for your neck muscles. They had chosen the tentacle monster because the partial submerging into the water made it more comfortable to play as the city is at chest level. This height is also adjustable in the settings.
What is Wanderer VR?
Wanderer is a time-traveling puzzle Adventure in a post-apocalyptic world you find yourself at your grandfather’s apartment. You find a talking time-traveling watch that will guide you throughout history to prevent the collapse of society. The game mostly features escape room-like puzzles with the occasional action sequences sprinkled in. To progress, you would have to transport items between periods to solve many puzzles
Why is Wanderer VR engaging?
Initially clicked on this game because it looked realistic from the youtube thumbnail. The background in some scenes in the post-apocalyptic settings is relatively high fidelity which adds to the immersion. As someone who hasn’t owned VR yet, it looks like it would be very immersive.
As this is a puzzle game, I liked that most reviews say that the challenge level is appropriate. The puzzles themselves look interesting because you have a limited inventory. There are more items than you can hold onto in every location, so when you time travel between periods, you have to plan for what to take with you. In addition, you have to make mental notes of what you could use for future problems. This is an upgrade from the real-life escape rooms that I have experienced.
The game is also heavily physicalized. You can move all the items that you can put in your inventory. And also they are random items around the game that you can grab and throw. If you throw books at windows they will shatter and break. This helps with the immersion of us feeling like we are really in that world vs in most flat-screen games that I play, where I have the general assumption that most things in the environment can be grabbed unless they are outlined green/overlayed with yellow/ has a [Press E to interact] message.
There is no HUD in this game, all the UI is found glued onto your smart time traveling watch. This helps to make a more immersive experience by minimizing distractions.
This game also has a great sound design. The spatial design of sound helps to add to the immersion because you can hear the directions most sounds come from and leaning over to NPCs can make the voice lines louder.
One feature I liked is that it has a menu for “comfort settings” where you can adjust things that would make you motion sick in VR. For example, Smooth-turn off and teleport moving. There is also distance grabbing which means you don’t have to touch an object to grab it, making it a more convenient experience even though it is not 100% realistic.
What can be improved?
When distance grabbing is turned on, players sometimes accidentally grab random faraway objects when the hands close around the index controller. This could be improved by maybe having needed to press the trigger button to initiate a grab.
The character/NPC animations could also be improved. Given the fidelity of the environment design, it betrayed expectations when the quality of the NPCs did not match.
References
[1]I. SESSION, “Interview with Firepunchd: Info on Tentacular for PSVR2!!,” YouTube. Jan. 13, 2023. Accessed: Jan. 19, 2023. [YouTube Video]. Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLilqqCEx5g
When I was first exposed to VR games, my friend told me that Beat Saber was absolutely the first choice for experiencing VR games. So my first VR experience was the Beat Saber game based on the Huawei VR Glass 6DoF device. This immersive VR game experience brought me a very memorable and unique experience. After that I also conducted a more in-depth investigation and understanding of VR games and equipment, the following will talk about my feelings and thoughts about the VR game itself and the VR wearable device.
Beat Saber – A Go-to for Introducing Anyone to Virtual Reality Games
Introduction
Beat Saber is a virtual reality music game developed by Beat Games, a Czech independent game developer, in 2018. The game takes place in a surreal neon environment where players use a pair of contrasting colored sabers to cut through squares representing musical beats. It become the highest-rated game on Steam less than a week after its early access release and was awarded Best VR/AR Game in The Game Awards 2019.
Why I like the VR
Unlike the usual games I’ve played, Beat Saber illustrates the appeal of VR technology to the fullest. Using a pair of red and blue lightsabers that appear in my hands, I can cut through oncoming red and blue squares with precision, along with a dynamic rhythm. The process of constantly honing my skills and turning a haphazard action into a precise strike not only gave me a sense of accomplishment, but also gave my body a workout. In this game to have a game of pleasure in the sense of pleasure naturally speaks for itself. When I stepped on the dynamic beat, holding a red and blue lightsaber to precisely turn the square in front of me into two, this is the closest experience I’ve ever felt to Jedi Knight.
Why it is Engaging
First of all, Beat Saber has a very attractive soundtrack. The game’s soundtrack is carefully selected by the production team, and all of the music has a strong sense of motion and rhythm, including snare drum, bass, hip-hop, rock and other styles of music. Players can’t help but shake their bodies when they hear the music and want to carry on to the next song after playing one. Another engaging feature of this game is the tactile feedback. When hitting the block with the lightsaber simulated by the handle, the handle will then send out a subtle sense of vibration, and each player’s action can get the corresponding feedback. This sense of achievement with feedback can bring a great mood of pleasure.
What features are well done
The theme painting style and color tone of the game
Beat Saber is dominated by two main colors, red and blue, and the main scene is in the form of a dark field with deep lines spreading out in front of the player, bringing a sense of space. The entire game has very science fiction elements of cyberpunk painting style, as well as the gorgeous flow of light effects, the entire game screen looks very dynamic. This form of a dark field will allow players to feel a sense of mystery, and the most important thing is not to take up too much rendering space.
A sense of immersion experience
The immersive experience is the most essential and magical part of VR games, and Beat Saber brings players a direct immersive experience through exquisite scene modeling and rhythm pattern changes, along with scene changes such as dodging walls and bombs. The player’s every movement can get the corresponding feedback, and the fixed-point game to avoid players produce motion sickness. For example, if an oncoming obstacle – the wall, you have to avoid direct impact by crouching or dodging, otherwise it will be game over.
How some features can be improved
A single fixed script lacks the uniqueness of the main character
Beat Saber is oriented more toward a leisure and fitness mini-game, so it lacks the completeness and complexity of the screenplay. And as the main character of the game, we can not decide the development of the screenplay based on behavior. Perhaps the future of VR games is to achieve the game of each complete script completed by the player’s personal participation, the game designer just designed a virtual environment and defines some events. How the specific plot development, each player may not be quite the same. Just like in Westworld, it will be up to the players to complete their own stories in the future, and the designers will just create an environment for the players to happen.
Gameplay is relatively simple
In Beat Saber, each time you cut the block there will be laser splashes, bringing very realistic feedback. But in fact, this game is fundamentally a game of cutting blocks, and its gameplay is very single. Players only need to wave their arms and cut the cubes, and did not highlight the uniqueness of VR to the game. It is believed that as VR technology continues to mature, as well as facial recognition, gesture recognition, full-body motion recognition and other technology support, VR games will have a more natural interaction process. The game experience will also move in the direction of more immersive, which are not available before the traditional game. This is also the direction that VR game developers need to work on, and is what players are looking forward to.
Conclusion
Beat Saber as an entry-level VR game, with exquisite game scenes, and high-definition picture quality, combined with innovative red and blue lightsaber chopping cube gameplay. But behind the success of this game is a certain degree of neglect of the uniqueness of VR games. VR games should more focus on unprecedented immersion and natural interaction with reality, which are different from traditional 2D and 3D platform games.
Huawei VR Glass 6DoF
Introduction
Huawei VR glasses 6DoF is Huawei’s product based on the previous 3DoF glasses released in 2021. In addition to the 3 rotation angles, 6DoF VR glasses can also be displaced back and forth, left and right, up and down, so you can really integrate into the virtual world and interact with all kinds of things, as Huawei said at the launch, “more than just watching movies”.
Why I like the VR
This is the first VR glasses I’ve come across, and it’s also the preferred device for HarmonyOS mobile users to experience VR, and it gives me a very unique immersive experience. I can freely explore the universe, immerse myself in the beauty of the world, integrate my body into the virtual world to interact with it, and experience games that I have not experienced before.
Why it is Engaging
Most of the VR devices we have seen are helmet-shaped, while Huawei VR Glass has taken a different approach by separating the battery and computing chip from the headset, thus being able to make the product so thin and light that it looks like a very stylish pair of premium sunglasses.
What features are well done
Lightweight and convenient to bring
The biggest advantage of Huawei VR glasses is that they are lightweight. The phone can be held in your hand or put in your pocket, so there is no cord tied to it. Because the glasses are very light, even if you wear them for a long time, your nose will not hurt (but if you wear them incorrectly for a long time, you will feel pressure on your head, simply adjust them a little).
Good viewing experience
The resolution of Huawei VR glasses is relatively high, although the crystal lattice is perceptible in the process of use, and there is a sense of limited perspective, the 3D film and Huawei VR glasses are very high adaptability. Wearing VR glasses, users can experience the 3D big screen in their own beds. In addition, because of the ability to mobile projection (VR as a cell phone screen), other non-VR video software content, can also be projected into the giant screen mode, and the viewing effect is very good.
How some features can be improved
Resolution of the VR Glass
Huawei VR Glass is more oriented to the market positioning of movie watching and is not as good as the VR all-in-one machine in the VR game experience. Huawei VR Glass with folding characteristics is more suitable for travel or business trips for a long time in a car. In terms of home utility, its game or viewing technology and resolution are lower since the resolution of VR devices should reach 4K or higher to ensure high-definition degrees.
Dizziness during long-time use
The dizziness that can occur during long-time wear and intense gaming is a problem common to most VR glasses currently available. The essence of this problem is that humans are very sensitive to the mismatch between the vestibular and oscular systems. The vestibule corresponds to the IMU in VR devices (sensing acceleration, directional changes, and ensuring our body balance without falling), while the oscular system corresponds to the camera on the device. However, at this moment, VR devices are unable to simulate the human brain to perceive motion such as acceleration and deceleration. Currently, I can think of a solution to sit on my computer chair to play, because the chair is 360 degrees or 720 degrees to turn up very conveniently and smoothly, so that can significantly alleviate the problem of dizziness. But this method does not apply to games like Beat Saber, which must be operated by standing up.
Conclusion
Huawei VR glasses 6DoF, as Huawei’s continued exploration in the VR market, is a significant upgrade from the previous generation of VR glasses. There is a great improvement in the freedom of VR glasses and the experience of the game, but its resolution and the dizziness generated when wearing them still need to be improved and solved.
References:
Cureton, D. (2021) Huawei launches VR Glass 6DOF headset, XR Today. Available at: https://www.xrtoday.com/virtual-reality/huawei-launches-vr-glass-6dof-headset/ (Accessed: January 20, 2023).
Hunt, C. and Sutrich, N. (2020) Beat saber: Everything you need to know about the VR rhythm game, Windows Central. Windows Central. Available at: https://www.windowscentral.com/beat-saber-everything-we-know-about-vr-rhythm-game (Accessed: January 19, 2023).
Jagneaux, D. (2020) Beat saber PSVR review – the most addictive VR game to date, UploadVR. Available at: https://uploadvr.com/beat-saber-psvr-review-the-most-addictive-vr-game-to-date/ (Accessed: January 19, 2023).
Mishra, Y. (2022) Huawei launched Smart Vision VR Glass that could connect to smartphone, Huawei Central. Available at: https://www.huaweicentral.com/huawei-launched-smart-vision-vr-glass-that-could-connect-to-smartphone/ (Accessed: January 20, 2023).
Staff, G.R. (2019) Here’s every winner from this year’s Golden Joystick Awards, including the Ultimate Game of the Year, gamesradar. GamesRadar+. Available at: https://www.gamesradar.com/Golden-Joystick-awards-2019-winners/ (Accessed: January 19, 2023).
Kovee is a VR theme park in Indonesia. My family and I had the chance to try the various VR simulations and games, one of notable ones being a multiplayer arrow shooting tower defense game.
Multiplayer arrow shooting VR
About the VR
Core gameplay
The objective is to protect the castle from losing all of its health. Players need to clear waves of enemy intruders by shooting them down with their bows and arrows. Enemies can throw knives at players, which players can then dodge by ducking/crouching down to the ground. There is a variety of maps to choose from, which allows for fresh strategies and avoids repetitiveness.
Player movement
The equipment used are the standard headset and 2 controllers. Players shoot arrows by stretching out one arm to hold the “bow”, and pull back the other arm while holding the button on the controller — in a motion similar to bowing an arrow — and then releasing the button to release the arrow. Certain shots do more damage, such as headshots or long distance shots. Players are stationed on towers most of the time, and they can teleport to their desired spot by shooting an arrow at the location.
Why I like the VR
The experience is very immersive — after finishing the session and removing the headset, it did not feel like I had been playing a game. Instead, it felt like I just traveled back from a different place. I appreciated how beginner-friendly it was, especially considering the target audience of such VR theme parks being families, friends or couples — people who are not necessarily familiar with using VR interfaces. Theme park rides, such as roller coasters which usually have height restrictions or are advised against people who have health conditions, felt more accessible and safe. All these factors made for a good bonding experience with loved ones. To sum up my family’s experience at the theme park, here are some quotes from my 8-year-old brother and my 11-year-old cousin while they were on the VR roller coaster — “This is FUN!” and “WE’RE GOING TO DIEEE!”.
Why it is engaging
The simulation engages almost the whole body and senses, even though the players are standing in place and not walking around. Players’ arms are actively engaged in shooting arrows, and their legs are also involved when crouching down to dodge enemy knife attacks. We were quite physically tired after each session, which ironically added to immersiveness. The simulation also had many audio cues such as the sound of the knives flying through the air also engaging players’ hearing. In addition, enemies come from multiple directions, which urges players to keep looking around the 360-degree environment instead of just facing one single direction the whole time.
What features are well done
The simulation generally has good VR user interfaces (UI).
Virtual world reference frame
Some UI is placed on the objects in the environment. For example, the castle health is shown as text on the castle itself, so players simply need to turn their heads and look back at their castle. This makes it intuitive and easy to look at. Another example is how the arrow damage numbers and type (e.g. headshot) are shown directly above the enemy. Even the players’ waiting room is represented as what looks like a literal knight’s preparation room, and the UI for selecting the map and other settings are shown on the room’s walls.
Interact directly with objects & use physical actions
Some commands are done using the players’ actions, so there is no UI. For example, in order for players to teleport, they simply need to shoot an arrow to the spot they want to teleport to. The action of bowing an arrow also mimics real-life, minus the skills needed because players do not need to know how to use actual bow equipment.
Art style
The art style is slightly realistic but still stylised, and this helps to set the correct player expectations on the game physics and visual effects. The hand models in the VR world are also wearing gloves, which makes it feel more immersive by avoiding realism and feeling almost as if those are the players’ own hands.
Beginner-friendly
The simulation eases players into it. The waves of enemies start slowly, and gradually become more intense with more enemies. This gives beginners time to adjust at the beginning.
How some features can be improved
Player model
The players do not have a character model in the VR world — when we see other players, we only see their bow and arrow. This makes the experience less immersive. Perhaps allowing players to choose a character model would improve the experience, and since players are mostly standing in the same spot, the model animations required will mostly be the arrow shooting animation and the crouching animation. If we want to make it even more immersive, we could add the omnidirectional treadmill to allow players to walk around.
Indication of teleportation spots
Other than that, teleporting to desired positions is sometimes difficult, because some spots are not easy to shoot at or the hit box is not very obvious, which adds some unnecessary difficulty. This can be improved by making sure that every teleport spot has a direct arrow path with not too many obstacles, and a clearer visual indication of the hit box compared to the current vague blue edges as shown in the picture.
Conclusion
Overall, the VR is immersive in its art style and sound design, is engaging for the players’ whole body, and is beginner-friendly, which makes it a great option for bonding sessions with loved ones.
XR For Retail: Perfect Corp AR Diagnostics & Try-ons
Introduction
Perfect Corp is a company that specializes in AR for diagnostics and product try-ons for various consumer products on hands, the face and on the head. They have AR demos for a lot of applications, such as makeup try-ons, accessory try-ons for watches, earrings, rings, eyewear and even dermatological skin issue diagnostics. Their demo store is available here (and this link will bring you to a specific demo on earrings try-ons but there’s a lot more in their demo store).
Why do I like them?
Having worked in the consumer goods industry for the past few years, I like Perfect Corp’s focus on trying to bring about a very accessible alternative to users who may not find it convenient to physically go down to stores to try on the products they are interested in. This is also an interesting solution to business owners finding it difficult to stretch their resources across many locations to serve their entire consumer base across multiple geographies. By tailoring these technologies to create AR experiences for multiple brands, Perfect Corp’s AR try-ons also provide great value to both businesses and their consumers in how the technologies will be used to create coherent and strong brand experiences. Perfect Corp’s AR try-ons and diagnostics serve a big need which conventional product pack shots and even newer 3D product previews are unable to provide.
Top features which make it engaging
Real-time realistic movements and interactions
In the earring demo, you can really see how the earrings swing around when you move your head and it helps to really improve the realness of the experience. These are experiences which you simply cannot recreate with images or even having only the 3D model of the product. They require certain physics models in how the product will interact with human motion and these all help to elevate the consumer experience in the comfort of the consumers’ own location of choice.
In-depth and well-represented information reflecting the real world inputs
In the skin analysis demo , you can easily find out about your technical skin age, and have a report on the skin issues you’re facing. The application pinpoints exactly the visual features which it’s using to generate the scores, and they present all these visual features in a way which users can easily digest. They also prove that the information they retrieve from the images are highly correlated with actual dermatological assessments (Cook et al., 2022) which further prove that AR can not only be used for generating pleasant consumer experiences in try-out but also very effective communication for actual medical information about ourselves.
Smooth, intuitive controls
Perfect Corp has done a lot of groundwork in creating a seamless switch between what is real and what is virtual. If you look into their shade finder AR application, they automatically find the correct shade of makeup based on your facial skin shade and apply it to the face. The controls to slide between reality and the virtual face with makeup on are very intuitive to users and allows them to really see and compare what they can expect before and after applying makeup. This is a very powerful use of AR for try-ons which cannot easily be matched in the real world without spending a lot of time applying and removing the makeup.
What features can be improved and how?
Lighting
I find the textures and lighting of the try-on products a bit off from what is considered as realistic to consumers. It looks similar but you can easily tell that the objects are fake, not because of the geometry or the physics but mainly because of the lighting on the materials. I think with better lighting mechanisms this product can really be elevated to a whole new level. Especially if you try the nail AR, you’ll find that the coloured mask over the nails hardly changes even when you change the ambient lighting and direction of the light source. If we can incorporate lighting effects properly, the try-ons will definitely become even more engaging and believable.
Perception of objects
Although many of the try-ons are quick accurate and responsive, there are still times whereby the detections will flicker and disappear, such as in their nail AR. By not only implementing instance segmentation on each frame, but by also adding on object tracking algorithms (Apicharttrisorn et al., 2019) across the past x number of frames, it could be that we could have a better hold on keeping stable AR experiences which will allow for more realistic interactions.
Conclusion
I believe that AR for retail is going to be a huge field for further exploration, and Perfect Corp’s implementation is a frontrunner in this space. With improvements in real-time perception and lighting, I believe AR for retail will become a huge force for businesses and consumers that enables impressive and immersive brand experiences, through meaningful product interactions and discovery all in the comfort of the consumers’ location of choice.
References
Wang, Y., Ko, E., & Wang, H. (2021). Augmented reality (AR) app use in the beauty product industry and consumer purchase intention. Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics.
Cook, M. K., Kaszycki, M. A., Richardson, I., Taylor, S. L., & Feldman, S. R. (2022). Initial validation of a new device for facial skin analysis. Journal of Dermatological Treatment, 33(8), 3150-3153.
Apicharttrisorn, K., Ran, X., Chen, J., Krishnamurthy, S. V., & Roy-Chowdhury, A. K. (2019, November). Frugal following: Power thrifty object detection and tracking for mobile augmented reality. In Proceedings of the 17th conference on embedded networked sensor systems (pp. 96-109).
XR for Rehabilitation: Neuro Rehab VR
Introduction
Neuro Rehab VR is a company using tailored VR experiences to facilitate patient-specific rehabilitation exercises. They provide rehabilitation across multiple functional areas, such as over the upper body, lower body, cervical function, for pain management, and cognitive functions.
They have certification from the American Physical Therapy Association for using VR as a therapeutic intervention, and is also an FDA-registered therapy system covered by insurance in the US. Videos on the use of this system can be found at their official website.
Why do I like them?
I think Neuro Rehab VR presents a new paradigm to rehabilitation. It’s no longer about repetitive movements and performing various exercises to build up our bodily functions. Rehabilitation is a very important and tailored process in which we have experts guiding us on how we can attain or regain certain key functions with our bodies. In the past, I’ve gone for pain management sessions for the lower back and the therapist would often prescribe me with certain exercises for me to perform regularly. However, these sessions were quite dry and it didn’t feel like something I would enjoy. Eventually, I stopped going for them. By creating experiences which achieve rehabilitation through games and activities, I like how Neuro Rehab VR turns things around to allow people to focus on spending more time on having fun and enjoying new experiences instead of focusing on what we would normally consider as therapy time.
Top features which make it engaging
Reduced monotony with targeted experiences using various equipment and scenarios
I think it is great that Neuro Rehab VR is able to create new scenes and activities which are tailored to different rehabilitation aims, which can help to motivate and energize users into putting in more effort into the rehabilitation, as well as maintain interest in regularly working the particular bodily function they are training for. They often also use additional things on top of the headset in order to create the right environment for rehabilitation, such as upper body harnesses, or elastic bands held by the therapist. Since they can easily adjust the difficulty or change the settings of the game, they are also able to tweak the experience for different users to maximize the results for them. From the videos, we are also able to see that the users are a lot more motivated and enthusiastic about putting in a lot more effort into achieving the game objectives. Patient video testimonials (such as this one) also stressed on how they were able to get a good workout as compared to the past sessions which may have been more mundane.
Safe environment
In some of their VR settings, they help users with common tasks like getting items from grocery shelves and these are safe environments for the users to practise and regain confidence in daily activities. Instead of going into a real physical environment where there may be fall risks and confidence issues, the VR setup together with safety harnesses provides a new environment where users can refamiliarize themselves with everyday tasks.
What features can be improved and how?
Realism of objects
Many of the games showed in the demos were largely based on 3D models which were very cartoonish and polygons with the same color shading across the entire object. If we are able to render more realistic scenarios that may help to increase the engagement of the users even more.
More varied sceneries
One of the key benefits of being in a virtual world is that you can create beautiful sceneries which are out of this world. Some users undergoing rehabilitation may have physical constraints which prevent them from visiting places with beautiful sceneries or being tourists in foreign lands. If we can create sceneries which are beautiful to these users, it could increase the level of immersion and possibly enhance the effectiveness of the experience on the goals. They could benefit from having better rendering for natural foliage or for indoor materials in order to achieve this.
Conclusion
VR-based rehabilitation is a very good use of VR for motivating users to achieve functional and important objectives. By improving further on the graphics and toolkits for creating great environments, this should be a very ripe space for widespread adoption and providing a great experience to users requiring rehabilitation.
References
Cameirão, M. S., Oller, E. D., & Verschure, P. F. (2010). Neurorehabilitation using the virtual reality based Rehabilitation Gaming System: methodology, design, psychometrics, usability and validation. Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitation, 7(1), 1-14.
Burdea, G. C. (2003). Virtual rehabilitation–benefits and challenges. Methods of information in medicine, 42(05), 519-523.
Schultheis, M. T., & Rizzo, A. A. (2001). The application of virtual reality technology in rehabilitation. Rehabilitation psychology, 46(3), 296.
The best free game is a heavy title for any title (pun intended) on the Oculus, given the thousands of game titles in the Oculus Quest Store. For Harry Potter Fans, Echo Arena stands out as a Quidditch style game, where the players fly through the game arena and toss discs at their goals to gain points, while fighting off their opponents with melee combat. The thrill of E-Sports, experienced from the comfort of our room, is truly a unique VR experience which can open your eyes to the rule breaking physics that can only be achieved in VR (or in space).
The Weightless Experience
One of the best things that Echo Arena has to offer you is the experience of weightlessness. This is by no means an easy feat, especially because the user is not truly weightless while playing the game. While playing it, you are still physically standing on the floor, rather than suspended midair. As you can imagine, the game has to do quite a bit to convince your brain that you are flying, not walking. However, it also has to ensure that you do not feel motion sickness, so that you can fully enjoy and engage in its thrilling and combative gameplay.
Gameplay: Player scores by throwing a disc into the goalpost
Ru Weerasuriya, president and creative director of the game’s developer, Ready At Dawn Studios, in an interview that the team studied what makes you sick and realized that it’s all about sending the right signals to the brain. If you grab at something and you can actually clench something in the game, that doesn’t make you sick because it is a one-to-one interaction where your hands in VR do exactly what your brain wants them to do. [1] Thus, the mechanic of grabbing and pushing off objects in the arena was added to Echo Arena to support player movement, a crucial aspect to allow players to fully engage with weightlessness.
Through these design tricks and seamless motion tracking, Echo Arena unlocks weightlessness for the player like no other game can.
Presence and immersion
Outside of weightlessness, the game also achieves total immersion and a delightful sense of presence through the use of spatial audio and reduced motion blur. Immersion is fundamentally about tricking one’s body that they are in a different space, based on the visual, audio and all other senses.
Spatial audio was also incorporated to make the arena feel real and allow users to communicate or locate their teammates freely via team chat. The subtle angles of the audio direction allows users to truly feel as though they are physically co-located with their teammates and even swivel their head to accurately find the location of their teammates.
In other VR titles like Rec-Room, when the player moves, one’s vision narrows, to allow users to feel less motion sickness as the brain and eyes are only exposed to what is directly in front of them. This approach, however, exposes and break the sense of immersion that the player has. Instead of doing that, Echo Arena limits the movement speed to 5 meters per second for the players, so there is no need for narrowing the vision and motion blur. Hence, the user can actually feel like it is a more natural environment, contributing to the sense of immersion and real life.
Suggestions for improvements
The only problem I see with Echo Arena is its unintuitive throwing mechanic. I am unsure if the mechanic was intentionally made to be different than throwing a frisbee in real life, but I often found myself wondering about the physics of the discs, whenever I attempt to toss it with the principles that I learnt for frisbee in real life. I would suggest the developers to incorporate more throwing training and guidance into the game, especially for users who are unable to hit their goals accurately and easily during the first few tries in the tutorial stage.
Conclusion
Echo Arena is an incredibly fun and interesting game, coupled with multiplayer combat and easy to understand game mechanics. I highly recommend any beginners getting started with VR to try this game out, and experience for themselves the unique possibilities only afforded to VR players. Since it came out in 2019, it has been a major hit on the Oculus platform and I can only imagine more players loving this title as VR adoption continues to ripple across the world.
Virtual Reality (VR) in gaming and entertainment: Virtual reality is a technology that allows users to immerse themselves in a computer-generated environment. VR is often used in gaming to provide a more realistic and immersive experience. In the following passage, I will share a successful VR game called Half-Life: Alyx to explain how it gives players an immersive experience.
What is Half-Life: Alyx?
Half-Life: Alyx is a first-person shooter video game developed and published by Valve Corporation. It is a prequel to the Half-Life series and takes place between the events of Half-Life and Half-Life 2. The game features a new protagonist, Alyx Vance, and utilizes virtual reality technology to immerse players in the game world. It was released in March 2020.
What features make it engaging?
Easy to get started
Whether you’re new to VR or not, Half-Life: Alyx is incredibly accessible, with four difficulty settings and three movement options, all of which can be swapped at any time. Even if you’re in full motion, clever use of the “jump” teleportation mechanism allows you to easily reposition settings without having to go back to the main menu. It feels great to control Alyx in this game, thanks to the gravity glove, which helps to manipulate tools and items in the environment. If you see a large piece of resin (currency used for weapon upgrades), you can reach out and flick your wrist back. It will fly towards you, and then when it reaches you, you grab it. This never stops feeling satisfying, and combining it with other operations such as storing ammunition on my shoulder and managing more complex weapon reloading, feels immediately intuitive and easy to grasp. Finally, I used my hands independently like a pro, unless any enemy jumped on me, and my panicked movements made me pull the trigger on the empty gun and scramble back to find breathing space.
Playing in an immersive world
The desolate world of Half-Life has never been more vibrant. Whether you’re marveling at the disgustingly realistic guts on corpses in the sewers or counting the teeth on the ceiling barnacles waiting to suck passers-by, the gorgeous environment is immersive. I remember one time when I watched for almost a minute, a head crab crawled over a pile of luggage towards me, pulled down the bag, and fell on its back, unscripted to show off the game’s impressive physics. The intricate faces follow me through the conversation and the beautiful scenery takes my breath away.
Gameplay footage: Strider
Combat isn’t a highlight, but it still creates exciting moments. You’ll find only three weapons, all of which can be equipped with game-changing upgrades like grenade launchers or laser sights. I learned to throw clever grenades, move carefully through the environment, and loot corpses in battle, which is enhanced by lifting the corpse with my hands to gain ammo and health hidden in my back pocket. It’s both satisfying and pathological. Shooting, reloading, and switching weapons all feel great in VR, thanks to responsive controls and cleverly designed guns that subtly highlight the desired action. For example, you forgot to pull back the red dark light on the pistol slide rails to help remove a lot of frustration about not knowing why your gun won’t fire. Ducking behind the cover feels natural, and listening for enemy reloads before popping out is satisfying. Combat is an important part of the journey, but so is puzzle-solving. When you go to unlock various joint technologies, some hacking puzzles pop up. None of them are very complicated, but the combination of a terrifying atmosphere and an immersive experience makes the whole decryption process equally exciting.
Detailed scenes
Detail is one of the things Valve does best. And the environments look amazing. You can see the hairs on the legs of the bloodthirsty, turducken-sized head crabs as they leap at your face trying to eat your brain – although counting hairs is hardly the first of your concerns at a moment like that because animal instincts kick in and cause a jolt of panic. Healing stations squash a gross antlion grub in a vial and then inject its juices into your fingers through delicate robotic needles. Just about every poster or newspaper clipping you see up on a wall is fully written. Smashing open a supply crate yields a shower of packing peanuts as well as items.
Your hands are real objects in the world that collide with everything.
In Half-life: Alyx you can even see the dirt under Alyx’s fingernails. It’s a simple thing, but it’s not often that you see that level of fine detail in a VR game. Usually, virtual hands are either low-detail ghostly apparitions or gloved. It’s also remarkable that you can interact with all of the objects in this virtual world. I’ve never seen such a level of physical interactivity in a VR game before. Physics plays a huge role because the vast majority of stuff that isn’t nailed down can be picked up and tossed around. Even better, your hands are real objects in the world that can collide with everything realistically. Moves like sweeping your hand across a table to dramatically wipe everything off of it, pushing on a door – not its handle, but anywhere on it – to open it, and having to carefully move your hand between two bars in a fence instead of simply reaching through it like a ghost all make a huge, huge difference in establishing a feeling of presence in this world.
Gameplay footage: Alyx’s hands
Possible Improvements
In Half-Life: Alyx, although there are three ways to move: “Teleport”, “Flash” and “Keep Sliding”. The first-person movement still can’t be as immersive as the visuals. Unfortunately, high-end devices such as wearable positioners, vests, gloves, and gimbal treadmills have low adoption. It is hoped that in the future, more inexpensive and applicable hardware devices will emerge to support immersive experiences of virtual reality technology.
Although there is a problem with how to move in first-person VR, we can still consider choosing third-person or reducing or even not moving in first-person, such as The Lab, Beat Saber, and SuperHot VR.
Conclusion
Half-Life: Alyx received acclaim for its graphics, voice acting, narrative, and atmosphere, and has been cited as VR’s first killer app. It was nominated for numerous awards and won “Best VR/AR” at the 2020 Game Awards. It is a successful epoch-making VR game that I greatly enjoy playing Half-Life:Alyx and had a wonderful experience in the virtual world!
With the increasing need for convenience, more and more real estate companies have been turning to Virtual Reality(VR) tours for their customers. One such application that the companies are using to turn their showcases into online tours is Transported. Transported allows real estate companies to capture their real-life spaces into virtual environments for their customers to interact with using VR equipment.
It allows people to view the estates in the comfort of their own homes which allows people to save time and money as compared to doing in-person house tours. Furthermore, with this application, people can easily view multiple estates they like in one seating instead of booking multiple appointments which may span over several days. Thus, this also helps to save the customers’ time and effort in comparison to in-person house tours.
Why is it engaging?
People are able to have a 360 degree view of the house which makes them feel like they are in the environment of the real estate that they are interested in. They are also able to move from room to room with ease by clicking which makes the viewing experience to be seamless and allows them to better know the character of the house.
What features are done well?
One feature that is done well is that the user is able to open up a menu that lists down the different rooms/floors in the house which the user is then able to go by clicking on them. This allows the user to go to the room/floor that they want to view the most without wasting time.
Another feature that is done well is that the companies are able to add points of interests or descriptions to the furniture in the virtual environment. Therefore, customers are able to understand the different selling points of the estate even with the absence of a real estate agent. This feature also allows customers to better understand the various designs of the house before making an in-person house tour or purchasing the real estate.
One feature that they can improve is the ambience of the virtual tour by adding sounds. They could have recorded the audio when they were creating the VR tour to make it more immersive. This would also allow the customers to better understand the atmosphere of the estate in addition to the visuals of the environment.
Another feature that they can improve on is to convert it into a 3D environment where people are able to move through the estate via walking. This would have further engage the customers when they are viewing the property.
The last feature they could improve one is to add a chatbot function where people can ask/type their questions to. This allows the chatbot to act as a real estate agent that is answering their queries which will further improve the virtual tour.
References
Virtual reality tours for real estate. Transported. (n.d.). Retrieved January 19, 2023, from https://www.transported.co/
Top 40 XR/AR use cases / applications with examples in 2023. AIMultiple. (n.d.). Retrieved January 19, 2023, from https://research.aimultiple.com/ar-use-cases/
2. Using AR for makeup
When it comes to choosing makeup, it may be a hassle for some as they have to test every colour in order to find something that suits them. Some may even skip this process which results in them purchasing a wrong colour. Hence, in order to combat this problem, Sephora has turned to creating an AR application, dubbed their virtual artist, to allow customers to put on makeup without even going down to their store.
Credit to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFApcSocFDM&ab_channel=MultiVu
Why I like it?
It allows people to try different shades of makeup even without going down to the store which helps to save time and effort. Furthermore, people are also able to try on various types makeup without the tedious process of putting it on and wiping it off.
Why is it engaging?
Since the makeup is a layover on the face, it helps people to visualise what they look like as if they are trying it on in real life. They also able to change the shade of the makeup easily with a tap of a finger hence making the application a very interactive one which engages the audience.
What features are done well?
One feature that is done well is that the application allows people to try out different shades of the same makeup, e.g lipstick, via shaking the phone. This introduces an engaging way for people to try out different kinds of brands and styles when buying their makeup.
Credit to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFApcSocFDM&ab_channel=MultiVu
Another feature that is done well is they are able to take up to 4 photos with different shades of makeup for comparison. As humans, we may tend to forget how the shade of makeup may have looked and thus, we may have a hard time comparing. Therefore, with this feature, it allows customers to compare the makeup they want almost instantaneously which helps the increase the engagingness of the application.
Credit to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFApcSocFDM&ab_channel=MultiVu
What features can be improved?
One feature they could improve is adding the texture as well as the smell of the makeup. Although the shade may look good on an individual however, the texture of the makeup may not be as pleasing. Additionally, the smell of the makeup may also affect an individual’s decision in purchasing a particular makeup.
Another feature they can improve on is to allow people to layover multiple layers of makeup, e.g lipstick and eyeshadow, so they can compare which types of makeup can go well together. This will further enhance the usability of the application as most people wear two or more types of makeup together.
References
YouTube. (2016, February 3). Sephora Virtual artist app. YouTube. Retrieved January 19, 2023, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFApcSocFDM&ab_channel=MultiVu
Gilliland, N. (2021, May 12). 14 examples of augmented reality brand experiences. Econsultancy. Retrieved January 19, 2023, from https://econsultancy.com/14-examples-augmented-reality-brand-marketing-experiences/
