Game Analysis – Subnautica (VR)

Written by Ian Hong

Look at those delicious acid mushrooms

I just bought Subnautica last night (thanks steam sale) and I will be offering my thoughts on its VR version. Three of my classmates have previously reviewed this game, but they were all based on the PC version. You can read their reviews here:

I seek to extend their insights through applying various analytical lenses and see whether the experience holds up in virtual reality. We begin our analysis by using the lens of essential experience as a succinct introduction to the game.

Lens 2 – Essential Experience

  • Exploring a dangerous and beautiful alien ocean in first person while trying to find materials to build a ship to escape the planet.
  • It’s like underwater single-player Minecraft with a more compelling plot and a pre-made world map

For those who understand things visually, take a one minute peek using this gameplay clip.

Watch from 4:20 to 6:20 at 2x speed

Now that we’re acquainted with what Subnautica is, let’s analyse why it is fun and what makes it fun. Why are we looking at this first? Because I am interested in how games drive intrinsic motivation, and I hope to apply some of these techniques to non-game contexts to make life easier. For example, imagine a system that lets you have fun while analysing your cashflow! (okay, I digress)

Lens 21 – Flow

What keeps the player engrossed in Subnautica?

The answer – it allows the player to enter a flow state, which can be described using the 8 major components of flow:

  1. A challenging activity requiring skill
  2. Concentration on the task at hand
  3. A sense of control
  4. A merging of action and awareness
  5. A loss of self-consciousness
  6. An altered sense of time
  7. Direct, immediate feedback
  8. Clear goals

For the aliens among us, this is what most people experience when they describe a game as ‘fun’.

How Subnautica aces this

According to Nicole Lazzaro’s 4 Keys to Fun (courtesy of NM4260 Game Design), Subnautica employs hard fun and easy fun to bring the player into a flow state.

Hard fun is derived when the player pursues a challenging goal and achieves it through their mastery of the game mechanics. They then go on to pursue even tougher goals. Eg. you beat level 10 of Tetris without using the ‘store’ mechanic.

Easy fun emerges when a player explores and discovers something that wows them, and is driven by curiosity to explore more. Eg. you discover a new cat after changing up your furniture in Neko Atsume

// I am still in the process of editing this blog post, and will finish it soon. the rest of the post is in a draft form.

// describe how the game gives the player these 2 types of fun

  • the player ‘chooses’ the difficulty by venturing into unexplored territory, thus matching the challenge to the player’s skill level
  • as other guy mentioned, i agree that some players are unwilling to take risks, making the game boring

Lens 7 – Elemental Tetrad

Mechanics

swim

collect

craft

83 fantasy secret wishes, helps player escape boring life

Aesthetics

amazing aesthetics

Story

very nice story

is it related to 19 the player: what do they like, don’t like, expect to see in game, what would they wanna see in the game? what do they like or dislike about the game [definitely the feedback button and the support that the team provides, with the latest 2.0 update released just dec 14 2022, 6 years after game release date!! madness.]

  • what did the fav game guy say about being player centric? or the worth it guy (optimisation)
  • 73 story machine interest curves?
    • agree about story moving slow. way to identify what the user wants.

Technology

really good graphics, 3d, so many mobs, such big map, yet had good framerate. also, feedback button, game being improved as it was being played.

vr supported. that brings me to the main bit of this analysis – virtual interface control

Lens 59 – Control (or 61 virt interfaces)

the vr UI is really bad as compared to other vr games available in 2023. it really adds vr support and nothing more in terms of immersion or juciness.

2d hud, head cursor, pda opening too close to the face, awkward movement mappings out of the box, arms are not tracked, leading to loss of immersion (or the opportunity cost of not helping with immersion over the PC version, controls not that meaningfully mapped) quick access slots inaccessible, quitting the game inaccessible, had to press all buttons to finally give up and google and find out that i had to press the escape button on keyboard.

vr interface. 61 virtual interfaces? 63 feedback for telling player. affordances. ui. avatar got wetsuit

// compare with other games like those specifically made for vr

  • freediver: horizon zero
  • pales in comparison to bonelab
  • vrchat at least hands follow your controllers

that said, it brings me to my favourite part of the vr adaptation of this game

Lens 29 – Secrets

a big part of the game is the wildlife, art of making convincing alien animal behaviour that triggers all of your innate phobias of what is dangerous.

plot, is forward force

radio signals

fog

sound design – the animal calls, breathing sounds on reaching the surface, bubble sounds were excellent.

also links to lens 1 – emotion.

most vr games do not have such a thoughtful story, this many creatures, and such a beautiful world and comprehensive sound design that this really blows the current competition out of the water in terms of content and hours of engaging gameplay.

Conclusion

like most things, the vr adaptation of subnautica wins in some areas and loses in others.

i dont think the devs will be improving the vr version, given its old release date. but this analysis has been very useful for my group’s underwater vr game, and i hope you have gotten something out of reading it.

Remarkerable Beat Saber, from an 8-year music player’s view

I’ve been a music game player for more than 8 years, supposed to be picky enough about them. But I still could not forget the shock brought to me by the first sight of Beat Saber, so that whenever VR comes to my mind, Beat Saber comes up. And the first thing I did after switching to a 2060 PC, was to buy a VR device to play it.

Dance Monkey • Expert • Beat Saber • Mixed Reality [1]

Published since 2018, Beat Saber is now still a widely praised VR Game on Steam. The content of Beat Saber is good, but it couldn’t achieve such a huge success without VR. On my first sight of it, a player was like a brave warrior, wielding two fantastic red and blue swords, like sword-dance, nimbly avoiding the oncoming light wall, with gorgeous light effect and epic BGM sound effect. This sums up why Beat Saber is so enaging: the strong visual impact brought by VR, the wonderful interactive UI, and the sense of engaging rooted in a music game.

Immersive VR’s application

Too many wonderful music games I’ve tried, so that I won’t cast a glance at average ones. However, in Beat Saber, it differs. Vivid music blocks, FLY onto your face, and you waving your awesome lightswords, like dancing to the beat, especially in a unacquainted wonderland. What an impressive experience! And it’s what VR can offer, a fictional world full of fancy.

Less is more. Simple UI but a multisensory interation.

[Beat Saber] YOASOBI – Racing into the Night (Yoru ni Kakeru) Collaboration with MASO [2]

On the first sight of Beat Saber, you can find there are few words in it. Instead, you are embraced by a new music world where there are many instructions hiding in the properties of objects, from sight, hearing to touch. For example, the red/blue sword is to split red/blue blocks, arrows on blocks tell you in which direction to split them, feedback like an electric shock tell you bombs and walls are to elude, and etc. All of these make the game are easy to play, like you are born to know.

Sense of engaging rooted in a music game

Hearing plays an important in our life. Even without sight, simply a piece of music can make one feel sense of engaging. In some extend, “VR in sound” is the earlist and mature technology in VR developmenyt. As a music game, Beat Saber’s sound effect is no doubt excellent. In my opinion, when a VR application is able to offer me wonderful sight and hearing experience, it’s praisable enough.

Limitations of nowadays VR interation

Not just Beat Saber, nowadays many VR applications’ interation is limited to 6 DoF VR Controller. However, due to the limited technology of the current spatial positioning equipment, the interaction between the base station and the headset VR controller will cause disorder after the user moves his/her body greatly. During the game involving movement of entire body, users may find themselves gradually move to a direction where VR controllers don’t work well.

What’ more, space is much more expensive than VR equipments. These kinds of VR applications equire a lot of space, and in small rooms, such as bedrooms, it is difficult to play, likely to hit the furniture in the room. As a result, the highest cost of this game is to have a wide room rather than a VR device, which will make such kind of VR applications not applicable.

VR+X

In a conclusion, nowadays a successful VR application, in my opinion, should be a VR+X application. Only VR doesn’t work. When it combine with a good content, in this article, a wonder music game, it may be potential to gain a success.

Reference

[1] Dance Monkey • Expert • Beat Saber • Mixed Reality, xoxobluff, Youtube

[2] [Beat Saber] YOASOBI – Racing into the Night (Yoru ni Kakeru) Collaboration with MASO, Artemisblue, Youtube

Google Lens

Introduction

The concept of augmented reality is highly intriguing, offering a wealth of possibilities and the potential to transform our daily lives. It enables us to augment our perception of the physical world by providing an additional layer of information, without the need for active searching.

The application that I will be talking about in this post is one that is readily accessible to most people and might have already been used by most readers. That application is Google Lens.

About Google Lens

Google Lens was originally announced during Google I/O 2017 and was originally as a visual add on to Google assistant. Google lens was originally pre-installed only on the Pixel 2 however over the following two years it was rolled out to non pixel devices and from June 2018 it was separated out into its own standalone app.

How Google lens enhances my life(The features I like and are well done)

For the few people unfamiliar with Google Lens, Here is a short demo of the features it possesses:

The translate feature has been available on Google since 2006, but it had limited functionality in day to day life. Sure it could allow you to read text on your computer that was written in a language that you don’t comprehend, but it was unable to help in situations outside of computers. Google lens bridges that disconnect between the virtual and physical world. With google lens, travelling to a different country and understanding signage isn’t a hassle. It’s intuitive and it just works. This real time processing and translation is far from the flashy visions of XR that we imagine, but in my opinion, it is one that impacts our life the greatest to such an extent that we already take it for granted.

As a vegetarian, I have dietary restrictions. I look at ingredients for products that I buy to ensure that they don’t contain any animal product. This ends up being hard for products which are in a language other than in English. Google Lens has simplified that entire process for me and others who have similar dietary restrictions or allergies.

While travelling, gone are the days of running around with a pocket translator book, or typing in words in a foreign language into google translate. With the Live Translate feature, all you need to do is open the camera app and have the translated terms superimposed on top of whatever you would like to translate. And for devices after Pixel 6, all this translation occurs on device thanks to the tensor processing units.

The seamlessness and the fact that instead of showing it up in a separate window, lens ends up just overlapping on top of the original text while giving you additional functionality hidden off to the side like copying the translation or sending it to linked devices makes it a truly unique product which allows it to do things that no other product can do.

Future Possibilities and Upcoming Updates

And this is just the beginning of the interactions possible with Augmented Reality and Computer vision in Google Lens. During the 2022 Google I/O, Google announced an expansion to their Multi search feature that allows you to add search queries on top of a picture. Adding onto this, Google announced Scene exploration, a feature that would work very similarly to “Ctrl+F” for the real world. Google Lens’s “Scene Exploration” feature allows users to identify multiple products or objects in their surroundings by moving their camera around and gathering information. The feature can automatically recognize multiple objects and provide insights.

The demo that they gave during the presentation was about identifying the chocolates in a grocery isle and based on the user’s nutritional needs and reviews, picking out a chocolate and pointing it out to them using AR. The demo can be found here:

What makes Google lens engaging

During the Made By Google event in 2019, Google’s SVP of devices and services Rick Osterloh discussed Google’s vision for the future of computing. He described a world beyond smartphones, where computing is not confined to a device in your pocket, but is all around you and integrated into everything. He referred to this concept as “ambient computing”. The idea is that devices and services work together with artificial intelligence to provide assistance and help wherever you want it, and the technology should be seamless and fade into the background when not needed, with the focus on the user, not the device. Google lens is a step in the direction of seamless ambient computing where the interactions needed to get the information you need are so natural that they don’t stick out. What makes google lens engaging is that fact that it’s seamless and so intuitive to use that anyone can very easily pick it up and explore the environment around them that they might not be able to otherwise. Its clean UI and unobtrusive interface makes it blend right into the scene it is analyzing. Engagement is defined as the quality of being engrossed and connected. When looking out of a window, one doesn’t think look at the glass, rather the view outside. Google lens is a window, to an augmented world, and the fact that we forget its existence, is a testament to how engaging it is.

What can be made better?

For all their talk of ambient computing and computing that just exists, in most phones other than their own products, Google lens is still a standalone app that has to be launched separately. This needs to be improved since it ends up being several extra steps which the user could have used to search for the information they are seeking on a traditional browser, breaking the immersion and preventing them from completely connecting with what is in front of them. Google needs to work on integrating lens with third party manufacturer’s camera applications natively to allow the average consumer access to this technology. Google Lens is still a more niche product by Google and this move would allow them to reach a lot more consumers.

Google lens is unfortunately also only able to translate these languages:

  • Chinese
  • French
  • German
  • Hebrew
  • Hindi
  • Italian
  • Japanese
  • Korean
  • Portuguese
  • Spanish

They can improve their product by branching out to include other languages and helping create an ultimately more interconnected multilingual world.

References

https://www.theverge.com/23065820/google-io-ambient-computing-pixel-android-phones-watches-software

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfS8aGSDKGU

https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/google-lens-is-augmented-ar-you-can-actually-use-snapchat-facebook-instagram/

Boneworks: A highly free physical interaction experience

If there is a game that allows you to move freely, all the items in it have real physical effects, NPCs also have a ragdoll system, and then enables you to have a pair of flexible hands, what kind of experience would that be?

What is it?

Boneworks is a 2019 First-person Shooter VR game developed and published by Stress Level Zero. The game’s design is entirely physics-based, with the player controlling an entire virtual body that responds not only to the player’s real-world input, but also to obstacles in the game world. In Boneworks, players take on the role of Arthur Ford, a rogue cybersecurity director who escapes to an unfinished simulated universe, battling surreal buildings and occult settings with a variety of experimental physics-based weapons.

The game uses a physics engine that is very close to the real experience. In the game, almost all items are interactive, such as water cups, trash cans, hammers, balls, gun. You can use all the items you can pick up in the game world Advance bravely, fight the enemy, and explore the unknown next corner.

Why is it engaging?

The main gameplay is to experience realistic physics interactions in semi-open levels and to combine these physics effects to unlock the puzzles in the levels. In this game, there are no traditional game guidelines or clear tasks, everything can be done according to the player’s choice to pass the route, the player can find their own way to play.

Boneworks has 3 modes, story, arena and sandbox mode. Story mode is more like a newbie tutorial, but only in the story mode can players get props to unlock and enter the other modes. Directly skipping the story mode in not possible. Wearing VR game equipment to begin with, players will be in an open museum available to visit, at each exhibition to experience the weapons props, as well as through the props to interact with the environment.

When the player is familiar with the mechanism will produce a refreshing, realistic experience. Players can freely move to pick up weapons and props, and when the bullets run out, players are also free to play, directly on the whack are not a problem. This freedom is very high, but also very strong simulation of realistic physical action gameplay greatly home immersion experience in VR gaming equipment.

What features are well done?

  • Great physics

Boneworks is the first VR game to use the idea of providing players with a variety of objects, each with their own unique weight and weight model, and then using them as components to solve single-player puzzles and battles.

Before Boneworks, while most VR games emphasized interaction, that interaction was “shallow”. Players could only interact with specific, scripted objects, and mold penetration was very prevalent. It wasn’t until late 2018 that a new batch of VR shooter games added the collision of the gun itself and the scene to the code. But Boneworks has gone a step further—or a giant leap—in physics. Almost all objects in the game can be interacted with, and players can also interact with other objects through the object in their hands. A more vivid expression is that it hits people with a frying pan. And in this interaction, the gravity of the object itself and various accelerations are also written into the game code as one of the parameters, that is to say, there will be objects that you can’t lift with one hand but can be lifted with both hands. There will be glass that won’t break when tapped lightly but can be smashed when tapped hard.

  • Hidden Sandbox mode and Arena mode

One of the coolest unlocks is the sandbox mode, which is neatly hidden behind a fake wall on the second floor of the campaign. It makes good use of whatever you collect during the campaign and puts it into giant blue recycling bins, allowing you to build any crazy death traps you can imagine. It feels a little simple at first, but once you’ve filled your arsenal with toys, you can spend hours tinkering with it.

The infinitely playable arena mode is just as fun, offering tons of clever new customizable challenges to beat in every way. Its three modes–Judgment, Challenge, and Survival–are enjoyable in their own way, providing reasons to return to Boneworks time and time again. They also introduce some interesting mechanics that weren’t explored in the main campaign, like the balloon gun, which lets you lift enemies, objects, and even yourself into the air. Some modes are particularly tough, including a trial that forces you to fight wave after wave of minotaurs without any health regeneration. If you beat it, there’s even an arcade-style scoring system you can use to prove to your friends and family that you’re John Wick.

  • Great gameplay

The game provides a very good physics engine, which gives players a strong sense of substitution. But this sense of immersion refers not only to the plot but also to the physical world of the game. The game does not introduce too many background settings. In the game, players must follow the limited prompts and the feeling of the game to keep advancing and exploring. However, these are not important. The unique style of the game, the operating experience of VR, and the physical interaction close to the real world is what players feel the most in the game. From the DAU data of VR content on the Steam platform above, it can be seen that the types of games generally accepted and loved by VR gamers are action, combat, shooting, and adventure. These elements are all reflected in Boneworks. Climbing, jumping, attacking enemies with bare hands or using guns, and groping forward in unknown environments, these elements make Bonework” easy to be accepted by players.

  • User-friendly

In the game, there will be 2 hours of user guide levels. In the teaching stage, players can learn and experience the grabbing and discarding of objects, the running, jumping, climbing and other operations of characters, as well as the use and selection of various weapons, etc. Each part provides a demonstration of the operation, and all items or scenes are included for practice, so even players who are new to VR games can quickly become familiar with basic operations.

Between the teaching scenes, there are text or direction guidance signs telling the player how to operate, and the player will feel very relaxed at this stage with the guidance. Excellent physics engine and creative scenes will bring players one surprise after another.

What features can be improved and how?

  • Motion sickness

In Boneworks, players can not only accelerate the run and jump, but even get down or pad toe. However, too much freedom of movement has also become the threshold for many people. Brain and visual mismatch led to the sense of dizziness so that many players in the beginning do not adapt to this way of playing.

  • Immersive experience

The physics-oriented gameplay of “Boneworks” is a double-edged sword. When everything is working properly, games can be quite magical experiences and provide a rich sense of immersion that few other games achieve. This can lead to nightmarish moments of frustration when things start to go wrong.

In Boneworks, the acceleration and gravity of the object are taken into account, that is to say, the damage I can cause by swinging the brick vigorously and gently swinging the brick is not consistent. However, in the game, it often happens that I swing the brick vigorously but there is still no damage to the object. The reason for this situation is very complicated: it may be the result of the cognitive mechanism of the human brain, the acceleration calculation formula of the game, etc. Since there is an object in the VR screen you see, so when you swing the brick, your subconscious mind will also think that there is an object here, so the force you use to swing the brick will actually start to weaken when your brain thinks that it has “touched” the object. What’s more, in fact, you don’t have a brick in your hand. Even if the handle itself has a little weight, it still can’t compare with most objects in the game. That is to say, many times even if I really want to “vigorously” swing the virtual object in my hand, the almost negligible sense of weight from the handle will still prevent my brain from really “strengthening miracles”.

Generally speaking, although the physical effects and interaction of the game are very good, in fact, no player can successfully “deceive themselves”. Players will be surprised by the performance of the game in terms of physical effects. But in the same time, the torment of being separated from the game world may not be resolved until the era of intubation. Boneworks has revealed the existence of this problem to most players who have not thought about intubation in advance.

Conclusion

Overall, Boneworks is a very worthwhile VR game. With a physics engine close to the real world, a futuristic graphic style, and classic gameplay of adventure and combat, whether you have VR game experience or not, you can get a variety of surprises in this game.

Reference

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boneworks

https://www.oculus.com/experiences/rift/2385436581584047/

https://www.ign.com/articles/2019/12/15/boneworks-review

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/12/boneworks-review-an-absolute-vr-mess-yet-somehow-momentous/

MondlyVR: Start learning new languages in Virtual Reality

Introduction

MondlyVR is a Virtual Reality application in education for language learning. It is available on Steam and the Oculus Store and compatible with Oculus Rift and Oculus Quest headsets. Undoubtedly, the best way to learn a language is to integrate it into a specific locale. However, the teaching conditions may not guarantee that every class has foreign teachers, and not every student has the chance to communicate with native speakers most of the time. MondlyVR provides an immersive and innovative language learning experience with advanced chatbot and speech recognition technology.

Engaging Design

Gamified learning process

Learning a new language can be tedious and frustrating at times. MondlyVR considers this, and instead of taking the traditional approach of learning a new language through books and courses, it tries to make learning a new language fun through a gamified learning experience to increase engagement. It is well-designed and uses graphics and animation to create a game-like dynamic. After completing lessons and exercises, users earn points to track their winning streak and compare their performance with friends and other users on the MondlyVR leaderboard. It creates a fun, game-like environment and helps maintain momentum and engagement. In most core lessons, visual representations of the words taught help to enhance learning and retention.

Simulated but realistic conversation situations

This virtual immersion tool will place users in a simulated environment. Users are immersed in various situations requiring them to converse with locals, including simulating grocery shopping, booking a flight, checking-in in front of the hotel reception desk, or ordering food at a restaurant. In other words, the app’s goal is to simulate real-life situations of native speakers through VR and let users stay at home but have an immersive experience. In that case, users are more engaged because of the simulated but realistic surroundings.

Well-done Features

Multi-player mode

There is a multi-player mode for users to connect with people worldwide, bringing people together. Users will be automatically assigned to a VR room with up to 11 other participants. Users can socialize and practice the language they want to learn “face-to-face” as if they were in the same room, vastly improving user participation and interactivity. With speech recognition, intelligent suggestions, and real-time translation, MondlyVR will ensure that users don’t get stuck on words they don’t remember and keep their conversations flowing smoothly.

Effective curriculum design

MondlyVR supports various languages and different levels of courses. It offers the option to switch between transliteration and script, which is very useful for learning a new language. Generally, it schedules short (around 10-15 minutes each) but frequent lessons. MondlyVR is designed to be dipped in and out of, and all the progress will be saved for users to come back to. The platform provides users with daily lessons that include sentences and new vocabulary so that users can learn coherently. It gives users their learning feedback immediately. At the end of each class, users can jot down everything they’ve learned. There are also weekly quizzes for users to test their learning outcomes and track their learning progress.

Diversifyed products under Mondly

Besides MondlyVR, Mondly offers other products to provide users with multiple options. The products include Mondly Languages, MondlyAR, Mondly Kids, etc. Mondly Languages is a primary language learning app that integrates chatbot and speech recognition technologies to help users learn any of the 33 languages it offers. MondlyAR takes a scan of the room and will have an avatar “teacher” who brings virtual objects, like animals, musical instruments, planets, etc.—into the study room as teaching tools. It is similar to a classroom lecture, but users can interact with the animations, tapping them on devices or even getting up to walk around and obtain a 360-degree view. Mondly Kids is similar to the main app but designed for toddlers and kids. Mondly Languages and MondlyAR could not provide a learning journey as immersive as MondlyVR. Still, users can apply them on mobile phones or pads when they are not equipped with a VR headset at their sides or do not have a decent space for a VR experience. For example, users can easily use their fragmented time to study during their commuter routine by using their mobile phones. These various products and tools are user-friendly and humanized for users to choose based on their time, location, equipment, and preference.

Mondly Languages
MondlyAR

Areas of Improvement

Not applicable for advanced learners

Mondly is a fascinating and helpful application for users to start learning a language. It provides an interactive interface, lively animation, immersive world to give beginners an impressive experience of learning a new language. While it’s easy to dive into the technicalities of the Mondly application, one limitation is it needs to be more diverse in its language lessons. Advanced users (B2 to C2 level) may need suitable grammar topics, appropriate lessons, and vocabulary. Therefore, users who want to find advanced daily lessons must look for other resources to supplement these missing vital factors. The direction for Mondly to improve could be to add more intermediate or advanced courses and content, trying to expand the range of target users.

Same format across all languages

Unlike a platform designed for one specific language, whose functionality is built around particular features of that language, the Mondly system is a template across all languages. It is not a fundamental shortcoming because this standard design is the best way to deliver an effective learning outcome. However, users might get tired of the single format after a while if they learn more than one language simultaneously. In that case, Mondly may consider upgrading the design for different languages to ensure users can have a novel experience even though they are using this application to learn multiple languages simultaneously.

Conclusion

MondlyVR is user-friendly and exciting. I like it and want to recommend it to people who intend to learn a new language for whatever purpose. It’s straightforward to get started. Users will learn words and phrases quickly with the help of well-designed sessions. Besides, it provides an immersive world to bring users into simulated but realistic situations to practice languages. Users can also easily find native speakers to communicate with voice translation. The above solves the environmental limitations of language learning in a significant context and encourages users to concentrate on learning. I am confident that users as language beginners would be able to choose a best-fit product under Mondly company. But if you are an advanced learner, let’s look forward to Mondly’s further progress in the future.

References

Mondly: Practice languages in VR on Oculus quest. Meta Quest VR Headsets, Accessories & Equipment. (n.d.). Retrieved January 19, 2023, from https://www.oculus.com/experiences/quest/4214902388537196/

Category, M. in N. (2022, December 13). Mondly VR Multiplayer: The future of language learning in virtual reality. Mondly Blog. Retrieved January 19, 2023, from https://www.mondly.com/blog/take-a-glimpse-into-the-future-with-mondly-vr-multiplayer/

Mondly VR: Language learning immersion. Mondly. (n.d.). Retrieved January 19, 2023, from https://www.mondly.com/vr

*, N., F, K., & TheThailandLife. (2021, July 8). My personal mondly review – learning thai on premium (2021). The Thailand Life | Award-Winning Thai Blog. Retrieved January 19, 2023, from https://www.thethailandlife.com/mondly-review

Advincula, C. J. (2022, November 21). Mondly review: 7 bona fide features with digital advantages – Ling App. ling. Retrieved January 19, 2023, from https://ling-app.com/tips/mondly-review/

Wikimedia Foundation. (2022, December 2). Mondly. Wikipedia. Retrieved January 19, 2023, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondly

Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series

Vader Immortal Trailer

Introduction

Vader Immortal: A Star Wars Series is a three-part VR experience developed by ILMxLAB and published by Disney Interactive Studios. The game was a finalist for an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Innovation in Interactive Media in 2019. It was also awarded the 2020 Game Developers Choice Award for Best VR/AR Game and the 2020 Producers Guild of America Award for Innovation.

Why is it engaging?

Vader Immortal is an immersive experience for any Star Wars fan and anyone wanting to try a VR experience for the first time that makes your Jedi fantasies come true. You will be put into a story where you get to take control of the action during the key moments of the story such as engaging in lightsaber duels and using the power of the Force against the stormtroopers and even facing off against Darth Vader himself.

Features well done

Graphics

Star Wars games rarely fail to impress us visually and this is especially true with Vader Immortal Series. This AAA narrative based adventure VR experience makes good use of the VR strengths while avoiding its shortcomings. For example, the environments are more conservative in size which allows the developers to focus on the resources they have in higher detailed textures, character animations and more sophisticated lighting which results in game worlds that are true to the Star Wars universe.

Sound

Like the visuals, there is not a Star Wars game that sounded bad and with access to the Lucasfilm sound vault, Vader Immortal sound effects are no exception. From the scream of a TIE Fighter overhead or the hum of a lightsaber, all the sounds in this experience is in 3D audio. This ensures players feel fully immersed into the experience in the Star Wars universe.

Gameplay

The gameplay’s goal is accessibility and mainstream appeal by keeping the game mechanics straightforward, competent and intuitive. Combat wise, Vader Immortal teaches the player a few abilities across the three-episode story arc with lightsaber combat being introduced in episode 1, force grabbing and throwing in episode 2 and adding in some blaster gunplay in episode 3. Towards the climax of the series, players can use a combination of the abilities learnt throughout the experience to duel with Vader himself. The best part about the combat is that players have the ultimate control to the lightsaber such as when to utilise it and turning it on and off at will. These combat mechanics brings about more options as to how players take on waves of stormtroopers and other random minions. While the gameplay may often feel simple, the game does succeeds in making you feel like a powerful Jedi towards the end of the series.

Areas for improvement

There are some texture pop-ins and jagged edges in large 3D models which could be due to technological limitations and optimisation concerns. Despite the shortcoming, the environment still does look impressive. The main problem could be that the paint-by-numbers and simplistic gameplay offers little replay value. This only end-game content that players have are the three training dojos at the end of each episode with various degrees of difficulty. However, completing them only offers some cosmetic unlocks such as different lightsaber designs seen in the Star Wars cinematic universe. Since Vader Immortal is marketed to be more of a VR experience then being an actual game, I think it is justified that there is not much replayability and that the three training dojos are a bonus for players who bought the game to continue to satisfy their Jedi fantasy at the end of the series.

Vader Immortal’s Training Dojo Gameplay

Conclusion

Despite being a short experience, Vader Immortal: A Star Wars Series provides the most immersive and authentic Jedi experience that every Star Wars fan would love to experience due to its impressive visuals and immersive gameplay. Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series is an excellent example of what current VR technology can offer and a proof of concept that current-generation hardware is capable of producing amazing VR visuals with enough resources.

References

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxolkxNzFAY
  • https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Vader_Immortal:_A_Star_Wars_VR_Series
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g79dnHagRWY
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YM7ABQnJ5uU
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9pb3E_ysxQ

Super Hot VR

SUPERHOT VR Release Trailer

Introduction:

              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

Beat Saber Game Based on Huawei VR Glass 6DoF

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).

Half-Life: Alyx

What is VR?

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!

Reference

https://store.steampowered.com/app/546560/HalfLife_Alyx/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-Life:_Alyx

https://uploadvr.com/half-life-alyx-locomotion/

https://www.roadtovr.com/half-life-alyx-trailer-views-mainstream-gaming-spotlight/

Rec Room, a social and fun VR experience

What is Rec Room? What parents need to know | Internet Matters

What is Rec Room and what makes it so great?

Rec Room is a free, social virtual reality game that allows people to get together, join one of the many worlds offered, and enjoy a wide variety of activities; most of the said activities and worlds, are also, in fact, user-created.

Rec Room’s content is mostly user-generated, similar to games such as Roblox or VRChat. The users create the world, model the objects, and script the necessary behaviours before sharing their creations for others to enjoy. Players have even gone on to recreate well-beloved games or franchises in Rec Room, such as Five Nights at Freddy’s, Uno, Wordle, Harry Potter and many more. The only limitation of what they can create is their imagination.

With many users developing content daily, it allows for a seemingly limitless number of activities for other players to engage in. Players can bowl with one another, play laser tag, do stand-up comedy and much more. With so many different activities, there is bound to be something for everyone.

Rec Room. (2022, December 28). Best Featured Rooms of 2022! [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/AwAFWW87PyY

But what makes this game different from Roblox or VRChat besides the graphics? 

All of the games share a similar concept, players can join their friends in various activities, and they can create content and share it. 

However, one of the key differences is that, unlike Roblox or VRChat where the player has to download external tools to create and script the world (VRChat uses Unity, while Roblox uses a tool called Roblox Studio), Rec Room tools are built into the game. This not only allows for a much gentle learning curve for beginners compared to the other two games but also allows users to immediately view and interact with their creations, making the process more efficient.

Rec Room. (2020, September 2). How to create in Rec Room using the Maker Pen! [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/x8WeiOfXE20

An immersive experience

While the game is available on various other devices such as mobile phones, PC, Playstation, and many more, the experience is simply not the same as compared to playing it on a VR headset.

Rec Room makes full use of the motion capture system of a VR headset. Players can freely look around the world just by moving their heads around instead of having to manually pan their screen. 

The arm motions through the controllers are also replicated in-game, such as waving your arm in real life will result in your in-game avatar’s arm waving. Users can also use this functionality to interact with in-game objects; for example, to play in-game basketball, players would just need to perform actions they would normally do in real life. This also allows for more expressive and unique interactions with the world and other players.

In the game, there is also an in-game microphone that enables players to communicate with one another. The volume of their voice changes dynamically depending on the distance between their avatars. 

All this makes the game feel immersive as the motions and actions in the real world are also closely reflected in the virtual world.

Rec Room. (2022, September 11). I 1v1’d THE ORIGINAL BASKETBALL MAP CREATOR | Rec Room Basketball VR Gameplay [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/0sQ3qPlxkwI

Motion Sickness? What if you don’t have your VR legs?

Motion sickness is something many suffer when they first enter virtual reality, especially so when it is their first time. This happens when users aren’t accustomed to the mixed signals received by the brain from the eyes and the inner ear (contains ‘sensors’ to help keep the body balanced). 

Visually, the players see themselves moving in the virtual world, however in reality the body is stationary. This disparity between what the inner ear and eyes senses causes a disconnect among users, which in turn, causes the feeling of motion sickness and nausea. (This can also happen for first-person games, not just VR games)

Of course, one way to fix this would be to use an omnidirectional treadmill, but that’s not exactly something that can be readily obtained by most consumers. (It’s pricey and big)

Rec Room like many other VR games and applications uses the joystick of the controller to move around the world. However, Rec Room also added an additional feature, the ability to “teleport” around as a substitute for walking in the world.

This feature helps to reduce motion sickness as users are no longer forcing their inner ear to constantly adapt to the artificial motion since the visuals comes to them. Thus, making the experience much more enjoyable.

BananaVR. (2021, May 19). How To Rec Room – Teleport VS Walking [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/opcQU2AMX8Q

Why I personally enjoy it so much

During the height of covid lockdowns, Rec Room was one of the few ways I could engage in activities with my friends.

The motions and controls are intuitive as they closely replicated the physical world. With this, my friends and I were able to play a wide variety of games without much confusion.

The user interface was also easy to understand and did not feel intrusive. All I had to do was look at my Avatar’s wrist, and a simple menu will pop up. I was even able to use hand gestures to invoke certain actions, such as shaking hands with another player to become friends or putting up a stop gesture to ignore a player. Not having to open a separate menu to perform those actions made interacting with the world much more enjoyable.

And while the visuals were simplistic, it was visually appealing and the low poly graphics suited the wide and wild variety of activities offered.

I had a fun time with my friends trying out the different activities and getting immersed in the world.

Possible Improvements

While I did have a lot of fun with Rec Room, my biggest gripe was the lack of options to adjust the volume of other players’ microphones.

Some of my friends had a softer mic, and it was hard to hear them from time to time even when their avatars were standing close by. It can also be quite disorienting in VR to hear the different volumes of voices even when the avatars are standing at the same distance from you.

There is a universal volume setting for the players’ voices, however, raising it meant every player’s microphone sound volume will also be raised. The players with a louder mic will still end up talking over those with a softer mic, thus, defeating the purpose of turning up the volume. 

A possible solution will be to have a setting similar to what Discord has, where you can adjust the volume of a specific player. This will make it so that we can better hear one another and the experience won’t be ruined when you’re barely able to hear someone, or when someone with a particularly loud mic starts shouting beside you.

Rec Room (n.d.). Comfort and Moderation. https://recroom.com/comfortandsafety

Conclusion

Rec Room is able to take advantage of what a virtual headset can offer to provide a fun and immersive VR experience for players. The controls are intuitive, the user interface and experience are pleasant, and it has a wide range of activities for players to engage in.

It is a fun game and a great experience in the virtual world that I, along with many others greatly enjoy!

Resources

Courtney, A. (2022, October 11). Rec Room Vs VRChat: Which Is The Best Social VR Game. VR Lowdown. Retrieved January 17, 2023, from https://vrlowdown.com/rec-room-vs-vrchat/

Create & Learn Team (2022, April 29). Roblox Tutorial: How to Make a Game. Create&Learn. Retrieved January 17, 2023, from https://www.create-learn.us/blog/roblox-tutorial-how-to-make-a-game/

Moss, G. (2018, September 18). Motion Sickness In VR Sucks (Here’s What To Do About It). VR Fitness Insider. https://www.vrfitnessinsider.com/motion-sickness-sucks/

Rec Room. (2017, May 3). How to Rec Room #4 – Stop Gesture [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/2bWTgmAxBes

Rec Room. (2017, April 6). How To Rec Room #3 – Shake Hands to Make Friends [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/epo3Gw9NMDs