MakeVR, HAWKEN and spiders in the RIFT

It has been quite the mad-house of late. It's like each month of each year gets progressively more frames per second (FPS), which then results in the amount of free time I have reducing dramatically. Turns out it wasn't that, it was just time gradually getting faster and faster. It's either that or I am consuming far too many caffinated and/or sugar based products ;). Over the last few months I have tried to keep posting here on a regular basis. Unfortunately, while I will try to keep it monthly from now on, it may slip from time to time. It looks like it will be a while before I am even able to start one or two of the larger VR experiences I have planned for the RIFT. Although just trying to keep up with the new experiences, game play mechanics and technologies emerging each day is an increasingly complicated task. It's already looking like both February and March are promising to be fairly busy too, with everything from a simple system build for a friend, to finalizing the plans for a new project that is currently under an active NDA (non-disclosure agreement).

CYMATIC BRUCE trying out the STEM prototype and MakeVR demo

MakeVR used to create 3D assets
(images from kickstarter page)

 
Since I started writing this months post, the Sixense crew have brought their MakeVR program to Kickstarter and from early reports of the demo's, it promises to be a very handy tool for the emerging VR world(s). While it seems aimed primarily at 3D printing, due to its exportable nature, assets in need of finer detail for other applications can still be manipulated in other 3D modeling programs. While it may seem to be a bit redundant having two 3D modelling tools at your disposal, being able to work within the VR world while utilising a tracking system such as the STEM for this task, promises to be truely epic. Sixense recently revised some of their reward tiers and now you can get beta-access to MakeVR, including a copy of the colaborate3D environment. This also contains all updates to both licenses until 2015 and also has a limited-edition avatar as a reward for becoming a backer. All for just $95. You can read more and/or back the project (here). EDIT: Sixense has recently cancelled funding on this and will re-launch once they have revised their kickstarter campaign. Read more about this <here> in the comments section of the project.

I have also spent a bit of time with Aldin Dynamic's Asunder (Earthbound). While a visually stunning VR experience, I also felt a little nauseous - much in the same way Museum of The Microstar (MoTM) did for me. Whether or not this is because of the control method (face-look) or whether or not it's latency or just this RIFTer's own experience remains uncertain. I also spent some more hours tweaking ini files and trying to optimise the Alpha-State RIFT support in HAWKEN. Since I did this however, the entire game-client has shifted to Steam. This means that I will not only need to reassess the RIFT support, I will also need to adjust many of my game-play tactics because the large number of sweeping changes introduced during the overhaul and new game client. This altered everything from TTK (time-to-kill) to ballance tweaks to even the in-game menus, music and animations. It even looks like the server stability has been improved, although this may just be because of Valve's platform, or it could be the increased amount the game client seems to be synchronizing after each match. Unplanned server outages aside, still expect continued PUBstomps and unexpectedly well ballanced matches on occasion. I have had two matches result in SUDDEN DEATH mode after we had traded kill for kill throughout the entire round. Our team emerged victorious on both ocasions, although I can still see how lag could have cost me (or the other team) at least one mortal blow. EDIT: HAWKEN has recently had a new patch that includes a new map *and* a new mech - plus, it looks like the Oceanic servers aren't totally broken anymore! This game is a totally different experience with a playable ping (averaging 100ms), and while it will take some time to rebuild the local community, it's going to take some work re-adjusting to a low latency server. Although, being able to dial in the mouse sensitivity seems to help mitigate at least some of these issues :)

HAWKEN in RIFT with interior textures (medium or better settings)

HAWKEN in RIFT without interior textures (low-res setting)

<Caution: Following these next few paragraphs, there *will* be spiders!>

While I have spent some game-time online in TDM with HAWKEN in RIFT mode, for the most part my experiments have been conducted in offline bot-mode or training. No one was playing Deathmatch mode last time I looked (prior to Steam release) and I didn't want to add kills to the total in Team Deathmatch while I derped across the battlefield trying to blind-trigger buttons. I rarely play with a controller, preferring the old keyboard and mouse combo and while I am spending more time in VR where knowing my way around a controller would be handy, I guess it's something I should start logging some serious amount of time with. There is nothing quite like loosing your spot on the keyboard mid-battle and being forced to peek out of your HMD in order to re-align your fingers with the correct keys. Drift can now also be corrected with the F2 or Scroll-Lock buttons which thankfully replaces the tedium of having to bring up console (F5) to reset it using the command line (resetmotioninput).

As a VR title? I can see why the dev's keep calling this alpha-state RIFT support. It is fun stomping around the battlefield in the RIFT and what little I have played in online team death matches while wearing it has been fantastic. Being able to boost around and have fun with friends while you explore HAWKEN in 3D is truely epic - The game was always intending to offer Oculus RIFT support upon launch (*cough* 12.12.12 *cough*) which means that the depth of field programmed into the game doesn't look as flat as say, something like Skyrim would. Unfortunately, due to the limited in-game FOV settings for VR (although it now has a menu option), I ended up feeling like I was more of a space marine wearing a jumpsuit. Albeit a two-story robotic death machine with rockets mind you, the scale just didn't feel like I was sitting in a cockpit of a giant MECHA. I must say though, the radar and health bar are now viewable and items are shown on monitors. Also, other issues like having your in-game HUD (heads up display) being tied to the same layer as your own UI make the whole experience fun, just not really playable in three dimensions at this stage . I didn't experience any real adverse nausea either, even when jumping or boosting from altitude, which is always nice.  I also haven't had the opportunity to test out HAWKEN in the RIFT since this latest platform shift, although early signs probably suggest that atleast some elements may be improved.

RIFT settings menu in HAWKEN

It is certainly likely I will be busy these next few months and it's not just all this testing left to do. The big project that is currently all under NDA is something I am obviously unable to talk about (at this stage anyway). This will be consuming the bulk of my time and attention now and for what looks like the immediate future. Because of this, all I have to offer you for a preview of next month's post is this rather funny reddit topic on r/Oculus. A developer (rogeressig) posted on the forums about how their brother played a practical joke on them with a rubber spider and the RIFT. It reminded me of an earlier post titled "An unpleasant experience". The post about family shenanigans by rogeressig is <HERE> while the original "spiders-in-the-RIFT" post is <HERE>. Also, Google "RIFT reaction spiders prank" and play the one featuring "Tomo" (posted by sloshworks) - skip to around the 2 minute mark <here>  (the entire video contains spoilers to "Dont let go", the Oculus RIFT demo).

"spiders in the RIFT... Nope."