FXG

  ~ explore the future together ~ creating high quality content ~ connecting international quality VR content with Chinese consumers 

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Developer’s Log #08

In many single player games, designers do not just hide items in different parts of the level, but they skillfully tease the player, like showing a room with the bonus through a small window.

This is the sixth part of different ways to influence a player’s orientation in a game space. Today I will introduce items in the game that encourage the player to explore the surrounding space.

In many single player games, designers do not just hide items in different parts of the level, but they skillfully tease the player, like showing a room with the bonus through a small window.

For the player to rack his brains and find the entrance to the hiding place with bonuses is always much nicer, rather than just lazily picking a freebie along the route. As soon as the player sees a useful item, he immediately has a desire to look more closely around and find a way to get inside.

This technique became a real classic after Half-Life (1998, Valve), where it was used almost at every location.

In Assassin's Creed Unity (2014, Ubisoft) developers encourage the player to search for chests and open them. Except for a small reward inside the chest, the player can get a valuable bonus if he opens all the chests at this location. The chests may be displayed on the map, but the player must understand by themselves on which tier the chest is.

In multiplayer games, with the help of selected items, game designers can not only control the movement of players but also create special points of attraction, for which the players will have a fight. 

Most duel arenas in Quake Live (2010, id Software) are based on the principle of controlling bonuses. The winner is the one who quickly moves through the entire level and first collects all the vital items, simultaneously shooting back the enemies. 

Stay tuned and I'll soon introduce to you in detail, how to use bonus items in level design.

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Director Wong Says #08 VR animation short film "LOST"

"LOST"is produced by Oculus Story Studio and tells the story of a"arm robot"that is searching for his lost body in the darkwoods. The character is extremely cute, it let's you"step into" the story and experience the feeling of immersion. 

P.S.: FXG also produced an awesome short movie called “AM LOST”

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Business Tripping #08 Another week has come and gone like clockwork. I wouldn’t hardly notice the passage of time, if not reminded weekly by my responsibility to update my readers.

Friday afternoon I spoke in Beijing at the prestigious 7tin event. That took me to Beijing, and I did not waste the opportunities present while there.

But first, in order to make a grand presentation I needed grand ideas (which I have many of) and grand illustrations (which I have few…). I was going to have one of the art masters Bai Wei or Wei Wei prepare the illustrations for me, but they encouraged me to try on my own. Who knows, I just might make an artist someday (unlikely).

While being home for a few days I took advantage of it by doing some cooking myself. I love a good restaurant, but the art of cooking is a big passion. Above is a breakfast made with fried eggs, big pepper fried bacon with mozzarella cheese on top, and some fresh tomatoes, 8.5/10

After a couple days of PowerPoint prep, and settling affairs in Hangzhou, I hit the road(track) again. I enjoyed shrimp and veggies with rice 7.8/10 as I raced along to Hangzhou.

On arrival in the capital city, I headed first to one of the Xiao Mi offices. Why did I go there? Who did I meet? What did we talk about? The NDA I signed means those questions will go unanswered, but an semi-unrelated fact I can say is that all these photos you see were taken by my new camera, Xiao Mi Mix 2.

A meeting should always be followed by a dinner, or better yet, combined with a dinner (see Sunday’s Bitone meeting). This dinner was some of the spiciest hot pot I’ve ever had (hotter than tequila shots) and the sauce was classic hot pot goodness 9/10.

The Friday 7tin event came and I was there. I discussed the challenges FXG’s faced while on the pioneering front lines of interactive VR film.

Did I take advantage of my position on stage to have a good  time?

YES! Of course I did. I am going to enjoy myself wherever I am, whatever I am doing. In this case other than telling jokes and being silly, I actually used the last 5 minutes of my presentation to film an interactive VR film together with the audience. I think a good amount of people had no idea what I was up to, but they all played along still.

I wasn’t the only fair skinned presenter at the event. One of the others, Thor from Nordic Trolls, a VR game studio, is an old internet friend, and it was great to see him in the flesh. Also good to meet Daniel, a giant of a 7 year old who speaks better Chinese than I ever will! A fun Nikk trivia fact, Daniel and his lovely mother Lin come from a snow beaten northern town called Da Qing, where I lived for many years in what feels like another life.

Daniels grandfather prepared an excellent north eastern meal that involved building our own wraps. 9/10

Continuing the theme of beautiful family units, the next day I joined my old friends Kevin and Wen, plus a very young friend Claire for lunch (and then desserts). Click the link or QR code for a 360 shot of the fun.

We ate pizza, drank Orange juice, laughed, watched stone lions, told stories, and even danced. It looks like I’ve met someone who likes to joke around as much as I do.

While Claire certainly is the best character Kevin has ever created, this blog is not called Adventures with Kevin ‘n Claire (unfortunately), and I should go on.

Then, I traded the cutest for the creepiest. That’s Peace, one of my first friends in China. We worked together, at his bar in Mudanjiang, then at a big bar in Harbin. Now he’s got a franchise of restaurants around China (turtle beijing roll).  While there I didn’t just eat his food, I also cooked a meal of my own. This is my first attempt at a cooking show. Wild times.

Lao Liu and the cameraman and his girlfriend enjoyed the product of the show. It was gory business, big ol things impossible to eat without making a mess.

Sunday I met with Olivia from Bitone at my new favorite Beijing restaurant X. These North East Chinese wraps are delicious 9.5/10. Bitone is an A level studio going deep into VR. I’ll be back to Beijing soon to see them again!

http://vr8.tv/88/3F2B2F/

North East Chinese wraps wrapped, I headed back to Hangzhou. Arriving back I saw a note from Bai Wei saying to check tilt brush. I threw on a VR headset and loaded up his most recent creation. I took another trip, this time into the mind of an artist.

A fitting end for such a week.

[fxgvr-blog]

Parallel Universe #7 Today I am gonna recommend a youtuber who is into sadventure style. 

About six months ago, the vaporwave began to capture attention everywhere. On Social media and in photography and design.

It may seem a bit late to talk about this now, but it's essence is "outdated," so there is no difference in the dimensions of time.

Of course, the VR form of the vaporwave content has also begun to make the rounds and is continuing to access the network and people's vision.

I hope you try it on your computer at home, you will definitely enjoy.

ＳＡＤＰ☹ＳＴＩＮＧＶＩＢＥＳis another level in my Sadventures in Glitch game. The level is dedicated to all late night sadposters, aesthetic blogs and Facebook pages, as well as their admins. If, like me, you spend countless hours each night browsing aesthetic meme pages while listening to vaporwave and questioning your emotional state, you can probably relate to this video.

FrankJavCee’s YouTube： https://www.youtube.com/user/FrankJavCee

artist：RINII

Instagram: riniifishw

Web: https://www.behance.net/RINII

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part 5: How to influence the player's orientation in the game space

This is the fifth part of different ways to influence a player’s orientation in a game space. Today I will introduce a navigation method used by level designers.

Another great way to show a player the direction of movement is to use the character as a road sign. For example, in the game “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2011, Infinity Ward)”, at each level there is a large number of partners who always lead the player to the goal. Most often we have to watch the "cleaning up" scene, when a group of special forces waiting for you at the entrance of the building, breaks the door and begin the assault.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 © 2011, Infinity Ward

Throughout the game “Half-Life (1998, Valve)”, the main character constantly meets a mysterious man in a business suit with a briefcase in his hands. He appears in the most unexpected places. This mysterious character motivates the player to explore all the nooks of the giant underground complex "Back Mesa".

Black Mesa Source © 2012, Black Mesa Team 

In many adventure games, the main character is often accompanied by secondary characters who act as companions. If the player is stuck and does not know what to do next, then the virtual partner will necessarily tell him the right direction of movement or even help in solving the puzzle. A great example of using secondary characters to improve navigation is done by games from “Naughty Dog” - Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (2009)”, “Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (2011)” and “The Last of Us (2013)”. In them, we are always given a certain amount of time for independent research of the environment, after which the partners, after making sure that the player is stuck, begin to prompt where to go and what to do.

The Last of Us © 2013, Naughty Dog

In the game “BioShock Infinite” the player accompanies Elizabeth. She helps the player to collect items like ammunition, coins, lockpicks, that he could not find himself. And furthermore, Elizabeth can break down locked doors, and also has the ability to manipulate "Tears" by opening portals to other places and times.

Ellizabeth throws the found to Backer. BioShock Infinite © 2013, 2K Games

What game characters helped you to play the game? How did they help?

We hope you find this article interesting. Next time you sit down to play a game, ask yourself what characters help and what they do? How can the character be useful to me? Think about the role of the character in each specific place because good game designers pay great attention to the placement of characters in the game space. 

Stay tuned for next weeks article!

[fxgvr-blog]

FXG Factory--Handmade

Hashtags this week #SPACE #EMOTION #COLD #BLACK MIRROR #DAILY LIFE IN FXG #ID #CREATIVE

artist：RINII

Instagram: riniifishw

Web: www.behance.net/RINII

[fxgvr-blog]

This is part 4 of ways to influence the player's orientation in the game space.

Part 1 to 3 introduced the role emotions, graphical user interface-maps, target indicators and road signs play for orientation in the virtual space. This part will give you an insight into the role of landmarks.

Landmarks, basically are a variation of road signs. Any object fixed to the ground, that is visible from a great distance can be considered a landmark: a recognizable building (a tower, a skyscraper, a lighthouse), a monumental structure (a statue, an obelisk, a dam), or a landscape element (a mountain, a waterfall, a lake) etc. In level designing, landmarks inherent several functions at once: they attract the player's attention at a distance, help him to determine his location, serve as a memorable element for locating and also create a sense of adventure and visual integrity of the game world. The use of giant objects to attract the player's attention at a distance is a key feature of open world games. For example, traveling on the boundless lands of Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (2011, Bethesda Game Studios), various landmarks  - watchtowers, bridges, ruins of temples and ancient settlements, giant sculptures or waterfalls are constantly visible on the horizon.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim © 2011, Bethesda Game Studios

Landmarks, which can be reached also help in creating a sense of adventure and travel. This atmosphere is achieved especially well in games with a linear level structure - the whole adventure is a line up of accessable landmarks that the player explores one by one. At the beginning of each level of the game "The Last of Us" (2013, Naughty Dog), the player is first shown a landmark, that he has to get to via overcoming many obstacles. E.g. from the quarantine zone in Boston one can see skewed skyscrapers downtown and from the business center, one can see the gilded dome of the Boston Capitol. In the episode, where a town is full of traps, one is first shown a water tower followed by a church. And in Pittsburgh the main characters walk in the direction of the bridge, which is clearly visible on the horizon from the very beginning of the level.

The Last of Us © 2013, Naughty Dog 

It is important to remember that especially large landmarks, visible from various locations, form a sense of unity of the game world in the player’s perception.

In the game "Half-Life 2" (2004, Valve) the central element of City 17 is the Citadel. It's a huge multistory building that can be seen from anywhere in the city. Thus, even if certain districts and their streetscape differ a lot from each other, one single landmark, visible from any angle, allows to create a sense of the integrity of the game world.

Half-Life 2 © 2004, Valve

Landmarks are also effective in levels, which are non-linear and highly complex. A large eye-catcher, visible from anywhere, will help the player quickly determine his own location and strategically plan his forward movement.

As you can see using landmarks is simple but a really effective and important part of influencing orientation for level designers. Which are the landmarks in your favorite games that you remember?

Stay tuned for next week’s article on how to use characters as road signs!

[fxgvr-blog]

If you find yourself in a situation you are unable to improve, you can always change your perception of reality.

I realized this while pondering on the fact that Nikk and I left for work without sunglasses. The sun was shining bright and the skies were unusually clear. The further away we drove from home after getting into the car, the more we knew it was too late to turn back. The sun was going to shine right into our eyes, all day long.

Squinting eyes, not looking as cool as usual, no UV protection. It was such a terrible prospect for the day!

Or not! Why should it turn out the way it appears?

Because this is how we will naturally perceive it, as a drawback.

But am I not the ruler of myself and my consciousness? Can’t I perceive it in a different way?

Yes, but the sun will blind us! How different can we perceive this fact?

By changing the perspective! We need to consciously accept the situation as it is and find its bright side. Let’s rejoice over the unusually blue skies and bright sun! Let every squint-causing sunbeam remind us that the pollution is gone and that the energy from the magnificent sun travels millions of kilometers across space to warm our bodies and hearts!

Sounds cheesy? It only got worse afterwards.

Later during the day I discovered that my most precious and beloved painting is damaged. Sandy dots appeared on the surface of the right wing of the triptych, covering the ultramarine sky of the East. Stains? Mold? The painting brought by master framer Wang was sealed and ready to be hang. I should feel uneasy, disappointed, sad, angry or devastated. I should have at least requested to unseal the frame, open it and examine the phenomena!

But my mind was ready...

Paper and silk are all substantial and happened to be the mineral pigments I applied on. They all get affected by time. Is there any way to perceive it differently? I thought to myself.

Painting is alive so it changes naturally. One may call it deterioration but is it not the evolution?

Previously, this painting’s skies of the West and East had differed in the tone of blue. But now, it seems like the picturesque stars had appeared on the Eastern firmament, turning it into nighttime. It vividly enhances the concept of dualism in the entire work!

Buddhist frescos that inspired the grand creation deteriorated similarly over centuries and are often covered with a multitude of clumsy stains.

Overall, unpredicted defection happened to add value to the painting. The meaning behind it deepened, and it makes more sense now. “A Dialogue Between Apsara and Angel” has a new layer, a new perspective!

We do not only shape reality by action, but also through the way we perceive it.

[fxgvr-blog]

Baiwei’s Little World #03

Welcome! I am Mr. Hundred Tails and this is yet another insight into my little world.

The worlds of art and fashion are in a close relationship. They inspire each other. They emanate through people's self expression.

Artists use the fashion language, consciously and unconsciously. Sometimes I purposely paint on my own clothes. I do not design my everyday fashion image, how I dress comes naturally and spontaneously.

By avoiding popular trends and being innately original, the species of homo artisticus is often seen by others to be dressed in truly unthinkable attire. Although it happens naturally to an artist, it’s ironic how the rest are often of the view that they are unfashionable and simply disregard the mainstream expectations of what is fashionable, yet it is these very artists that create new fashion trends. I realized this after designing my sketchbook “Hanger” while studying at China Academy of Art in Hangzhou. My peculiar all-day sketchbook-carrying style became a sort of trend at the campus, trendy enough that I even had followers!

I even carried it to the stage during my graduation.

Speaking of fashion, one of our recent FXG clients and partners is a Chinese-Canadian fashion brand called JAC. The company is based in Hangzhou’s Fashion Town of Yuhang district.

I already played around with our logos.

JAC is led by the mastermind Bruce and beauty sensitive Rozemarie. Together they create a powerful fashion duo.

FXG is creating an introduction video experience for JAC. A short VR clip that presents the company at its headquarters as well as it’s people and culture.

During my few visits to JAC, I always carry my “sketchbook-camera”. Observing and capturing, I created a small body of works. Please, take a look.

Discovering your own way of expression through clothing creates a new fashion. Yes, you are fashionable! Even if you are the only one who thinks so.

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Director Wong Says #03 Dunkirk VR trailer 

The Dunkirk VR trailer was created to promote Christopher Nolan’s latest war masterpiece - the movie “Dunkirk”. In the VR experience the audience gets a special panoramic view and immersive impression of the film scenes, land, sea and sky.

The VR version gives a direct, unique and lifelike surrounding showing the brutality and cruelty of war. The immediate confrontation makes it a personal experience and changes the common understanding and viewpoints on the topic.

The drama is adapted from the historical events of World War II. Telling the story of the British surrendering in "Dunkirk" when about 400,000 British and French allied soldiers faced the Germans’ merciless attack.

Solitude, despair, unendurable tragedy ... and the hope to survive.

In fact, the film itself is a must see and already worth watching even without seeing the VR trailer. Since it is produced by Christopher Nolan there’s no more to say, then “go watch it - you won’t be disappointed.”

From Director Wong

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Nikk Business Tripping #03

Welcome back to Business Tripping. After a full week in Hangzhou I hit the road again. But first I had a surprise. 

This is brother Dai (戴). He is an old friend of mine from many years ago in north east China’s Heilongjiang province. We partnered together on making a VR arcade machine. Unfortunately we were too early, and it would be many years before VR arcades took off. Still we had a lot of fun, and unlike our VR arcade business, our friendship is still going strong! It’s been over 3 years since I saw him in the far north, so it was a great surprise having him visit me down here in Hangzhou.

After my visit from an old friend it time to trip again. I traveled with FXG’s art director Bai Wei to Shanghai after an invitation by What is the name of the organization to join an event co-sponsored by the South Korean government. Here we made some new friends, and started what could be a new FXG – South Korea partnership.

While in Shanghai we also attended a talk at ShanghaiTech by the luminaries of Beauty of Science. Beauty of Science is an amazing team that creates truly amazing pieces of art by capturing different chemical reactions. At FXG we are on a similar journey, at the crossroads between art and technology. We were very inspired seeing there work, and learning their methods.

After a busy 2 days in Shanghai we rushed back to Hangzhou for an important meeting with RozeMerie Cuevas, the mastermind fashion designer behind the luxurious JAC brand. While I’ve been gallivanting around China and south east Asia, FXG’s video team has been hard at work on a special VR experience for JAC. While I might have not been around to make it I wanted to be there to deliver the product by hand! RozeMerie watched our VR experience on repeat, enjoying discovering new things with each viewing.

And of course Bai Wei could not turn down an opportunity to draw a beautiful lady.

After an enjoyable afternoon at JAC, Wilson Li brought me to see a friend I haven’t met in over a year, Boss Qi. We met at his amazing work shop, where I met Joey,  who was at work on some truly revolutionary VR technology. I wish I could share more pictures but most of their amazing new inventions are top secret.

After I survived a near fatal attack from the Frankenstein robot I was building we went out to dinner where we were joined by Boss Yellow. We had a great meal (8/10) with even greater conversation. It is always a pleasure to spend time with other VR company leaders, especially when there is so much possibility to partner on great projects. Unfortunately the evening drink (Bai Jiu) caused me to forget to take any pictures of the dinner.

On Friday Dina brought her great team to the FXG headquarters to interview me and the team.

And Saturday...

I joined an MKW wrestling match! I got in the ring with my champion Wade Massen and showed off a high tech VR wrestling training simulation I’d made for him. The goal was to use VR to train him against AI opponents so that he could destroy a human opponent. Unfortunately his human opponent Hongying kicked his ass, AND snapped my suspenders in my face!!!

Founded by Adrian Gomez, MKW is the top Chinese wrestling promotion. I am honored to be a partner in this great company, and our matches are always the best fun, even if my man always looses and I get beat on by rude thugs!

Now it’s Sunday, I’m on the plane back to Hangzhou for an evening of rest!

Tune in tomorrow to hear what Director Wang has to say, and next Monday to be taken to Africa with Business Tripping and your friend Nikk Mitchell.

[fxgvr-blog]

VR Game Hype #02

What exactly is lacking in VR Inspirations for games?

Steam VR have had 104 new VR games added to its online market in November (2017) alone, an increase in numbers compared to October. Out of those games, 100 supports HTC Vive, 62 supports Oculus Rift, and 13 for Windows MR. 93, or 89% of them also were VR Only games.

One game on the Top Sales list was especially interesting, called Scanner Sombre.

In its essence, it’s simply a walking simulator: You wake up in a cave, picks up the scanner on your side, and explore the cave in total darkness. That’s it. Doesn’t it sound boring? There isn’t any blood-pumping gunfights, there isn’t any fancy special moves, only walking and scatters of lights.

Naturally, some may ask: What exactly is fun about this?

The question may be further applied to all VR games in general. VR games does not have any grand schemes, and it isn’t that much more comfortable to use motion controllers as your guns, compared with the good-ol controllers (not to mention mice and keyboard), so they are not really fun; in VR sports games, you do not get to experience the thrilling events and whole careers of players, so they are not really fun; in VR RPG games, as they are currently still limited by technology, you may feel that there is something simply lacking, so those are not really fun either. --You may find similar comments in VR reviewing articles a lot.

Comparatively, as the VR platform is extremely young compared to other more developed platforms (such as PC and consoles), so they inherently may lack gameplay. But does that mean VR games are inferior?

Of course not. One of the biggest advantages of VR is its immersiness and its ability to create true experiences. But too many VR games may have failed to understand the meanings of those advantages, or that they may have gotten something wrong.

For example, You get to have a close-quarter fight with tens of heavily-armored guards, and you get to do a Leap of Faith from high towers, but would you really do those in an VR environment? Maybe you would get your answer after swinging your arm around constantly for an hour.

serB, one of the developers of WoT have once famously said:”Want realism? Join the army.” This is an criticism to those developers who are careless about the gameplay experience while attempting extreme realism. This quote is applicable to VR games as well. Extreme realism would of course satisfy a niche market (professional training purposes like the Air Force), but this obviously isn’t wanted by most consumers.

Why do people play games? Because they want to have “fun.” We hope that we could simply have fun, or have different experiences.

Now, If you take a look at those popular VR games you would find that those games emphasize on the VR part rather than the Gaming part. For example Resident Evil 7, you would find that the VR version of the game feels like you are playing Resident Evil in its originality, except it’s in VR.

The “Experience” and the “Process” of it are the true advantages of VR.

We can then understand the reason behind the popularity behind Scanner Sombre. There is not any complicated storylines, nor adrenaline-pumping fights. What you do get from the game are the process of the exploration in the caves, and its total different experiences. Each scan is an attempt to explore the unknown which keeps it interesting; with the addition of its unique style of graphics, makes the game feel like a piece of sashimi: simple yet delicious. The core of virtual reality then, is essentially the processes that are worth experiencing.

In the next and the last issue, we would be discussing about the Future itself and VR Gaming. We hope that you will look forward to it.

[fxgvr-blog]

Parallel Universe #02

Daily life in FXG planet

I was once told that they come from all over the world. They were born from different families, different walks of life but somehow share a common  name. Even with their everyday ups and downs, they always stand as a united front!

This week’s hashtags:

#No food, just photosynthesis

#A stern face

#Chirstams Day

#New year's day

#Multi-language

Artist: RINII

Instagram: riniifishw

Web: https://www.behance.net/RINII

[fxgvr-blog]

Vernweh Report #02

Here is your weekly feed on the most exciting developments, events, releases and news about VR from all over the world:

1.‘Ready Player One’ Movie Gets First Full Trailer, Book Sequel in the Works

Ready Player One, the 2011 novel by Ernest Cline, is getting turned into a movie by none other than Steven Spielberg. As the movie’s release date approaches (spring 2018), the first full trailer debuted this week. Cline has also confirmed work on a sequel to the novel.

Ready Player One follows the story of Wade Watts, an orphan whose life is centered around a virtual reality metaverse called Oasis. As it turns out, the creator of the Oasis has hidden a key which controls the entire metaverse, leading to a mad dash among users to find the key and assume control. [Read more: https://www.roadtovr.com/ready-player-one-movie-gets-first-full-trailer-book-sequel-in-the-works/ ]

We think it is THE MUST WATCH movie for VR fans. Are you as existed as we are? Tell us below, what you think of the story. Do you want to live in such a world?

2. Where Thoughts Go Is An Anonymous VR Social Space On An Alien Planet

‘Where Thoughts Go’ is a social network that takes the form of an ethereal virtual reality world. Visitors leave anonymous voice logs that appear in the dreamy environment as little creatures that flit around in the air. It’s the latest VR project from indie developer Lucas Rizzotto, who plans to release an early version sometime in 2018 on platforms to be announced.  [Read more: http://technewstube.com/venturebeat/934420/where-thoughts-go-is-an-anonymous-vr-social-space-on-an-alien-planet/ ]

This is a unique way of improving mutual understanding of people and their perspectives all around the world. What thoughts would you share on this VR network? Start by sharing down below!

3. Google is Developing a VR Display With 10x More Pixels Than Today’s Headsets

Clay Bavor, VP of VR/AR at Google, revealed Bavor an R&D project that hopes to take VR displays to the next level: developing a VR-optimised OLED panel capable of 20 megapixels per eye. “We’ve partnered deeply with one of the leading OLED manufacturers in the world to create a VR-capable OLED display with 10x more pixels than any commercially available VR display today,” Bavor said.  [Read more: https://www.roadtovr.com/google-developing-vr-display-10x-pixels-todays-headsets/ ]

A display of 20 MP per eye brings many performance challenges, foremost the unreasonably high data rates of 50-100 Gb/sec. But VR is developing fast and it is not unlikely that we’ll be enjoying amazing high pixel density soon.

4. ZED Mini Turns Rift and Vive into an AR Headset From the Future

Stereo camera company Stereolabs has launched pre-orders for the ZED Mini, a smaller version of their stereo depth-mapping camera which fits on a mount made to attach to VR headsets like the Rift and Vive. When attached, the camera provides stereo pass-through video and real-time depth and environment mapping, turning the headsets into dev kits emulating the capabilities of high-end AR headsets of the future. (Price: $450) [Read more: https://www.roadtovr.com/zed-mini-turns-rift-vive-high-end-ar-dev-kit/ ]

This device is said to surpass all of today’s AR headsets, like the HoloLens and ODG R8, which have very small fields of view compared to today’s VR headsets (~40 degrees compared to ~100). But it will be years still before high-end immersive augmented reality headsets hit the consumer market. What’s your opinion on AR headsets? Do you own one?

Tell us what excited you this week and make sure to follow us for next week’s recap!

[fxgvr-blog]

Developer’s Log #02

Specific nature of VR game design - first thoughts

In the process of developing game levels for VR games, there are lots of details to consider, which greatly influence the players’ feelings in the virtual space. This means, in order to make the right decisions when creating a game map, it is crucial to follow scientific research dedicated to the perception of virtual space and apply their findings.

“The pattern of activity in a brain region involved in spatial learning in the virtual reality world is completely different than when it processes activity in the real world,” said Mayank Mehta, a UCLA professor of physics, neurology and neurobiology in the UCLA College.

The hippocampus plays an important role in forming new memories and creating mental maps of space. E.g.when a person explores a room, neurons in the hippocampus become selectively active, providing a "cognitive map" of the environment.The hippocampus estimates distances between the subject and surrounding landmarks, such as buildings and mountains. However there are numerous cues, such as smells and sounds, also helping the brain determine spaces and distances.

Mayank Mehta's team designed a virtual reality environment and studied how a rat orientates in the virtual space without the possibility to rely on smells and sounds. The experiment was run in two identical rooms, one being in real space, the other in virtual space. A small harness was placed around the rats and they were put on a treadmill surrounded by a "virtual world" on large video screens in an otherwise dark, quiet room. The scientists measured the rats' behavior and the activity of hundreds of neurons in their hippocampi.

Surprisingly the results from the virtual and real environments were completely different. The rats' neurons were highly active in the real-world environment, but more than half the amount of those neurons shut down in the virtual space. However, the ability of rats to navigate in virtual and real space was almost identical.

This experiment shows us that the ability to direct the player in a virtual space is almost identical to the orientation in real space. While these are good news for a VR game designers, this still leaves us with the question of

HOW to influence the orientation of the player? How can designer create a game level in which the player can quickly understand where to go or where to find things?

I will cover the answers to these question in my collumn next week. Plus - introduce different design level techniques to either make the player's orientation in the virtual space more difficult or simple depending on the goals set.

[fxgvr-blog]

Baiwei’s little world #02

Welcome. I am Mr. Hundred Tails and this is the second insight into my Little World.

Today I will share with you a business trip experience seen from the artist's perspective.

Mr. Hundred Tails on a business trip in Thailand, Bangkok, Beam Music Festival, ready to work.

FXG's job was to capture the festival. I did it my way - dancig and drawing. Enough doodle-dawdle, let's get to it!

People say it's hard to make art for a living. And they are right. But it's even more fun.

Join me next week for more!

[fxgvr-blog]

Director Wong Says #02   Google VR panoramic animation short film "Duet"

Produced by Disney's Chief Graphics Designer, Gary Keane, the short film is a masterpiece uniting Tarzan, Aladdin, the Beauty and the Beast, and may be the most famous animation movie in the history of animation so far.

"Duet“ tells the story of a boy and a girl, whose love blossoms in their childhood and grows stronger as they grow up together. The journey of the early connection between two lives, where their experiences and differences are beautifully potrayed through an immersive approach combined with an elegant and soft soundtrack.

The imaginative design is a composition of two narrative threads, expressed as two lines which connect all scenes on a dark blue background. The lines change with the appearances of the characters, the rhythm of the music and the scenery changes.  Users have the freedom to focus on the actress, while completely ignoring what the actor is doing or vice versa. The characters keep getting together and parting ways over and over again. Their story line crosses four times, each time giving the viewer the possibility to change their focus. 

Mobile phone pre-release version: http://www.iqiyi.com/w_19rt2r5v0t.html