First VR / AR post Thread

I just wanted to welcome everyone to a new forum board dedicated to Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality gaming! We have recently added support for these platforms to the site: VR and AR (warning clicking these links will toggle on platform filtering and show only this content - click here to reset) and hope to see people sharing a lot of games and downloads related to VR / AR.

So what does everyone this about the mad rush towards VR / AR? Seems everyone Oculus/Facebook, Google/Glass+Cardboard, Valve/HTC Vive, Samsung/Gear VR, Apple/??? is doing something.

The issue Im having is the markets already saturated with different VR solutions. How do i know what is the best product for PC gaming, what product will developers be targeting as a "platform"?

I'm leaning towards Oculus for the seated VR experience, but Valve is definitely more gamer focused than Facebook, will it come down to support or quality of experience?

Edited by: TKAzA

Time will probably tell.

Myself, I don't really believe in VR gaming industry. I don't like this kind of tech on my face really.

I think it is nifty and the one - or two - VR products that 'do it best' overall will probably explode onto the scene once Devs start to orient toward them. As with Photorealistic Graphics, I am assuming VR Integration will become a 'necessary evil' sooner, rather than later. Provided the consumers bite hungrily into it ;p

However, my own game dev, while ideally suited for the VR experience by virtue of its primary 1stPoV, already lags well behind at least 2x other Devs in its niche genre. And possibly a third(which I have heard from another game designer is in top secret development). So, as I am concerned with developing a AAA-spirited game on a comparatively tight indie budget, I have decided to pass on VR Integration on the fore end of it and leave that possibility up to the players themselves. I'll probably pursue VR Integration once it becomes more mainstream, having 'gotten there'...

Besides, I feel there is a severely underdeveloped gameplay mechanic which is much more important, in relation to my game design. Any eSport that requires its competitors to utilize their entire keyboard has its drawbacks with regard to Input, as you might imagine ;p

I agree that it is still a major niche and would take a lot of effort for a small team to perfect. At some point someone will crack the nut and do very well, but until then it is a major gamble. Having said that i'm very excited to see what emerges in the VR/AR space

As if hardware fragmentation and non-standardized VR input devices was not challenging enough, we're in that early transition period where we have to either support VR only gameplay and greatly reduce target demographics or overcome the challenges of accommodating both VR and non-VR gameplay. One of the main things we are doing to accommodate both in Klepto is implementing two completely different UI systems. A traditional 2D design and an immersive, interactive UI built into the 3D world.

I'm eager to start integrating the HTC Vive and see how different developing for it will be in UE4 compared to the DK2. However, the thing I am most eager to start working with is hand tracking input controls. Reaching out and taking a painting right off the wall in our burglary sim will be something I've looked forward to for quite some time.

Let's all agree it's a mad rush... I doubt all the kickstarters and hardware we're seeing right now will survive for long, that said some will. Recent market reports shows an explosion per say when it comes to revenue and value. I'm really excited about what next year will bring with the pending releases of the first major VR hardware and will for sure pick one or more up by the years end... and generation two will be insane, but now I'm far ahead of myself ;-)