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Designing for VR

Elad Drory
Elad Drory

A short lecture I gave at the GameIS 2014 convention - about lessons learned from designing several VR games, including a launch title for Samsung Gear VR

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Designing for VR Elad Drory Designing for VR Elad Drory
Topics Why VR? Welcoming our players The elephant in the room Best practices What this means for game design Rethinking the world Rethinking pace and flow Production and budget The future!
Why VR? We are on the edge of a huge leap forward in VR Hardware is taking huge steps forward, and will keep improving In March 2014, Facebook bought Oculus for $2 Billion Samsungs Galaxy Note 4 and future phones will support Gear VR. 10 million VR-capable phones in 2015. Google and other companies invested over $500 million in Magic Leap, a VR/AR company As game designers, working in VR tests our ability to create truly immersive experiences Because, seriously, VR is awesome
Welcoming our players As VR pioneers, one of our first goals is to help people transition into this new medium Remember that as developers, we will quickly get used to VR, and forget how shocking the transition can be We have to introduce players to VR gently, even at the expense of gameplay
The elephant in the room Oculus is working hard to prevent motion sickness As developers, we have an interest in this as well At its core, motion sickness happens because of a mis-match between our senses. What our eyes see doesnt match what our body feels, creating confusion
And speaking of elephants https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OXixY2weuk
Best practices Never ever take control of the players head This includes head bobbing, camera shakes, and zooming Fixed position in games is the most comfortable, and theres a lot of possibilities to explore Ideally, let the player control their own movement and set their own pace If you must move the player: Move at a constant speed in one direction, dont change direction or axis suddenly Help them understand where theyre going by using lighting and architecture Avoid gameplay that requires looking away from direction of travel Read the Best Practices document!
A little demonstration ROMANS VIDEO GOES HERE
Rethinking the world HUD must be part of the world, it cant be glued on screen Dont strive for too much realism Scale is an easy and extremely powerful tool feeling bigger or smaller is fun! Let players get up close and personal with stuff No more cheating you cant introduce objects into the game from off-screen
Rethinking pace and flow Add a lot of breaks in the action Let players explore, remember that just being in the world is magical Think of ways to encourage and reward exploration Dont forget that its a game. Have clear objectives and sense of progress.
Production and budget Be nice to your 3D guys, youre going to need them! The whole world is 3D 3D budget on Romans VR was 100% more than we anticipated - and that included tons of assets from the mobile game 3D artists have to be much more hands-on, and work closely with both dev and 2D to integrate things into the world Leave a lot of overhead for experimenting This is always true, but especially in new mediums Playtest a lot, but trust the research and community You wont be able to test every kind of player, and your testing tools are limited
VR is the future Like it or not, VR is going to grow in the coming years Not just through games, but through cinema, professional and medical apps Is it going to be a gimmick or a lasting new medium? That depends on us, and the experiences we create.
Thank you! @eladrory If youre interested in bringing your games to VR, contact us at Sidekick! info@sidekick.co.il

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Designing for VR

  • 1. Designing for VR Elad Drory Designing for VR Elad Drory
  • 2. Topics Why VR? Welcoming our players The elephant in the room Best practices What this means for game design Rethinking the world Rethinking pace and flow Production and budget The future!
  • 3. Why VR? We are on the edge of a huge leap forward in VR Hardware is taking huge steps forward, and will keep improving In March 2014, Facebook bought Oculus for $2 Billion Samsungs Galaxy Note 4 and future phones will support Gear VR. 10 million VR-capable phones in 2015. Google and other companies invested over $500 million in Magic Leap, a VR/AR company As game designers, working in VR tests our ability to create truly immersive experiences Because, seriously, VR is awesome
  • 4. Welcoming our players As VR pioneers, one of our first goals is to help people transition into this new medium Remember that as developers, we will quickly get used to VR, and forget how shocking the transition can be We have to introduce players to VR gently, even at the expense of gameplay
  • 5. The elephant in the room Oculus is working hard to prevent motion sickness As developers, we have an interest in this as well At its core, motion sickness happens because of a mis-match between our senses. What our eyes see doesnt match what our body feels, creating confusion
  • 6. And speaking of elephants https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OXixY2weuk
  • 7. Best practices Never ever take control of the players head This includes head bobbing, camera shakes, and zooming Fixed position in games is the most comfortable, and theres a lot of possibilities to explore Ideally, let the player control their own movement and set their own pace If you must move the player: Move at a constant speed in one direction, dont change direction or axis suddenly Help them understand where theyre going by using lighting and architecture Avoid gameplay that requires looking away from direction of travel Read the Best Practices document!
  • 8. A little demonstration ROMANS VIDEO GOES HERE
  • 9. Rethinking the world HUD must be part of the world, it cant be glued on screen Dont strive for too much realism Scale is an easy and extremely powerful tool feeling bigger or smaller is fun! Let players get up close and personal with stuff No more cheating you cant introduce objects into the game from off-screen
  • 10. Rethinking pace and flow Add a lot of breaks in the action Let players explore, remember that just being in the world is magical Think of ways to encourage and reward exploration Dont forget that its a game. Have clear objectives and sense of progress.
  • 11. Production and budget Be nice to your 3D guys, youre going to need them! The whole world is 3D 3D budget on Romans VR was 100% more than we anticipated - and that included tons of assets from the mobile game 3D artists have to be much more hands-on, and work closely with both dev and 2D to integrate things into the world Leave a lot of overhead for experimenting This is always true, but especially in new mediums Playtest a lot, but trust the research and community You wont be able to test every kind of player, and your testing tools are limited
  • 12. VR is the future Like it or not, VR is going to grow in the coming years Not just through games, but through cinema, professional and medical apps Is it going to be a gimmick or a lasting new medium? That depends on us, and the experiences we create.
  • 13. Thank you! @eladrory If youre interested in bringing your games to VR, contact us at Sidekick! info@sidekick.co.il