How Virtual Reality is changing gaming?

Is Virtual Reality’s return changing gaming?

I will be researching peoples opinions on virtual reality and how many companies are compatible with VR systems, I want to find out why Virtual Reality is making a strong impact on the gaming world. Virtual reality is where instead of using a mouse and keyboard or a controller to control your movement, you use a headset to control where you look in the game. This means when you turn your head in real life it turns in the game which gives the feeling of you being in the game. The other ways to input information are the handheld joysticks which control grabbing things in game, the final piece of input is the cameras you can place around your room, once you place these cameras it will create a square where you are able to walk around in which syncs to the game to give you the feeling of walking around the in-game room.  Virtual Reality’s last big gaming appearance was in the late ’90s then went dormant for a decade and started to make a comeback in 2012. One of the first VR systems used was to train pilots in the 1920s, VR systems were first used for gaming in 1991 for arcade machines, but the first time you could own a VR system for gaming would be 1993 with the SEGA VR glasses. Now that Virtual Reality is back technology is being improved to become compatible with Virtual Reality systems and the consoles and PC alike are becoming more adaptable for Virtual reality capabilities.

To find the needed information I will be creating my own questionnaire, this questionnaire will let me have the questions orientated towards what I need to be answered which secondary research might not have the answers to, then I will be looking for statistics from other people/organisations. Then after gathering the information I will be using said gathered information to structure my argument for how Virtual Reality is changing modern gaming. Then I will make a summary of the main points that go for and against my argument.

I will be exploring primary and secondary research to get the statistics I need to have a strong argument. The primary research will allow me to ask personalized questions to get the specific information I need to bring my point across to do this I need to create a survey. Secondary research will give me larger statistics, like a small census. however, using secondary research may be outdated which leads to inaccuracies which will make it hard to explain my point, o get this research I will need to look online.

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My thoughts on how virtual reality is changing gaming; I think from the sudden increase in popularity for virtual reality after the release of the Oculus Rift in 2012 the world of virtual reality has been revived and companies noticed the opportunity they had to make money off of this new fad. An example of this would be Sony’s own virtual reality system. If companies have already developed their own virtual reality systems then they will make their products to be more compatible with virtual reality games, soon we may have virtual reality systems coming with consoles not too unlike to how Xbox consoles used to come with their Kinect system. Also, with the advancements of virtual reality technology, like the Tesla suit, games and consoles will have to adapt to keep up with the technology and their competitors.

The popularity of virtual reality is different because it is quite expensive to buy one of these systems, therefore, limiting the experience for some people with lower budgets. The cheapest virtual reality system is £5.99 for the Google Cardboard, which is a box with lenses where you place your phone inside as the screen, the most expensive system is the HTC Vive Pro full kit for £1,299. However, most of the headsets that are suitable for gaming are usually £100 – £500. The differences between these headsets The questionnaire that I made was able to show this, 7 out of the 9 responded with that they thought that virtual reality systems were too expensive.

Then after this question, I asked the respondents why they thought this,

Respondents said that the technology is too expensive because it is new and so that it stays as a niche. Other people say that it is too expensive for what it’s worth because of the lack of content that comes with it, this means that not many high budget games are on virtual reality systems which make the idea of buying a £300 system to be an add on to another £300 – £1500 system to then not have the ability to play games which look current generation. the only way to combat this would be to adapt the consoles and PCs to be able to run virtual reality to higher standards, maybe even next-generation standards.

Answers that said that virtual reality is not too expensive bring up the points that because this version of virtual reality is quite new it will take a lot of testing to make the virtual reality games run smoothly which will cost the companies quite a bit to conduct so the prices are a way of making a profit to further enhance the experience for their future models. Others say that the other models of the virtual reality systems are better and “are more accessible due to price”. Other answers say that they think that it is too expensive at the moment but they also think that the price will decrease over the years like how the Oculus has already decreased. The general consensus of these answers is that as of now virtual reality systems are too expensive.

The graphs above show that the minority of people have a virtual reality system then in the second graph, after looking at individuals responses, only half of the people who answered no for owning VR equipment want to own a system. The other half have no interest in owning a virtual reality system, this is partly due to the expenses of the systems. 2 of the people who have owned VR equipment answered no to like to own one, where this may be because they had a bad experience with virtual reality or because it was too straining to run for their machine.

The 3 responses above are from 3 people who haven’t owned a VR system but would like to own one, these are the reasons they give for wanting to own a virtual reality system. 2 of the respondents want to immerse themselves within a virtual world, 1 has said the reason virtual reality interests them is a game called Beat Saber. So the reason some people want to try virtual reality is because they want to experience being in a virtual world, I feel like a lot of people would like to try virtual reality for this reason however, wherever they would want to keep the system after this is unknown, since some people experience motion sickness and neck pains due to the weight of the headset which could put them off of using virtual reality systems again in the future.

3 people who answered this question are quite sceptical about virtual reality will fair in the future, this is because how expensive virtual  reality systems are right now and in the future they may become more expensive due to needing more powerful machines to run the system, another reason someone had was “It would depend really: what games would be going on there? Horror games may have actual unintended side effects of psychologically damaging players, and this could even occur in light games if you weren’t expecting something to happen.” A way around this would be for the start of the game to have a warning, or even the box/instructions of the system would have a warning explaining there may be side effects from using the system.

The answers above are evidence of people worrying about the pricing of virtual reality systems. One of the answers above states “everyone always talks about either owning or wishing they owned a VR set.” When everyone is talking about a virtual reality that works as free advertisements for virtual reality systems which end up increasing the number of people buying these systems which lead to the companies making the systems making more money which they will spend further advancing their virtual reality technology. This means that the machines need to stay being compatible with the VR systems which lead to other tech companies furthering their advancement of VR systems to keep up with the other which creates a big cycle of everyone trying to catch up with the other making VR more accessible for more people.

Here I asked the respondents their opinions of virtual reality gaming. Many of the respondents said that virtual reality “needs more work” and is “unrefined”, so they think that as of now virtual reality is too undeveloped to be popular.

“V.R. doesn’t just show you things, it brings you in to the scene, and radically embodies you in the simulation, and that has capacity to not just, let us see things from perspectives we would never have imagined, and put us literally into the shoes of other people, let us see their experiences, or let us see experiences we wouldn’t have thought of.” Virtual reality systems can immerse you into a whole new world making you feel like you are a different person. The quote above shows that when you are using a VR headset it feels like you are in a completely different world, This is a major sell for VR makers because it is a completely unique experience which draws people in.

“Arguably, one of the biggest growth areas of VR tech has been in gaming, where consoles and handhelds alike have been adapting their games for headsets and VR graphics for a while. For many people, it has been forecast that this was the industry that would benefit from virtual reality the most. Gaming is one of the few industries that actually embraces technology and innovation. For example, we’ve just seen the release of 4K-capable consoles such as the Xbox One X and the PS4 Pro; meaning games have been brought to life in terms of how they look and feel more than ever before. What virtual reality can do, though, is take the already raised bar and raise it even further.” Having VR capable console would be good for the companies which create consoles, the gaming industry has already tried VR in the past but didn’t have the technology to be able to have a great experience, now we have the technology to be able to bring VR back to the mainstream consoles. VR will likely be coming with the next generation of consoles in a bundle which makes it convenient for the buyers. This means that more people will have VR so more games companies will have to make games for VR, so in the next generation of consoles, we could be seeing some of the first massive triple-A games for VR.

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How is Virtual Reality changing gaming? Some of the main points that were explored are the pricing of VR systems, this was a frequent topic with peoples answers to my questionnaire, It seems that people think that the price of VR systems is too high to be able to become widely popular. Another main point was the peoples’ experience with VR, from the survey, those who had owned VR said that it was uncomfortable, from the weight of the headset, and can make them nauseous or even motion sick, if the VR companies can correct this, that will mean many more people can use VR without worrying about health risks, in turn making the systems popular. In conclusion, I think that the gaming world is changing for VR, I think this especially because VR isn’t at its full potential yet. For VR to get to its full potential home consoles will have to adapt to easily include VR to their systems, the experience will only get more realistic with the upcoming technologies like the Tesla suit so you can feel what happens to you in game and the Augmented Reality footwear Google is working on which allows the user to walk in the spot. Some of the implications I had with my findings are the number of respondents to the survey I had, I would have liked to get a broader spectrum of opinions on VR, this would have helped me determine what is holding Virtual reality back from becoming a widely used system in the modern home.

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Techspective. January 25th 2018. VR Technology set to change the world of gaming. [ONLINE] https://techspective.net/2018/01/25/vr-technology-set-change-world-gaming/ [ACCESSED 14th March 2019]

MindGamers. 2017. 4 ways virtual reality will change the future (of gaming).        [ONLINE] https://mindgamers.redbull.com/article/12  [ACCESSED 14th March 2019]

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Pre-1950’s Props: Corinthian Spartan Helmet.

On this course so far I have made a scythe, other various weapons and a medieval style house. Other achievements that I have done are animation projects.  Throughout the course, I have learnt many modelling techniques that have helped me bring greater detail to my models. I have also gotten better at unwrapping model but I still need to get better at fitting everything into a single UV map. In the future, I want to be able to make a wide range of models from Corinthian helmets to Halo inspired armours. Doing this project will give me experience in making helmets which will help me in the future when I wont to make futuristic armours that may be inspired by certain points in history. This model will also let me practice with baking and sculpting which is a vital part of being a modeller because it would help me add much more detail to my models.

 

I have chosen the pre-1950’s so I could experiment with historical designs. I’m working towards making an ancient Greek Corinthian helmet, hopefully, I can make a decent looking helmet with my own designs on it to add detail. The history behind the Corinthian helmet is that it was a helmet made out of bronze which covered the wearer’s face, neck and the rest of their head. I will need to research the history behind the helmet and when it was used, how the helmet came to be designed and why it became popular during the time period. Other research that I will have to carry out will be the actual look of the helmet and if different regions used slightly different variations of the helmet, the region I will have to concentrate on will be the area of Sparta.

To create the helmet itself I would need to use the extrude tool to create the neck protection, nose protection and the triangle near the forehead. After I make the basic low poly version of the helmet in Maya I will make a duplicate of it and then more subdivisions then ship it to Mud-box so that I can add engravings to the helmet than to bake them onto the low poly and render it using the Arnold renderer. The resources that I will need for the project will be the programs like Maya and Mud-box so I am able to create the helmet. I may need an external hard drive to put copies of the helmet in case the file gets corrupted or accidentally deleted. I will need to gather different material textures like bronze for the base of the helmet and maybe other types of metals for the details.

I will evaluate myself by taking screenshots of my work at various intervals of the project. This will help me see how much progress I am making each day. I will compare my helmet to other peoples work and even professionals work to see if mine has enough detail, the right shape and even the right sized proportions. I will show people my work to see if they think that it is good enough.

High and Low poly workflow.

When you are making a 3D model within software like Maya if you want a model that is purely for aesthetic purposes like a suit of armour on display then the model would have to be very high poly so it could have all of that detail, the poly count would be well into the millions.

On the other hand, if you want a model that is optimised so that it is able the be used within a game without it taking up too much power just to be rendered, you would want to use a low poly model which would be around ten thousand polys for a character in a modern game.

Bellow is an example of high and low poly models.

In this image, you can see the low poly model uses the minimal amount of polys whereas the high poly model used over two thousand times the amount of polys as the low poly does. With the high poly model, you can see the rough bumps of the concrete its imitating but on the low poly, it looks chunky on the pipe and smooth on the concrete.

High and low poly workflow is when you combine the two models using a thing called baking. To do this the modeller would create the low poly model of whatever they need in the game. The next step would be to review this model in the smooth preview mode, which is activated with the number 3 key while using Maya, to see how much the model loses its shape. The modeller then added edge loops near the outer edges of the model to prevent the model from losing its shape, this would take 2 or 3 more edges for each outer edge. After this, the modeller would then duplicate this model and with the duplicate of the model they would add more subdivisions to the duped model which makes the model into a high poly model, Then it would either be sent to another program like Mudbox to be sculpted or just sculpted in Maya, other programs are available.

When the high poly model is being sculpted the modeller needs to keep the basic shape of the model while adding extra details, this just means that they can’t extrude pieces of the model out too much. When the sculpting process is finished, when all the little details like scars or engravings are done, the model is then sent back to Maya. When the model has returned to Maya it is then put inside of the low poly model so they’re overlapping then you bake the high poly onto the low poly, which adds the detail of the high poly onto the low poly. This means that when the model is put into a game it looks aesthetically pleasing while being optimised for the game engine to easily run.

Retro Game Analysis: DOOM

DOOM is a First-person Shooter that was released in 1993. DOOM was heavily inspired by Wolfenstein, this is because the year before DOOM was released the third instalment of the Wolfenstein was released. This third instalment was developed by id Software, the same people who developed DOOM and DOOM II.

The engine used to develop the game was the Doom Engine. DOOM was released on 3 Platforms, them being the MS-DOS, Sega 32X and the Atari Jaguar. However, it is on platforms up to modern Gen to the PS1 to the Xbox One. At the time the operating power wasn’t as immense as it is now so what the developers had to do was to fake 3D otherwise known as 2.5D.  DOOM quickly became a wildly popular game, it is also one of the games that kick-started the First-person Shooter genre of video games, because off it’s wild popularity most of the first-person shooter games released after DOOM were just referred to “DOOM clones” instead of first-person shooters.

Some people were aware of the popularity of DOOM, one of these people being Bill Gates. So he decided to use a video presentation of DOOM to help promote Windows 95, he also decides to superimpose himself into the game. Thanks to the popularity of DOOM id Software were able to create other momentous games like Quake.

Many people are still playing the first two instalments of DOOM, one reason for this would be because the newest instalment of DOOM included them within the Pre-order. This also meant that the newest generations of consoles also got the first 2 DOOM games which let people use backwards compatibility to play these games once more.

The intended audience for the game would have been males ranging around the age of young adults to adults. The box art for the games shows a space marine stood on a rock, duel-wielding Sub-machine guns shooting at a hoard of demons with the word DOOM in an edgy font with metal and pyramids on it as the design. The game revolves around hell and killing demons, in DOOM II you were able to kill Baphomet. I would say that the game was probably not appealing for Christians, because of the intense violence.

As for the visuals of the game, the graphics are very pixelated but so did many games back then. However, one thing that DOOM had that games before it didn’t have was 3D visuals which were revolutionary within the game world. At the time of the release of the game, it was very controversial because of the amount of gore within the game. This made the game get more media attention which made it more popular for good and bad reasons. Some people liked the gore in the game and decided to buy the game. However, other people thought that the game was too graphic for younger audiences to play. This made the game unpopular with parents which just made the children want to play the game more.

When playing this game it ran rather smoothly. However, I was playing this on the Xbox One. The enemies looked more 2D so instead of them being properly animated it just switched between Sprites to mimic motion. When this game was made I doubt that they would have needed to use VFX because the background would have just been an image. Most of the time in DOOM you are indoors anyway. Sometimes during my time playing the game, the bullet damage wouldn’t render which have gotten me killed in the game before but other than that and some of the doors refusing to open, the game was a quality game.