Game On

GAME ON

We asked Brian Dixon, Game Design instructor at Southern Arkansas University Tech in Camden, Arkansas and independent texture artist to offer insight and some tips to experiencing Virtual Reality. For the past eight years, Brian has conducted training for EAST in addition to volunteering and teaching breakout sessions at the annual EAST conference. Here is what he shared with us.

Sweat streams down the player’s face. His pulse quickens. The vibrations from the xenomorph’s footsteps run through the space station’s metal plating. “Where is it?” “I shouldn’t play this game!” Short sentences are all he can manage between ragged breaths. “I can’t see it! This is terrifying!” An electronic ping gets the player’s attention. Motion detected. “It’s here.”

Slipping out of his hiding place, the player creeps down the corridor. “I shouldn’t be doing this,” he repeats with every step. He approaches a corner. His hands don’t want to obey the command to move. He begins to edge around the corner and stops cold. The xenomorph fills the hallway. It turns and lunges. The player lets out an undignified scream and snatches off the VR headset.

Welcome to the world of Virtual Reality (VR). Games have always strived to create an immersive experience, but none have been able to transport the player into the game environment like VR does today. Why do we play video or role-playing games? According to television and game author Lee Sheldon, these games take us to places we have never been, make us into something we could never be, and let us do things we could never do. Virtual reality does all of these and does them better.

So, what is Virtual Reality? The technical definition is: “the computer-generated simulation of a three-dimensional image or environment that can be interacted with in a seemingly real or physical way by a person using special electronic equipment, such as a helmet with a screen inside or gloves fitted with sensors.” What does that mean practically? It means a level of immersion not previously possible. Players become immersed in a game when they form a representation in their minds of the “world” in which the game is presenting them. They are fully immersed when they begin to favor the game world for their practical point of reference. Putting on a VR headset and headphones has the effect of immediately shifting the mind’s perspective to that of the game environment. Immersion is no longer a process; it occurs instantly. This is a huge leap forward in the capacity to create and play “games.”

Sit back and take a moment to imagine the possibilities. VR should not and cannot be confined to games. Imagine medical students using VR to learn enhanced surgical methods. What if you could watch a simulation of the pyramids being built or walk among the Hanging Gardens of Babylon at sunset? The potential of VR for education is truly staggering.

I know what you are thinking: How do I get started making projects with VR? First, choose the VR system that is right for you. PC Magazine 1 lists the following as the top seven VR headsets for 2019: Oculus Rift, Sony PlayStation VR, HTC Vive, Oculus Go, Samsung Gear VR, HTC Vive Pro, and Lenovo Mirage Solo with Daydream. If you will be using VR on a PC then you will want either the Oculus Rift or the HTC Vive. The difference between the two is price and hardware requirements. The Rift has a lower average price ($300- 600) than the Vive ($700-800). The Vive also requires more space with its two positional trackers and also requires a higher end graphics card increasing the initial cost.

Once you settle on the right headset, you will need to choose a game engine to develop your project. The two most popular engines are Unreal Engine and Unity; each with its own strengths. Unreal gives you more professional control over your product but is more complex to use and difficult to learn. Unreal uses C++ for its base programming language which is more difficult than Unity’s JavaScript and C#. Unity might be a better choice for students who have not mastered the more complex engine; however, either one can be used to build amazing VR projects.

The last thing to consider is the type of project. As with any other EAST project, Virtual Reality is a tool to tackle real world problems. Several EAST students have attempted to build virtual tours of their schools to help incoming freshmen familiarize themselves with the layout. This certainly provides for an immediate need, but I hope to see more imaginative solutions in the future. Let me offer a challenge to any student in EAST looking to incorporate VR into their project portfolio: Go and find something of historical or cultural significance in or around your hometown and use Unreal/Unity and VR to both preserve it and make it accessible to more people.

This is just one way that EAST students could use VR to develop more sophisticated projects. Possibilities abound, and with the innovative approach that EAST encourages, future projects could enter a new era of design and creativity.

1 https://www.pcmag.com/article/342537/the-best-virtual-reality-vr-headsets