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John Carmack joins Oculus as CTO

oculusvr.com

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Re: John Carmack joins Oculus as CTO

#171

Post by thenomad »

AndrewDucker wrote: post #62

I've played with an Oculus VR, and I think they're amazing. But I'm not convinced that they're ready for the mass market yet. Not because of any failing on their part, but because I think that they need games, and controllers, specifically designed to work with VR. You can't use mouse/keyboard well if you can't see the mouse/keyboard. UIs that float at the bottom of the screen feel very odd when you move your head ar…

It may be noted that one of my medium-term projects is a Rift word processor.

RenderToTexture and a webcam pointing at the keyboard is a lofi but possible way of solving the "can't see the keyboard" problem.

Re: John Carmack joins Oculus as CTO

#172

Post by thenomad »

rje wrote: post #158
jasonwatkinspdx wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> UIs that float at the bottom of the screen feel very odd when you move your head around and they stay at the bottom of your vision. I haven't used an Oculus, but just thinking about it I suspect the solution is going to be to locate HUD elements in world space locked to the player's position.

That's what I've done to date in First Law and it works well - as I continue to need more traditional configuration/UI stuff I am finding it a bit of a struggle though. Like right now I'm trying to create a controller/flight stick configuration screen and the number of choices continue to expand. Lots of work to figure out what works well for complicated UI structures.

Awesome work on First Law, btw. Very much enjoyed the demo, and I'm looking forward to seeing more.

I'll probably be recommending it on http://www.oculusriftinfo.com tomorrow.

(For anyone else looking for Rift demos - First Law is a really excellent demonstration of the power of the Rift for cockpit-based games. )

Re: John Carmack joins Oculus as CTO

#174

Post by captaintrips »

bluedino wrote: post #155
teach wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "VR headsets are just not going to catch on." There are a lot of very smart people who seem to disagree with you.

They're bulky, heavy, hold heat, and you look like a dork wearing them. Maybe some sort of light plastic glasses like you wear for a 3D movie, if the technology was there to put an HD image in the lenses. But nothing in it's current state.

Sounds like someone who has yet to try the Oculus Rift, lol.

Re: John Carmack joins Oculus as CTO

#175

Post by jlgreco »

dyselon wrote: post #169
jlgreco wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Wrist-watches" with bullet and health readouts. Just look down at any point in the game and your virtual arm will come up, showing everything that you need to know on the back of it.

Well, hopefully not for health or ammo. The whole point of a heads up display is so that you can literally keep your head up. A "look down for info" mechanic might be neat for stats you'd normally put on a pause screen or things like your inventory, though.

For health it might not be best, but I think for ammo it would work well. I mean, in the real world you don't even get a HUD for ammo, unless you're in an airplane or tank I suppose. A HUD for health is necessary just because the game isn't real life, but the ammo HUD is just a convenience; you can be more creative with it.

Maybe gun models that give a visual indication of remaining ammo will become more popular.

Perhaps adding blur/color saturation filters to your entire field of view might take off as a primary indication of remaining health.

Re: John Carmack joins Oculus as CTO

#176

Post by jdavid »

I think this is more evidence of how much the Oculus team owes to Andrew Scott Reisse, the developer who was killed during a hit and run.

It might be that John Carmack was trying to help out an amazing team who lost an amazing and talented developer.

I know the Hawken forums have been amiss with talk that more that one game is behind schedule since they lost the integration help from Andrew.

I guess there is some there is something to say when a company needs to replace your absence with John Carmack.

Thank you Andrew for getting VR this far.

Re: John Carmack joins Oculus as CTO

#177

Post by jordanthoms »

csbrooks wrote: post #157
bluedino wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're bulky, heavy, hold heat, and you look like a dork wearing them. Maybe some sort of light plastic glasses like you wear for a 3D movie, if the technology was there to put an HD image in the lenses. But nothing in it's current state.

Technology tends to get miniaturized over time.

And thinking about it, a VR headset is a lot less bulky than a few 30" screens or a TV, which it could replace once the technology is good enough.

Re: John Carmack joins Oculus as CTO

#178

Post by pekk »

bluedino wrote: post #155
teach wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "VR headsets are just not going to catch on." There are a lot of very smart people who seem to disagree with you.

They're bulky, heavy, hold heat, and you look like a dork wearing them. Maybe some sort of light plastic glasses like you wear for a 3D movie, if the technology was there to put an HD image in the lenses. But nothing in it's current state.

And you look so cool playing video games right now? Come on, that was never the point.

Re: John Carmack joins Oculus as CTO

#179

Post by prawn »

aaronblohowiak wrote: post #105
prawn wrote: post #82

Is the level of immersion likely coming with the Rift going to really challenge parts of our interest in the 'real world'? Get Thalmic's MYO to the stage where two of them are enough to replace a typical game controller, and virtual worlds might be possible that reel us in tight with few physical reminders that it's all not real. As it is, games, gambling and social networks are sticky enough. I had to drag myself aw…

read Infinite Jest by DFW. or watch the TNG episode http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollow_Pursuits

Infinite Jest sounds interesting - I've put it on my To Read list. Thanks!

Re: John Carmack joins Oculus as CTO

#180

Post by prawn »

jlgreco wrote: post #135
nivloc wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's what CCP did with the EVE-VR demo, and it makes sense in the context of a flight sim. It'll be interesting to see what developers come up with for FPSes. http://community.eveonline.com/news/dev-blogs/eve-vr-an-expe...

"Wrist-watches" with bullet and health readouts. Just look down at any point in the game and your virtual arm will come up, showing everything that you need to know on the back of it.

Amusing to consider due to the viewport, but virtual Glass-type goggles with HUD, rendered within the OR.

Otherwise, yes, watch, checking gun magazine or condition of a blade, or a PDA/map - gaming is going to take a monstrous step up.

Not to mention immersive story-telling as a new way of presenting films.

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