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A Third of Valve Is Now Working on VR

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Re: A Third of Valve Is Now Working on VR

#41

Post by ewzimm »

dreeko_ wrote: post #29
dimino wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds to me more like the Apple Vs. Google "ecosystems". Sure, Google has a Play store and a competing OS, but it's not like you can't find Chrome in the iOS store.

its interesting that you picked chrome as an example, with it being a wrapper around Apple's webkit on the iOS platform

Chrome has had more than one JavaScript engine. They're all still Chrome to the user, and that's all that really matters. If they decide to rewrite the UI in Lisp and use Servo, it will still be Chrome in the ways that count, just like nobody cares if a game has DirectX and OpenGL versions.

Different HMDs are arguably more similar than different GPUs, and they manage to support the same software, but in the early days there were plenty of Glide-only games. That didn't work out so well. Most people will probably just use tools that optimize for any popular HMD with little enough effort that only contracts will make exclusives make sense.

Re: A Third of Valve Is Now Working on VR

#42

Post by drewrv »

conception wrote: post #25
diziet wrote: post #23

VR is amazing and the opportunity is incredible. However, I am worried worried that the technology to produce high enough resolution displays will take some time to get here. Without smartphones driving the demand, will we get to 5-10k dpi displays for VR tech? We have 800 or so dpi displays rolling out, with current generation devices filling their FOV with about 500 dpi screens. We're driving 1.3-1.8m pixels per ey…

I'm also worried about the actual effects of motion sickness once it becomes actually mass consumer affordable. Generally, reports are that VR can be particularly rough for most folks.

IMO the concerns are overblown. If a game is well designed and the hardware is up to par there isn't really a problem.

Re: A Third of Valve Is Now Working on VR

#43

Post by Joof »

joezydeco wrote: post #12

Jeri Ellsworth of CastAR (ex-Valve AR/VR hardware guru) did an interview recently* where she mentioned that Valve was kind of "painting themselves in a corner" by gearing their system's performance to play AAA-title games. Now owners of those consoles will expect every game to be an AAA title. * http://embedded.fm/episodes/156 @ 53:20

Unlikely. Plenty of independent games are very popular on steam. This is more because they are good than because they require high performance.

Re: A Third of Valve Is Now Working on VR

#44

Post by optforfon »

JonathonW wrote: post #37
jn1234 wrote: post #2

The by far most interesting comment from the thread is this one (It's by Alan Yates who works on Vive/SteamVR) https://www.reddit.com/r/Vive/comments/4osav8/lighthouse_tra... . >Of course. We want AR/VR/MR to be ubiquitous. Over the past four years or so I've seen many companies big and small bring their demos to show and tell. They all have bits and pieces of the larger puzzle. Good eye tracking, interesting haptic…

The VR market right now feels kind of like the 3D accelerator market in the '90s, before Direct3D really came into its own, hardware manufacturers were still half-assing OpenGL support, and lots of games were programmed against vendor-proprietary APIs like Glide. Would be nice if people had actually learned from that and rallied around a standard API/middleware for VR to start with, rather than trying to "console-ize…

Since people are still figuring out what makes good VR and good paradigms for programming with VR, I think it'd be likely that any design by committee API would be a disaster

Re: A Third of Valve Is Now Working on VR

#45

Post by clevernickname »

drewrv wrote: post #39
nabla9 wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Finally a way to have real punishment in video game.

I look forward to playing an online game that punishes trolls with nausea!

More likely that trolls would play without VR and find a way to target VR players with nausea-inducing effects.

Re: A Third of Valve Is Now Working on VR

#46

Post by cleeus »

kendallpark wrote: post #13

Of all the gaming companies, Valve makes the most sense to be this heavily invested in VR--given their stake in the PC-industry. Or maybe too many devs thought VR was the coolist project to work on and moved to it. (Valve is known for their flat structure http://www.valvesoftware.com/company/Valve_Handbook_LowRes.p... )

> Or maybe too many devs thought VR was the coolist project to work on and moved to it.

I think it's this. That's the problem with hype waves in majority-ruled organizations. Or I'm wrong and people will soon be sitting in the subway with a VR headset on and playing Fruit Ninja in VR.

Re: A Third of Valve Is Now Working on VR

#47

Post by BigJono »

duskwuff wrote: post #32
m_mueller wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you think about it, Half Life would actually be a prime setting for a VR game. The reason being that VR FPS work best when you can teleport rather than physically move (or move the camera through a continuous operation). Half Life always has had characters that can teleport, so it's not a big leap.

That seems like a bit of a stretch. While many of the Half-Life games have involved teleportation as a plot element, the vast majority of their gameplay has used more traditional methods of movement -- either walking or driving small vehicles.

I think that was a joke about the classic HL2 bug that lets you teleport NPCs from waypoint to waypoint during their scripted cutscenes to get through them faster.

Re: A Third of Valve Is Now Working on VR

#48

Post by kirrent »

joezydeco wrote: post #12

Jeri Ellsworth of CastAR (ex-Valve AR/VR hardware guru) did an interview recently* where she mentioned that Valve was kind of "painting themselves in a corner" by gearing their system's performance to play AAA-title games. Now owners of those consoles will expect every game to be an AAA title. * http://embedded.fm/episodes/156 @ 53:20

It's much better to never release your product instead. You can't paint yourself into a corner if you never get out the rollers.

Seriously though, I'd disagree with her statement. I play plenty of indie games in VR on a variety of headsets and the higher quality the headset the better the experience no matter what you're playing. It's like saying that people with a 4k monitor won't play games without high res texture options.

Re: A Third of Valve Is Now Working on VR

#49

Post by empath75 »

conception wrote: post #25
diziet wrote: post #23

VR is amazing and the opportunity is incredible. However, I am worried worried that the technology to produce high enough resolution displays will take some time to get here. Without smartphones driving the demand, will we get to 5-10k dpi displays for VR tech? We have 800 or so dpi displays rolling out, with current generation devices filling their FOV with about 500 dpi screens. We're driving 1.3-1.8m pixels per ey…

I'm also worried about the actual effects of motion sickness once it becomes actually mass consumer affordable. Generally, reports are that VR can be particularly rough for most folks.

I have a rift and I don't get sick and nobody I've shown it to has gotten sick. I think that concern is way overblown.

Re: A Third of Valve Is Now Working on VR

#50

Post by slavik81 »

conception wrote: post #25
diziet wrote: post #23

VR is amazing and the opportunity is incredible. However, I am worried worried that the technology to produce high enough resolution displays will take some time to get here. Without smartphones driving the demand, will we get to 5-10k dpi displays for VR tech? We have 800 or so dpi displays rolling out, with current generation devices filling their FOV with about 500 dpi screens. We're driving 1.3-1.8m pixels per ey…

I'm also worried about the actual effects of motion sickness once it becomes actually mass consumer affordable. Generally, reports are that VR can be particularly rough for most folks.

While I enjoyed the DK2, I got unbearably sick from Half-Life 2 within a half hour. Playing with Tilt Brush on the Vive, I didn't feel the slightest bit queasy.

Not sure if the difference was the hardware or the software, but it seems like a solvable problem.

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