The slides from my first talk which took place at London Unity Usergroup meet-up. The talk was a bit of a VR crash course covering history, current state, the importance of indie developers and some workflow considerations. I learnt a lot from doing this talk and looking forward to the chance to do it again. If you have any constructive feedback, please feel free to share it with me (@atomworks). You can see the talk itself here: http://youtu.be/SGxR8CTmFuA?t=35m10s

1. VIRTUAL REALITYNavigating its rapidly evolving landscape

2. WHO'S THIS GUY?(DOES HE KNOW HE HAS SAME HAIR AS ZANGIEF? YES, HE DOES...)

3. Question time!

4. Awesome!
PEOPLE LIKE US FORM A CRITICAL PART OF THE VR ECO-SYSTEM
WITHOUT A FULLY FUNCTIONING ECO-SYSTEM, CONSUMER VR'S CHANCES OF SUCCESS ARE SEVERELY LESSENED.

5. WHAT WE'RE COVERING...
▸ Why VR is open to all comers.
▸ A perspective on design for this medium.
▸ Approaches for developing with VR tech to keep you sane.

6. A BRIEF HISTORY OF VR
AND WHY NOW IS THE TIME

7. THE DREAM ISN'T NEW.
WAY BACK: SPRIRITUAL JOURNEYS.
1800S: 360 ARTWORKS
1935: "PYGMALION'S SPECTACLES"
1940-1960S: MILITARY INTEREST AND DEVELOPMENTS.
"Pygmalion's Spectacles"- Stanley Grauman Weinbaum: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/22893

8. THE DREAM ISN'T NEW.
1968: FIRST HMD. HAD TO BE CEILING MOUNTED!
1970S: ASPEN, COLORADO: PRIMITIVE VR "GOOGLE STREET VIEW" STYLE EXPERIENCE.
1980S: IDEA GROWS IN POPULAR CULTURE, FILM, SCI-FI, COMICS, LITERATURE.

9. VR IN THE 90S“Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it”

10. VR IN THE 90S
CONSUMER VR - FAILURE TO LAUNCH.
▸ Hadn't matured.
▸ Expensive
▸ Inaccessible
▸ Novel but uncomfortable.

11. WHY IS NOW THE TIME?

12. WHY NOW IS THE TIME?
"WE HAVE THE TOOLS, WE HAVE THE TALENT!"
- Winston Zeddemore. Ghostbusters

13. WHY IS NOW THE TIME?
GOOD VR IS ACCESSIBLE TO DESIGNERS,
DEVELOPERS & CONSUMERS

14. WHY IS NOW THE TIME?
WE CAN PROTOTYPE QUICKLY WITH
POWERFUL SDKS

15. WHY IS NOW THE TIME?
ANY NEW DEVICE NEEDS A GOOD SDK TO BE
RELEVANT AND SUCCEED

16. VR IS ITS OWN MEDIUM.

17. VR IS ITS OWN MEDIUM.
DESIGN FOR VR, DON'T PORT TO VR.

18. VR IS ITS OWN MEDIUM.
SOME RULES ARE MADE TO BE BROKEN.

20. VR IS ITS OWN MEDIUM.
VR STARTS AT THE HMD

21. ▸ Oculus Rift (PC)
▸ Project Morpheus (PS4)
▸ GameFace (Stand-alone)
▸ AntVR (Stand-alone)
▸ Altergaze (For Smartphone)
▸ Durivos Dive (For Smartphone)

22. ▸ Targeting (Eve Valkyrie)
▸ Line of Sight (Sightline)
▸ Gestural (Trial of the Rift Drifter)

24. Virtual Reality: Navigating its rapidly evolving landscape
STAYING AFLOAT IN AN EVER
GROWING SEA OF DEVICES

25. DEVELOPING TO STAY AFLOAT IN THE EVOLVING LANDSCAPE OF DEVICES
"BE WATER, MY FRIEND..."- Bruce Lee

26. DEVELOPING TO STAY AFLOAT IN THE EVOLVING LANDSCAPE OF DEVICES
DEVELOP WITH A "PROGRESSIVE
ENHANCEMENT" MINDSET.

27. DEVELOP WITH A "PROGRESSIVE ENHANCEMENT" MINDSET.
YOUR CORE CONTENT SHOULD BE ACCESSIBLE TO ALL.
▸ Establish your base line.
▸ Build your core mechanics around this.
▸ Add non-essential extras for richer experiences.
▸ Manage the core mechanics in one script or object.

28. CURRENT LANDSCAPE:
TRADITIONAL: GAMEPAD / JOYSTICK / RACE WHEEL
OPTICAL: KINECT / LEAP MOTION
UPCOMING: STEM / PRIOVR

29. DEVELOPING TO STAY AFLOAT IN THE EVOLVING LANDSCAPE OF DEVICES
IK RIGS ARE YOUR FRIENDS!

30. DEVELOPING TO STAY AFLOAT IN THE EVOLVING LANDSCAPE OF DEVICES
WORK IN A MODULAR FASHION.
▸ Repeating code isn't the best way to spend out time.
▸ Feed your devices through a master control script.
▸ Use separate child objects for device specific scripts.
▸ Include unique elements for that device on their child element.

31. AN EXAMPLE: PODRIFT
▸ We want to at least hands, preferably full body.
▸ All avatar movement must be networkable.
▸ Control method selected by master script.
▸ Master script gets data needed from a script on child objects.
▸ This bridges to networking, replay and other systems.

32. [SLIDE LEFT INTENTIONALLY BLANK... HONEST!]

33. QUICK TIPS FOR (UNITY) DEVELOPERS.

34. QUICK TIPS FOR (UNITY) DEVELOPERS.
TAKE A MODULAR APPROACH WHEN DEVELOPING FOR DEVICES.

35. QUICK TIPS FOR (UNITY) DEVELOPERS.
"EXPERIMENT, ITERATE, PROTOTYPE" -PALMER LUCKEY*

36. QUICK TIPS FOR (UNITY) DEVELOPERS.
JUST LIKE "SEA LEGS", YOU CAN GET "VR LEGS"

37. QUICK TIPS FOR (UNITY) DEVELOPERS.
SET YOUR IPD, CHECK IT PERIODICALLY.

38. QUICK TIPS FOR (UNITY) DEVELOPERS.
TEST OFTEN WITH STAND-ALONE BUILDS.

39. Virtual Reality: Navigating its rapidly evolving landscape
KEY IDEAS TO TAKE AWAY

40. KEY IDEAS TO TAKE AWAY
OUR EFFORTS AS INDIE DEVELOPERS ARE
ESSENTIAL TO ESTABLISHING AND SHAPING
THE FUTURE OF VR.

41. KEY IDEAS TO TAKE AWAY
DESIGN FOR VR. THINK BEYOND THE
TRADITIONAL TROPES; ACKNOWLEDGE THE
RULES BUT SEE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU
BEND THEM.

42. KEY IDEAS TO TAKE AWAY
ESTABLISH A WORKFLOW THAT WORKS FOR
YOU SO NEW DEVICES CAN BE EASILY
INTEGRATED IN TO YOUR GAMES AND
EXPERIENCES.

43. THANKS FOR LISTENING!
@atomworks / @podrift
INTERESTED IN WORKING WITH ME ON
PODRIFT? SAY HI!