Delivered at Casual Connect USA 2016. Come learn the top 10 development lessons to consider when extending your games to VR. User orientation in a VR sphere, proper immersion for the players as well as camera movements, speed balancing and frame rate can have a huge effect on players experience in VR. Side-Kick Games has learned many tricks of the trade in adapting mobile games across all current VR headsets and will cover these issues and more.
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Sidekick VR
• 2015 – spin off Sidekick VR to focus on mobile VR game publishing
• Offices in California and Israel
• Partners include Lionsgate, DeNA west
• Focusing on Mobile VR – cross platforms
• Team is Sega, EA, Eidos, Sony executives
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Why expand existing games to VR ?
• With expected 18m* mobile VR headsets by end-2016 it is still hard to
see return on investment on a $500k-$1M dev budget (*Deutsche Bank)
• Retention is based on deep rich content = development costs are higher
• Early customers of a new platforms prefer a reference to something
they recognize - known game brands and game mechanics win
• One solution for the introductory phase of the market:
Leverage existing known mobile games to VR
Problem: New platforms are a risky business but also an opportunity
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Romans From Mars was a good start for a VR
game…
• It already had a 1st person viewpoint
• It was a 3D game
• Movement was not required within the world and so there were
no player nausea issues to overcome
• Controls are simple and were easily able to be ported across all VR
platforms – including the most limited
• It started as a full mobile game and contained a high level of
content and playing time compared to other VR titles
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VR is an extreme experience, simulating real
life
• Emotions are stronger (chemical rush )
• Speed effects your mind
• Sizes (you are IN)
So:
• Tone your game
• Expect rebalancing time
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The 60 frames per second challenge
• 60FPS+ is critical for the VR User experience.
• Low FPS make people uncomfortable.
• Consistent FPS is as critical as minimum FPS
• Updating to the latest engine version and plug in updates.
• Consider stylized optimizations:
• Shaders
• Poly count
• Level design
• Draw calls
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Arena and camera
• Modeling a 360 (full) environment.
• Photo realistic vs stylized art
• Add “Chicken fat”
• Prop sizes and proportions may change due to camera settings.
• Play with sized and edit textures to tone down the deforming elements.
• The FoV in VR is smaller than regular screen – and changes
between HMDs
• Use of space around the player for orientation.
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Head-up display / Status display / Messaging
(HUD)
• Flowing “air force pilot” HUD
• Tracking the player
• Static in space
• “Organic” part of the environment
• Always static in space but maintains the immersion and the integrity of the
“real world” environment
• We found this to be the better solution, when possible.
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Menus
• Project on a sphere / cylinder
…..Or part of the game’s universe
• Initial menu system (start menu) need to make sense and be 360
• Consider generic “back” and “recalibrate” options
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Directing player’s attention
• Designing the space in front of and around the players
• Use the environment and characters
• Use sound prompts
• Use lighting, arrows and alerts
Courtesy of Visionary’s frame system
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Mapping controls
Type Remarks
Gaze / timed selection
Clear and explanatory reticle
Lowest common denominator
One button
Click and Click+Hold
Cardboard 1.0 and 2.0
Tap + Hold + Swipes
Side panel or an accessory
Gear VR, LeTV
2nd button Merge
Remote motion controls + buttons External accessories (Rift, Vive, PSVR,
Daydream, Ximmerse)
Hands recognition Leap Motion and other cameras
Voice recognition
Movement recognition Mostly tilt and shake
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Moving players in VR
• In 1st person view, never take players freedom of control to look
around, even if you move the camera.
• Don’t move the camera too fast - extreme speed, velocities and
vectors (regularly used in games) are disorienting in VR.
• Scene-changing achieved with short fade-out and fade-in.
• Looking forward to having “head and movement tracking” feature
in mobile VR
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Tuning gameplay progression and
monetization
• Calibrate your game as a premium priced game
• In-app purchases (IAP) are an integral part of players progression in free
games. IAP model is a challenge until the market reaches 20m players
• Adapting a F2P game to premium means you need to “give” extra
resources to your players at the right time
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Store featuring
• To be considered for featuring (or publishing), Oculus, Google and
other headset makers will provide you with specific requirements,
strong suggestions and overall feedback about the game
• The game teams in both organizations are accessible and looking
to present mobile VR games in the best possible way
• Consider additional time and budget to go through the feedback
process
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Results
• Romans From Mars 360 was a Gear VR launch title (one of only 7
games worldwide)
• The game has been ported to 4 different VR platforms – Oculus,
Cardboard (iOS and Android), Merge VR and Ling VR
• The game has been on the stores for over a year with purchases for
the premium version
• The game’s rating on the Play Store is 5.0