Should we be building "Rift Space" a VR hub?

It's coming, it's definitely coming.

"Small moves, Ellie. Small moves" :lol:

OK there is WebGL, X3D and O3D

So you're right it is being worked on, the 3D web is on it's way, so what we need is an Oculus Rift enabled 3d web browser / 3d web builder app. ;)

Anyone?

"Arowx" wrote:
OK there is WebGL, X3D and O3D

So you're right it is being worked on, the 3D web is on it's way, so what we need is an Oculus Rift enabled 3d web browser / 3d web builder app. ;)

Anyone?

Second Life is an interesting example of where it should start to head, completely decentralized and open of course. Maybe Oculus can start the ball rolling on that regard, create a committee to standardize VR protocols, formats, interactions, namespaces, etc.

OK just spitballing here but, what if Oculus did as you say make some standards for VR. But I'm not thinking HTML web here. Most of the best experiences are via game engines proprietary or homegrown.

Now what we are after is a way for these separate programs to be able to launch each other and ideally transition smoothly from one world to another. To do this they need a way to stream in content and hand over to the next engine or game.

So what if Oculus Rift created a "Rift Server", basically a program that links to the game engines and games and provides a simple space where the users can mess about while the streamed or cached content is downloaded and run, then transitions into the game space.

Imagine Oculus Share, in VR, you enter into a viewing gallery of games with maybe videos and information, and if you step into the game, it is streamed and run.

OK you are going to say no way this takes up too much bandwidth, the download times would take ages, but with a streaming system where the user is presented with the main menu section, a simple tutorial practice area and then the games first level it could be almost seamless (given a high speed connection and compression of assets).

Unity's web player takes this streaming approach, and I believe the Unreal engine has streaming built in.

The Rift server would ideally update the game engines/games with revisions etc and could act as a chat/news/hub for Rifters even provide a Second life type of experience between games.

It could certainly have a theater and roller coasters maybe even capital punishment via the guillotine for ne'er do wells or trolls. ;)

And the next VRJam could be in "Rift Space", you just need to bring your imagination. :ugeek:

Have you guys seen this:

Seems like a good first step.

Certainly a step in the right direction. Very simple and straightforward, but needs to open up the initial VR experience into a "real" 3d space.

For example imagine a futuristic architectural minimalist gallery with sections for the types of game and 3D rooms for the games e.g. like a big game conference where the developers/publishers set up their own spaces.

So the developers room could be themed with models, videos and even 3d animations e.g. a holocube floating in the middle of a room with a 3d view of some in game action/animation.

And what we need to do is find a way to stream the games content in, so the initial download times are minimised, also if used game engines are cached then only game specific content is needed to be streamed.

I'm wondering if the engines could use mipmapping and lodding information to stream fast but lower quality meshes and textures initially then higher quality information later.

No, just to slow.
If i want to play a game i don't want to run around looking for it first, i just want to select it and hit play.

3d space will happen for sure, but not for the purpose of playing games.

"Arowx" wrote:
Certainly a step in the right direction. Very simple and straightforward, but needs to open up the initial VR experience into a "real" 3d space.

For example imagine a futuristic architectural minimalist gallery with sections for the types of game and 3D rooms for the games e.g. like a big game conference where the developers/publishers set up their own spaces.

So the developers room could be themed with models, videos and even 3d animations e.g. a holocube floating in the middle of a room with a 3d view of some in game action/animation.

And what we need to do is find a way to stream the games content in, so the initial download times are minimised, also if used game engines are cached then only game specific content is needed to be streamed.

I'm wondering if the engines could use mipmapping and lodding information to stream fast but lower quality meshes and textures initially then higher quality information later.

Maybe a low latency VR version of OnLive? The "lobby" is streamed video, but the actual experiences run locally. Of course, the first time you'd have to wait for the experience to download but subsequent uses should be quick.

"virror" wrote:
No, just to slow.
If i want to play a game i don't want to run around looking for it first, i just want to select it and hit play.

3d space will happen for sure, but not for the purpose of playing games.

Is that an oxymoron, where you say something that is illogical, in this case the games are 3d spaces but you're saying we should not have a 3d space around the games. ;)

You can still have a cool popup menu system, actually it would be needed to stop people getting lost once the virtual gallery gets big enough.

Just think of it as a space to explore with things to watch, look at, listen to and/or read while you're waiting for the game to download or you might as well just download it via a browser and hit youtube.

At least at first then once the owners realise they can put in VR adverts in there, spinning 3D coca cola bottles being drink by beautiful 3d models. :roll:

Maybe a low latency VR version of OnLive? The "lobby" is streamed video, but the actual experiences run locally. Of course, the first time you'd have to wait for the experience to download but subsequent uses should be quick.

OnLive or something like it could be ideal for a seamless VR experience. It's just a balancing act between streaming/bandwidth and local content, we need to ensure VR doesn't pause with a buffering icon popping up just as we're about to beat the boss!

Maybe the breakthrough we need is a VR compression standard, a set of compression algorithms that will take 3d models, textures, animations, sound effects, shaders and executables/scripts and reduce them down to their minimum set of bits.