Just thinking we're making little islands of great VR games and experiences using a variety of technologies but is anyone working on the big VR Cyberspace experience.Basically we seem to need a way to connect the dots and move from VR space to VR space with ease, we need the equivalent of the VR Web, then the 3D engines Unity / Unreal ect, just become 3D VR web browsers, or become embedded in VR3D enabled web browsers.So is anyone working on the big picture, streamable, cacheable, content, server-side and client side-code, 3D navigation, 3DHTML.Imagine, if you logged into a VR browser and got a birds eye view of your point above the earth, and a set of links to places in the VR universe you like. Voice recognition for searches and interaction. The ability to goto any gamespace and join in.For instance take the VRJam 2013 over 100 entries, which you currently have to download and run to play, surely we don't want to have to do that in the future.You would want a 3D VRJam gallery space with portals to each game/experience that are streamed in as needed.The Question is what do we need to enable this kind of seamless transition from world to world?

It's coming, it's definitely coming. "Small moves, Ellie. Small moves" :lol:

OK there is WebGL, X3D and O3DSo 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 O3DSo 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.

Should we be building "Rift Space" a VR hub? | Meta Community Forums

17 Replies

candiedbug
Honored Guest
12 years ago
"Arowx" wrote:
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.

Well, we already have stream compression, zip and such. In the end it all comes down to bandwidth and optimization. With clever programming you can hide the world popping-in around the user, however there will always be, at least for the next few years, an absolute lower bandwidth limit below which it'll become much harder to hide asset pop-in.

Here's an example: You could hide the time it takes for the world to download in an elevator ride. Lets say the sim is in floor 432, so when you call the elevator in the central lobby, you'll see the number of floors in the display going up but in reality is just the sim downloading in the background, and you could adjust the speed of the elevator based on how long it'll take for the sim the ready. People complained of this in Mass Effect 1 but I thought it was an elegant way to retain immersion.
Arowx
Explorer
12 years ago
But standing in a lift is boring, why not have the waiting space as an entertainment hub with simple games and rides, while you wait for your game/experience to be ready.
candiedbug
Honored Guest
12 years ago
"Arowx" wrote:
But standing in a lift is boring, why not have the waiting space as an entertainment hub with simple games and rides, while you wait for your game/experience to be ready.

Well, the lift was just my example, the developer could implement whatever they want, be it your idea of games and rides, or maybe a tutorial, or funny videos, etc.
Arowx
Explorer
12 years ago
OK but what would be your ideal experience?

You put the Rift On...

What would you like to have happen, where would it take you, what would you do?
candiedbug
Honored Guest
12 years ago
"Arowx" wrote:

...
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.
...
:ugeek:

I REALLY like that idea of a Rift Server. Give it a robust set of APIs that engines like Unity and UDK can hook into for smooth data handover.

*nerdgasm*

Too bad Oculus is kind of small at the moment and, as far as we know, laser-focused on the hardware side. Maybe it's an opportunity for another company to collaborate with them on that project.
Arowx
Explorer
12 years ago
They have the game coding "god" John Carmack, they shouldn't need a whole team, he could bring a few of his best developers over from ID and throw together a cyberspace server system with the toolset from ID's Tech engine.

Anyone for DOOM BFG between downloads!

That's unless Valve step in with a Virtual Reality version of steam, so you need to use a crowbar to open new games, or a gravity gun! :lol: But watch out for those face huggers!

But then we are back to a closed ecosystem, don't get me wrong a lightly managed ecosystem especially for cyberspace is a good thing, the scary stuff and sexy stuff can have their own fenced off sections with nice big warning signs out front and ideally some demon bouncers. But if you need to greenlight your experience or game that could be a drag for hobbyists or developers like me learning the ropes.
candiedbug
Honored Guest
12 years ago
"Arowx" wrote:
They have the game coding "god" John Carmack, they shouldn't need a whole team, he could bring a few of his best developers over from ID and throw together a cyberspace server system with the toolset from ID's Tech engine.

Anyone for DOOM BFG between downloads!

That's unless Valve step in with a Virtual Reality version of steam, so you need to use a crowbar to open new games, or a gravity gun! :lol: But watch out for those face huggers!

But then we are back to a closed ecosystem, don't get me wrong a lightly managed ecosystem especially for cyberspace is a good thing, the scary stuff and sexy stuff can have their own fenced off sections with nice big warning signs out front and ideally some demon bouncers. But if you need to greenlight your experience or game that could be a drag for hobbyists or developers like me learning the ropes.

Maybe we'll witness the return of VRML, who knows.

A VR Steam: *head explodes*

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

17 Replies

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