Forum Discussion
[Hypothetical] Input Device API
I just had a thought... There seem to be two big issues with controllers for VR right now: 1. There are so damn many of them 2. Oculus have hinted very strongly that they will be releasing a con...
I really don't see how an API like this will be feasible. It seems like most things are only provided by a single product right now, and squishing their input through a common API will strip it of their benefits.
I don't think the problem right now is "there are too many controllers". the problem is "we don't know what /types/ of inputs we want". Even if we just look at hand tracking, do you want something like the hydra/STEM, which gives you coarse position on the hands, but retains access to buttons and joysticks? Do you want something like the kinect or leap that can track your hands and their precise position without anything in them? Do you want some kind of a glove to give that tracking? Do you want gesture recognition, or precise tracking of each finger? how many degrees of freedom on the fingers should you get? What if its a motion tracking gun?
Say you do create an API that can encompass every device out there. What happens when somebody invents a new controller that has even more information? What happens when the precision differences between devices makes it unworkable; i.e. the gun controller is designed to be very precise, especially in terms of rotation, but not necessarily perfectly accurate, so you can compensate for its drift while still aiming well, but another hand controller isn't particularly precise, but it keeps your hands at the right distance from you, and if you try to use the latter for a game designed for the former it will go every poorly, even though they both provide the same basic information.
We can't normalize all of this yet because we don't know where to normalize to.Cramming a more powerful device through an API will make the result more restrictive and cripple the device.
What we need is for developers to try out various input methods, and find a set where they go "This. This provides the best experience", and then make a game to cater to it. Then customers who have those inputs can try it out and go "Yes, here is where it is at", and then spread that by word of mouth. Once we have narrowed down which inputs are great, we can start trying to normalize it so you have multiple options to meet the demands. Trying to do that now will make an API that is cumbersome, unwieldy, limiting, and not useful.
I don't think the problem right now is "there are too many controllers". the problem is "we don't know what /types/ of inputs we want". Even if we just look at hand tracking, do you want something like the hydra/STEM, which gives you coarse position on the hands, but retains access to buttons and joysticks? Do you want something like the kinect or leap that can track your hands and their precise position without anything in them? Do you want some kind of a glove to give that tracking? Do you want gesture recognition, or precise tracking of each finger? how many degrees of freedom on the fingers should you get? What if its a motion tracking gun?
Say you do create an API that can encompass every device out there. What happens when somebody invents a new controller that has even more information? What happens when the precision differences between devices makes it unworkable; i.e. the gun controller is designed to be very precise, especially in terms of rotation, but not necessarily perfectly accurate, so you can compensate for its drift while still aiming well, but another hand controller isn't particularly precise, but it keeps your hands at the right distance from you, and if you try to use the latter for a game designed for the former it will go every poorly, even though they both provide the same basic information.
We can't normalize all of this yet because we don't know where to normalize to.Cramming a more powerful device through an API will make the result more restrictive and cripple the device.
What we need is for developers to try out various input methods, and find a set where they go "This. This provides the best experience", and then make a game to cater to it. Then customers who have those inputs can try it out and go "Yes, here is where it is at", and then spread that by word of mouth. Once we have narrowed down which inputs are great, we can start trying to normalize it so you have multiple options to meet the demands. Trying to do that now will make an API that is cumbersome, unwieldy, limiting, and not useful.