One game, one PC, two Rifts

Sadly, this does not work yet. It is not supported, not even in the C SDK.

Thank you for your reply. I tried the search, but not easy to find the right terms. Is there a thread where this is already discussed?
I would expect this is not too complicated to solve and at the same time something where I think it could really help spreading the device when it finally is released. Pretty much every DK1 owner will want a DK2 and have two devices at home, so having two player experience that work with one machine could be interesting to Oculus too.

The complications wouldn't end with just the Oculus SDK, games would also need to be able to match up different input devices and audio outputs. This on top of the IPC/networking code needed to get two instances of a game engine talking to each other. Its a lot more complicated than a split-screen implementation, and I really can't imagine many developers would want to bother, when networking over LAN will perform much better and be easier to set up.

I've asked the engineers about this and I was told it could be technically possible but is not supported at this time. Honestly, there are too many issues to solve and I doubt we will ever officially support this. Sorry.

The better option would be to just use two different machines and make the game networked.

"owenwp" wrote:
... to get two instances of a game engine talking to each other. ...

This is where I was thinking of just one instance of the game running with two rifts. A game can use two displays without a problem, so I guess that would not be a problem with the Rift.
If the game designer is a small one-man indie like me, then being able to allow for two player mode within one instance of the game would make it really simple.
I can make a two player game with two gamepads, I can have two cameras on two screens of the same playing field. So in the end all I would need is combine my two cameras with two sets of tracking information and end up with a multiplayer experience. One I have at home and that should have the least bit of latency possible.

I admit I can not see how much effort from Oculus would have to be put into creating and maintaining such a solution. But as a small developer I think this would be awesome and as a gamer I think this would be even more awesome. I want more multiplayer stuff and this could just be it. And a perfect reason to have friends over and play with them in VR.

"cybereality" wrote:
I've asked the engineers about this and I was told it could be technically possible but is not supported at this time. Honestly, there are too many issues to solve and I doubt we will ever officially support this. Sorry.

The better option would be to just use two different machines and make the game networked.

Too bad. I understand it is the better (more flexible) option, but for most indies it is just too complex to do it. Especially for all those one-man developers. Even if I could use one of those ready-to-go solutions, I expect the latency issues to eat away too much development time.

Maybe you find the resources to give it a try.

I could see this being a future for x-box or playstation, but that would be one expensive gaming console.

not necessary - we will get used to different graphics in VR anyway and we will have to live with a much simpler style if we want to run more Rifts from just one PC (or console).
In the end it is the experience, not the graphics that count.

an interesting game that did just what I proposed ... have to players use 2 screens on one computer for a multiplayer experience

http://globalgamejam.org/2014/games/check-mates