Oculus Rift OS

I'd gladly save 50 eur on the Rift for not having any built-in bloatware.

Standalone Rift would probably need builtin audio (which I do not want for peripheral Rift, as my own headphones are de facto better), as you wouldn't want to run a headphone cable to the rift, then for the controller you pretty much will also need to bundle a wireless controller, as those things aren't very standardized either, and so on.

the Rift OS is SteamOS

SteamOS + Oculus Rift = Perfect

I'd gladly save 50 eur on the Rift for not having any built-in bloatware.

bloatware is such a negative word. In my humble opinion a built in OS would make it much easier for the common users to discover, and manage all the amazing experiences that developers are creating for Rift, through the Oculus Rift.

Standalone Rift would probably need builtin audio (which I do not want for peripheral Rift, as my own headphones are de facto better), as you wouldn't want to run a headphone cable to the rift, then for the controller you pretty much will also need to bundle a wireless controller, as those things aren't very standardized either, and so on.

I agree with you about audio playing a big role in gaming experiences. I do not intend to argue with you on this point but rather pose the question; "Perhaps Rift should have two product lines then?"

1) Stand Alone Rift with a built in fully functional OS for common usage
2) The high end peripheral Rift with just a lightweight built-in settings menu for the hardcore gamer.

I'm willing to bet that the "stand alone" outsells the "high end" by a large margin :P

the Rift OS is SteamOS

SteamOS + Oculus Rift = Perfect

Hmm Interesting. Honestly I'm not sure which way the OS should go at this point. I would need to run tests and see how each variation "feels" to make that call with any kind of certainty. Should it be menu based? or should it be something else? Are there any screen-shots available for the 'Steam OS'? I would imagine it to be primarily menu based, considering that they are creating it for the "living room".

With that said I'm not sure "a virtual world" based GUI would be adequate either. That would be more adequate for specific applications that dial in themed experiences. A virtual world wouldn't be ideal for a GUI at the OS level. In that I just want to launch an application instantly and easily without having to move around in a virtual world to find a virtual button or door to launch an application...

Keep in mind I am an aspiring UX designer :)

Sorry, not gonna happen. At least not in CV1.

Maybe in a future they can release a standalone one, but dont expect much, since not even the best desktop graphics cards will be able to move the CV1 to it fullest, imagine a mobile phone processor...

Just buy a durovis dive and and use it with your mobile phone if that its what you are looking for, oculus for now its a peripheral.

"Morpheox" wrote:
Sorry, not gonna happen. At least not in CV1.

Maybe in a future they can release a standalone one, but dont expect much, since not even the best desktop graphics cards will be able to move the CV1 to it fullest, imagine a mobile phone processor...

fair enough... But I still want to design an Oculus Rift OS :)

Just buy a durovis dive and and use it with your mobile phone if that its what you are looking for, oculus for now its a peripheral.

Interesting but not exactly what I have in mind. For mobile phones the two key areas of interest for me are A) use the phones touch screen as a virtual thumb pad and B) play content (especially movies) stored on the mobile phone.

I did some preliminary brainstorming and conceptualizing for an Oculus Rift optimized 3D graphical user interface.

First Idea: I call it the "revolving door GUI"

Details can be found here: viewtopic.php?f=40&t=7620

Goal: try to create a VR equivalent of a "main menu" or "desktop" that leverages positional tracking in a very interesting way.

Please feel free to share your feedback.

Thanks :)

On second thought stand-alone is most likely not possible to run "revolving door GUI"

if you are not familiar with the "revolving door gui" details are listed here: viewtopic.php?f=40&t=7620

Shifting focus to target: Xbox One and desktop/laptop platforms only (dropping mobile..for now)

products:
-xbox one app
-desktop app (pc, mac, linux)

Desktop App
open the desktop app watch a nifty loading screen and when ready (shouldn't take long at all) there will be a prompt that says "put on your oculus rift" when you put on your oculus rift you enter the oculus rift os - this is the OS i am extremely interested in designing. while using the oculus rift the monitor or tv will just be a "spectator screen"

Xbox app similar set up.... (version 2 might experiment with oculus rift & Kinnect integration)

additional details:
-when you enter the oculus rift os you go immediately into the "revolving door GUI" <think of it as the main menu>"
-you can use this interface to launch games/applications, play media content and even launch applications not specifically designed for oculus all while wearing the oculus rift
-when you do launch a game or application specifically designed for oculus you can then walk through a hub/window to immerse into that experience as if you walked through a portal.

key goals:
-make the oculus rift os; lightweight, fast, simple, instant immersion - all without requiring long load times

statement:
i think the feeling of instant immersion will be a huge hook. instead of launching an experience from the monitor or tv. i want users to instantly be immersed in virtual reality in seconds. open the app, put on oculus rift and be immediately immersed in virtual reality's equivalent of a main menu or desktop. from here users will be able to select the application/game they want to experience easily, wait for it to load (while wearing oculus rift) and when finished simply walk through a portal to be instantly immersed in that experience.

Main point: I don't want users to have to take the headset off select an experience wait for it to load then put the headset back on. I want users to be able to switch from one experience to another seamlessly without having to take off their headset.

Update: I'm shifting focus to work on creating a lightweight third party OS for Oculus Rift.