iMyth

Category: Immersive Theme-worlds

  • The Link between GBUs and Interactive Storytelling

    Things in the VR/AR world have been going crazy lately. My website went down recently. However, after many hours of keyboard pounding, my lovely wife was able to get my site back up and running.(Thanks Ha!)

    I was very pleasantly surprised to bump into a couple of articles written by a young programmer from Cambridge, UK, Josh Newland. He posted two very nice articles on Gamasutra about procedural world building in Unity and Interactive Storytelling.

    Josh’s first article on Procedural World Building in Unity gives a brief description the the techniques Josh utilizes to generate procedural worlds in the Unity game engine. Throughout the article he provides helpful links to explanations of the algorithms he employs and how he integrates them into one system. This is an outstanding example of how GBUs can be generated utilizing basic modern game engines.

    Josh’s second article on Games and Interactive Storytelling, provides a wonderful introduction to the currently locked puzzle of Interactive Storytelling. He quickly describes the inevitable contradiction of Player Agency Vs. Linear Narrative. Reduced to a simple sentence, “How does one generate an engaging interactive, linear narrative experience while without constraining the full immersive experience?” He goes on to describe one possible solution to resolve this by employing social agents (Smart NPC’s) to marshal an enriching interactive experience. This is the approach legendary game designer, Chris Crawford, is employing to create Interactive Storytelling.

    I find it very refreshing to encounter yet another soul who has paired procedural world building with Interactive Storytelling. Anyone familiar with this blog is aware this is the entire foundation with which this blog is written. Great Job Josh!

  • Images form Landmark

    Here are some images of the project Landmark is creating for a virtual Theme Park in China, posted in this Road to VR article.

    I don’t really think this has much to do with immersive theme-world or immersive epic experiences. I think it is more like Disneyquest, “Hey look, here is what’s cool and can be done now!”. Regardless, more endeavors such as this will only help to further the immersive the-park experience.

  • Glove One and Hands Omni join the Haptic Evolution

    The innovations just keep spilling forth.

    This most recent article, 2 VR Gloves, exposes two very possible technologies that simulate human tactile experience. The Glove One concept seems almost too good to be true.

     

  • Google VR 101

    This article about Google’s VR 101 seems like something to check out.

  • Google Project Soli

    Now here is some tech that has real potential. This article from Road to VR, “Google’s Project Soli,” has some real potential. By harnessing radar in the 21st centuray, researchers are capturing very small hand gestures.

    While this technology has some super dramatic implications with virtual VR UI I’m surprised no one has taken this idea and pushed it someplace else. Why have they not explored facial recognition. From what it sounds, if the specs being claimed are true, then something like lip sync and facial recognition seems immanent. However, maybe the sounds waves coming from our mouths may mess with the radar. I don’t know.

     

  • Cyberith Virtualizer

    Here is a company called Cyberith, who is developing a product which will enable, walking and otherwise full mobility within a VR environment.

    Admitedly, this is a neat concept. However, I can’t visualize the application beyond a military trainer for single level simulations. This may be a cool concept to launch initial ideas with. However, I don’t believe it will have long term, Immersive Theme-world potential.

     

  • Google Attempting VR World Domination

    A couple of articles today track the behavior of Google.

    It would seem the media giant is assembling a team to create its own suite of VR tools. This is no doubt an attempt to achieve VR domination. Who can blame them. The wave is crashing hard. The big boys are getting out their big guns to claim big territories in the new frontier.

    Adudio will play a huge role in the achievement of immersive theme-worlds and google want s to be the pack leader by setting its own VR audio standards.

    Google also seems to be designing its own VR engine. This is a no-brainer. It has been clearly evident for quite a while the mechanics for immersive theme-wolds will be more demanding and more varied than thos supplied by modern game engines. MOst game engine will provide a launch pad for a broader, more diversified VR engine.

    They are also building a VR camera from scratch.  I’m not to sure I understand the motivation for this one. There are already many players in this field. What could google gain by building a specialized and dedicated camera? As technology continues to roll out we’ll have to see how things are inter-related.

  • Possible Alternative to Hand Tracking

    The parade of new VR/Immersive technology keeps on rolling.

    Here is the newest solution for generating a hand avatar for an experience created by Manus Machina.

    This seems like an alternative and competitor for technologies such as Leap. Leap uses optical tracking but devices such as this use actuators to track the hands position and rotation.

    At the end of the day the best solution will be where the user does not have to keep his hands raised in front of him in order to operate the GUI. Gloves and optical tracking tech are cool but folks get tired after about a minute of raising their hands beyond hanging. Remind you that computers and even video games allow the user to rest their arms or wrists against some stationary surface. – Something to think about.