I was nutso when I first heard about The Void. When Dreamscape Immersive formed I really got excited. I thought The Void broke new ground but are wasting their time with immersive shoot-em-up experiences. Dreamscape Immersive launched into an impressive prototype with Alien Petting Zoo. These guys are creating immersive experiences and not just new shooting galleries. Regretfully I have not heard much from them since their initial trial run. There have been other attempts at creating immersive experiences such as Zero Latency. However, in my humble opinion, all have fallen short due to one factor or another. Now, please let me introduce “Spaces” the newest entry in the location based immersive experience arena. If the public is encouraged and with a bit of luck, these guys will make it. I think they are doing a lot of things correct. You can check out a video of their experience by following this link: Spaces: Terminator-Salvation.
Similar to The Void, Spaces seems at first to be a Terminator themed Shoot-em-up. No big deal. However there are hints of other more important components. In much of the promotional material, the participants are interacting with physical props on physical sets. Physical immersion is essential for maintaining presence in immersive experiences. Participants are running around with props, they are using tools against physical sets and they seem to be interacting with the world with motion control devices. Now you are talking! Dreamscape immersive gave hints of these components. “Guys, what are you up to?”
From the looks of the video and some of their promotional material, the participants seem to be equipped with HTC Vive Prop HMDs. They also appear to be decked out with 7 point tracking. 5 point is the minimum needed to track participant arms, legs, body position and orientation. However the seven point tracking tracks the elbows which solves a gnarly issue with effective motion capture. At the beginning of the experience, participants’ face are scanned and their likeness is used for their experience avatars. Fantastic. Even if the faces are not animated they will do a sufficient job of identifying the participants from each other in the middle of a high action environment. (I have to admit, Secrets of the Empire left me totally confused.) Getting back to the tracking. If these guys have some advance access to Steam tracking 2.0 then they not only have room scale access but they now have warehouse scale access and the potential for fully realized redirected walking. (I’m still waiting to get my hands on some Steam Tracking 2.0 lighthouses!) From what little review I have encountered, Spaces also employs other haptic devices such as wind, heat and smell. These are becoming standard expectations in any modern immersive experience. Different from The Void and Dreamscape Immersive, Spaces also integrates a scoring mechanic and video recording. These components are essential for experiences to take on lives outside of the actual physical attraction. This is starting to look super exciting!
With all of this awesome sauce, what could go wrong? What could prevent Spaces from becoming a dominant player in the location-based immersive experience area? Throughput! A look at the promotional image on their website indicates they are looking for partners to open retail locations in public spaces such as malls. This may be a big mistake. Spaces is obviously run by a couple of Gen-Xers who haven’t come to the realization that the millennial folk don’t go to the malls! Traffic in malls is just not what it use to be. In order to make an operation like this profitable, they will need to have multiple immersive experiences going, each filled with multiple participants during all hours of operation. This may be attainable on the weekends. You can forget Tuesday morning around 11:00 am. Malls have very high rent and to keep the throughput sufficient to pay for the overhead costs may be too insurmountable. The solution to this very problem is what plagues the Void and Dreamscape Immersive as well. I suppose this is a topic for future blog posts.
I hope for the best for Spaces. I really believe they are stacking their deck with the correct equipment and the right attitude for make truly rewarding location-based immersive experiences. I just hope the realities of the economics don’t crush them into obscurity. Good luck Guys! I’m rooting for you!
