VERY happy to report, we've seen a 10X increase in Pistol Whip sales since the launch of Quest 2. This is an incredible sign for the VR industry in general! Congrats
@oculus
, its been a loooong road to get here but it feels like we're finally coming home :)
XR 2023 Hot-takes roundup:
* Apple is focused on AR almost exclusively. Replacing your cellphone is mission
#1
.
* AR games where things barf out into your dirty living room will be cliché within 2-years. Dev's need to think more creatively about depth sensor usage & AR utility
Hearing a lot of "Where's the next Alyx? Where's the next BIG VR game?!". It's important to recognize that many studios like ours have "those games" sitting in limbo. BIG ideas require BIG budgets & we're maxing out what works to financially power up BIG ideas later. Risk/Reward.
Man. The vitriolic comments in mainstream press, social, about Half-Life: Alyx are so depressing. A stunning snapshot of just how out-of-touch, poorly informed people remain, regarding the current state of high-end VR & experiences. So many false assumptions. Its embarrassing.
This may be the troll-iest of troll posts ever about VR. Look; 3DOF Cardboard may have been one of THE MOST TOXIC things to happen to VR. It gave who knows how many people the WORST first impression of what VR is, with bottom barrel experiences on tap. Immersion/Presence, medium
I created the Google Cardboard almost ten years ago but quit VR soon after to focus on Machine Learning.
VR is based on a ridiculous misunderstanding.
Let me explain why in this thread.
BLAHAHAHA!!! I love all of the desperate "VR is a gimmick!" justifications flying around right now with the HLA news. SOOOOoooooo many hats are about to be eaten whole, its just...just so delectable :) The Troll slaughter will be EPIC.
2023 Virtual Reality Outlook "Heads Down":
1. Developers will remain in a "building mode". (Deeper content which take 2-3 years to produce)
2. PSVR2 will launch with solid offerings but will likely require strong marketing & follow-on support to grow a healthy audience.
3...
But I thought "VR was dead" again? Its a Christmas mira...oh wait, nope, its just people listening to click-bate/clueless tech news sites again. Every 6 months "VR is Dead" for the last 10 years folks. That's our industry. You can't put VR back in the bottle. 🎄
Context on Twitter is as clear as mud. The community squabbles over MANY things but it's important to remember that VR's "success" is fragile. I want ALL OF THESE COMPANIES to succeed & if you care about VR, so should you (including the ones you don't like).
Good luck to Brandon, Alex & the always hard working SLZ team on their 4th release "BoneLab" (they won't need it😉). A true OG studio, SLZ has endured many uncertain VR storms in their efforts to draw "mainstream" relevance to the platform. Support them & pick up BoneLab Sep 29!
Missing from modern VR: Charismatic representation & dedicated focus on our medium.
We no longer have the Chet Faliszeks', Palmer Luckeys', & John Carmacks' near the OEM helm, evangelizing how great VR is, can & will be. Maybe Michael Abrash? But he doesn't get enough face time
The more interesting aspect of this is that it potentially ungates a future Standalone VR device that supports AAA level fidelity. No more mobile processor restrictions.
...AND...EXHALE...After working on the Aperture Hand Lab experience and with early Index hardware last year, its great to see this come to light. Will be talking about "Friendly Frank" it in more detail soon!
Porting to PSVR 2 wasn't just "porting", it was building for true next-gen VR features. Sony has been a great partner & is truly leaning into VR as its own medium, which is fantastic for our industry! We can't wait for launch & we're honored to be there!
Half Life: Alyx backlash: Flashback to 2013 & 16 unofficial but real VR guidelines: (1) NEVER make the user sick (2) A first bad VR experience is the last VR experience (3) 3-points of tracking = body persistence is a no-no. (4) Mobile VR & 3-DOF is POISON to the industry.
Apples biggest strategic error is assuming "VR game devs" are not the right target developers for its upcoming MR device. "Game dev" is a reductionist label that entirely misses the road VR devs have traveled.
Speaking of VR hand controllers...fun fact; In 2015 while building the first roomscale demo, we tried to convince HTC/Valve that they should add a back-of-the-hand strap to the original wand design. Made throwing feel better! We even taped the controllers to our hands!
Love & respect the heck out of Chet & agree with most of it but I have some thoughts that run a bit counter (and I hope he's considering his next game being a VR game or at least cross-play😉)...
Chet Faliszek, Former employee/VR team member at Valve gave some really interesting insights on the current VR market as he sees it
Including topics of Facebook creating a “distorted market”, survivor bias regarding motion sickness in VR content, and Apple’s entry
Just giving additional reach here. This was brought up ages ago as a cheap way to augment fov. With the right VR-centric mission, this is exactly the kind of thing that should be in modern VR products.
My "VR Ambilight" mock up is done, it feels ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE, the "Fake FOV" boost is so trippy, I just need to diffuse the little better then it's time to 3D print a fully enclosed facial interface.
@Thrilluwu
Orion club pops with this! Making one for the Index now.
Dethroning these two incredible VR giants almost never happens. Even if for only a day, I couldn't be more proud of everyone at Cloudhead, and so deeply grateful to our supporters ❤️
10 years in, 5 years with the Valve Index, still my favorite development device. King of heap still in terms of long-term comfort & fewest software hassles quickly diving in & out of project.
Fight me! 🤪
Do me a favor VR developers far & wide; stop reading the VR tabloid coverage & get down to building content! They can't put VR back in the bottle, no matter how badly they want to dump on it in the press. VR will continue to grow despite them!
"MV" PSA; The Metaverse is NOT Virtual Reality. VR is a medium, like the printing press, television, the computer/internet, etc. You inject content into it & explore content using it. Side note: despite reports to the contrary the Metaverse doesn't exist yet.
Oh for crying out loud Gizmodo "dedicated AR and VR products are still expensive niche products largely focused on the high-end gaming market "... Do you even know what an Oculus Quest is???
Gotta say, we're very grateful to be in a position to develop two new VR titles (and at this time). None of this happened by chance. Our commitment to community through great content/support, and growing the studio to ensure we could make this next leap responsibly. We're pretty
One of VR's Most Sucessful Studios is Building Two Brand New Games
Having not launched a new game since Pistol Whip in 2019, Cloudhead Games tells Road to VR that two brand new VR games are in development.
Read the report 👇
Consumer AR will not be widely adopted until FOV exceeds 100 degrees. Rubber meets road at 100 as use-case and design potential match what people "think AR should be". Below that (40, 60, 80) you're just building a tech-junk-drawer novelty.
VR's next leap requires 160-180.
VR is hard. At some point I hope the broader AAA industry understands that you can't just magically ramp up your veteran flatscreen team to understand it. There's a LOT to learn here. These failures do so much unintended damage to the public perception of how "good" VR is.
Apple Vision Pro: An AR Headset in VR Clothing
So let’s get the obvious over first; Apple Vision Pro is Apple's first generation attempt at AR glasses using a Mixed Reality VR headset. AVP is a development platform also serving an enthusiast demographic. Make no mistake, this no
It could be argued that Google cardboard was potentially one of the most toxic things to happen to VR. Setting the tone for a good chunk of the population as a bottom-of-the-barrel "first VR experience".
Very happy to see this level of collaboration between Meta & Valve for the benefit of the entire VR ecosystem. We need more "rising tide, raises all ships" behaviors from OEM's to really light the fire. This is a great step forward.
VR isn't about "checking out" any more than watching a movie or reading a book is about "checking out". TONS of mental health benefits to VR and its pro-humanity possibilities for transforming deep socialization, "gig-economies", education, entertainment etc.
Niantic CEO John Hanke's vision for augmented reality, unlike virtual reality, seeks to make the real world better without encouraging people to totally check out of it.
2-Parts on how to want max out your HLA experience (thanks to those that contributed) I strongly suggest:
* bounds to floor only
* bounds to "always on"
* Reduce their opacity as much as possible
* pretty shade of yellow
* Download FPSvr
* add the below PNG to the directory.
...
Our next VR game will be accessible, comfortable AND "super intense" in mainstream ways. You probably won't crave another mode because designing for the medium means it won't be immediately obvious that anything is "missing". But, we'll also have options to tweak everything.
Pistol Whip broke 5000 reviews and a pure 5 star rating on
@oculus
Quest storefront!!! That's a huge milestone for Cloudhead Games. The ridiculous thing is that 2089 is coming out Dec 1st and from that point forward it will be clear that we're just getting started!
So yeah, this is a thing (and that's just on Quest😉). Probably should note that this was revelatory prior to Covid and numbers have only increased! SUPER good sign for our industry and believe you me, after 7 years of battling naysayers, an existential relief beyond measure!
After 11 years, I am convinced that human laziness & comfort are central to VR's core retention issues. On the "media" entertainment spectrum, the lowest energy gratification system will usually win. And if it's not long-wear comfortable, it is adding friction to reflexive usage.
It isn’t immediately obvious, but if a product’s success metric includes retention, it usually has to be BETTER when the price is lower, because the more casual users are less invested. VR users with multi-thousand dollar systems put up with more janky crap than the marginal new
Hell has officially frozen over. Kotaku has a positive VR article about VR's success. Up next, mainstream game news sites across the globe saying they "knew it all along". lol.
Virtual Reality...as its own medium...is still VERY important. "Gaming" in Virtual Reality...is still VERY important for growth & innovation. 10 years in, we've had some wins & we are just getting our heads around what it does best. Focus industry. Focus.
How many VR games died on the vine since 2016 because they were too early to market? A lot. How many studios folded because they weren't properly supported by OEMs? Too many. A moment of VR silence to all those that shouldered all the risk without a market or support 💜
Finally pulled together Cloudhead Games "museum" of VR hardware & awards! Too many memories here to count & incredible journey with some very smart/talented people. Ironically, after 8 years, it feels like we're just getting started! ❤️
Its not that "VR makes people sick", its that hard won Best Practices to solve the issue are largely ignored by the developer base. A trend to lean on a sort of toxic positivity about "acclimation", which is an antithetical solution which drives new users away from the medium.
10 years later, why hasn't Facebook’s Oculus acquisition changed the world as expected?
As I explain in "Making a Metaverse That Matters", there's a key reason STILL not addressed:
Ignoring research (1st raised by
@zephoria
) that VR tends to make half the population sick. 👇
I think people are grossly underestimating how big of an impact VR will have in a post-covid culture. Core behaviors will continue to evolve towards home isolation/protectionism and placing high value on simulated experiences/communications.
@unity
A complete retraction & a simple licensing model is the only way forward. Predictability is vital for planning projects long term. Retroactively changing your TOS is not ok and asking the community to trust obfuscated install data is not ok. Please do the right thing Unity.
Its unlikely to be true, however I've always believed that Nintendo would be a HUGE market disruptor if they entered the VR/MR space. They would do what Nintendo does best; exploit the hardware & really dig into what makes it "fun" & with a style all their own. 🤞
🔥Leak Express: Nintendo ya tiene un prototipo en pruebas de unas gafas “VR”
- Hardware independiente de Switch 2
- Realidad mixta
- Uso doméstico, no para parques temáticos
- Pantalla MicroLED
- Sorprendentemente Google está involucrada de alguna manera en el desarrollo
Most folks don't understand that VR studios have been hyper-optimizing content for nearly a decade. Running slick content at constant 90fps in stereo is no easy feat. Understanding VR optimization, having the capacity to build custom tools, shaders, etc, can go an awful long way.
Woot! We just broke 7000 ratings on the Oculus storefront with Smoke & Thunder! BIG thanks to everyone for rating and reviewing, we sincerely appreciate the support :)
VR with Flat support is the correct path. Not Flat to VR. Injectors (& mods) will always feel like Injectors because core mechanics & sensibilities between mediums are fundamentally different. Hoping to prove why there's a meaningful difference there in future 🙂
Unity's recent debacle has deep potential impacts on two VERY powerful companies; Apple & Meta. As XR competitors, they are both deeply invested in Unity to ungate VR/MR developers in very specific ways. Is there a bidding war happening as we speak? Was this snafu by design?
This should be proof positive that adequately funded VR content/studios (in this case an Acquired studio), is as important as hardware development. But budgets & scope of this size are INCREDIBLY difficult to muster independently. Many AW2's sit unmade due to budget constraints.
Asgard’s Wrath 2 is the full-fledged VR open-world RPG I’ve always wanted to play, and for that matter it’s one of the best RPGs in any perspective I’ve played in years. Our review:
Curation, curation, curation. VR needs it more than any other market. I've spent the last several days diving through Steam's VR section trying my darndest to pull up diamonds in the rough. They certainly exist but the current format is failing them.
Gaming will constitute a $435 billion market by 2028. VR + Gaming is NOT a dirty combo, has demonstrated real-world growth & should be pursued aggressively. AR will eventually replace cell phones (we get it), but turning a blind eye to VR gaming would be a HUGE strategic mistake.
Well that was a shocker. Proud to be a part of VR's continued push into the mainstream. Big thanks to
#DICEAwards
, to the judges, to our peers, the hard working crew at Cloudhead, and our friends
@oculus
@valvesoftware
@htcvive
for your belief and support over the last 6 years!
UNITY your "Per Unit Pricing" plan is a terrible idea that ignores many complexities faced by game developers (& how their revenue actually works). Its also full of holes (piracy, privacy, etc). Worse; you are potentially destabilizing edge case studios. Reversal!!! UNREAL?
Not to sound like a broken record but I REALLY hate that in 2023, this is the acceptable answer. How about some best practices? Or devs at least trying a teeny, tiny bit to think about accessibility options for sensitive players?
Sony gets it! Haptics & tactility matter even if visual hand tracking is there for basic utility. Whether you're getting work done or being entertained, XR wins with presence enhancing feedback loops & extreme fidelity.
#SonyCES
The "killer app" for XR isn't games or productivity, its shared digital presence. The first company to remove boundaries of time & space between organic human relationships, wins the chess game.
#VR
Can we pretty pleeeeeeeeeaaaaaaase have a "VR PORTS" section on the Steam storefront & remove dirty flatscreen metrics from what's performing in the VR market? I'm just not understanding how this is serving VR 😭
Virtual Reality is not and has never been a dirty term. It's a magical term, full of proven potential and we are not ashamed of its growth, not one little bit! We should continue to scream it to the heavens & OEM's should proudly wear its badge.
After 8 years in VR I've learned that while many aspects of the medium itself are *new*, creating "sticky" games & experiences isn't. Satisfying core mechanics, loops, goals, world building and wish fulfillment, remain the same discipline. Good design is hard.
CD Projekt RED says VR support for Cyberpunk 2077 isn't "terribly difficult”. Can I just offer a hearty BLAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Talk about grossly underestimating the medium.
It is difficult to express the emotions and the journey we’ve been on since 2013 at Cloudhead Games. The fact that we’re still here 10 years later and have grown so much, is a testament to the people who work with us and their belief in this medium of Virtual Reality. A group of
We're continuing the excitement for our anniversary & looking back at everything we've accomplished over the last decade. From The Gallery to Pistol Whip & beyond, we're excited to enter a new era in
#VR
! Follow along while we highlight accolades collected along the way 👇 (1/11)
Aperture Hand Labs just went live on Steam today! If you have Index Controllers check it out! Fav copy: "This game takes place in Aperture Science, home to the modestly popular Portal games your daddy used to play!"
VR’s classic “Chicken Before the Egg” or “Why is there no "deep" AAA VR Content?” question rises again on socials. Some high-level notes:
#1
-15
1. Although VR has started to cross a mainstream threshold, headset adoption remains a fraction of the "Flatscreen" gamings marketshare
Honestly blown away by recent reviews of Pistol Whip. So happy it's clicking with people. Not a humble brag but we never thought we'd be in the company of these titles on Metacritic!
Have some thoughts on this article that run a bit counter to the great "Visual Hand Tracking" debate 😅(Trying more human video responses. Hopefully I can do more of these in 2024 if folks like them🙂)
Job Simulator is one of the highest selling VR games of all time and its technical lead has a message for developers:
You need to have a hand tracking plan now:
IP Cloudhead would transform into VR titles if all roadblocks were removed:
* Lord of the Rings (Life & Adventure as a Hobbit/MP)
* TRON (OG/MP)
* Raiders of the Lost Arc (Specifically! Tap nostalgia)
* Portal VR (New Story/mechanics)
* Ghostbusters (OG, gritty/MP)
Burnt on videocalls yet? Boy we are! 8 months later, Cloudhead Labs starts to reveal "thing". Flatscreen? Yup. VR? ok. All-day-long? Uh-hu. Real faces? You bet. Organic collaboration? 100%. Easy to use? Well duh! Questions? I'm guessing YES. Next week :)
I wish holding a conference in VR was a thing but current gen is like trying to hold a nuanced, serious business conversation at a furry convention. Until facial tracking is front-and-center, we have a long way to go until VR actually works for personable/readable conversation.
Everybody say it with me; FOV, FOV, FOV! This should be the next major focus for OEM's in both VR & AR (followed closely by eye tracking). Crossing a new threshold for consumer buy-in, immersion/presence FOV usurps other "improvements". We can't design for what does not exist!
@alex_kuhn_art
Little does he realize that he too is fair game once AGI targets "influencer culture", "content creators", commentary, Youtube etc. He better hope & pray there's UBI coverage in his future because he'll be out of job just like everyone else.
Calling it right now; this weeks VR revelations will be nose hair tracking, tracked beer cozys, forehead heat lamps and haptic underwear. We will forever be changed!
#VR
There's a rumor that VR devs don't spend enough time using the tech they build for. I mean, I could spend MORE time in there but my eyeballs would fall out of my face.
Video game production is challenging but add in VR & you've doubled down on challenges. Almost a decade in, most OG Cloudhead crew are still with us but growing to 70+ by end of 2022 is a bit of a mind blower! I hope that our success signals a change in the tides for others.
March was a special month for us, as
#CloudheadTurns9
! It has been an amazing 9 years so far, and we are excited to announce that we’ve begun work on new next-gen VR titles! Check out what's on the horizon for us and
@PistolWhipVR
right here, right now:
Ok terminology train...
VR: Computer generated simulation of reality.
AR: Computer generated objects overlayed on top of real-world elements.
MR: Nonsense term...see above
XR: Please God stop. Please, I beg you! Entirely different mediums that may one day share a single device?
Semi-annual non-formal Valve, these are NOT "Popular VR titles", but flatscreen games with dirty sales numbers crowding out actual VR content. Pretty please; "VR Supported" and just straight up "VR" categories so that we can filter this stuff out & support VR developers.
Bravo
@CapcomUSA_
and
@oculus
on the Resident Evil 4 port. Whoever spearheaded VR "best practices" & how to do a "AAA" port properly is a hero! Thumbs up in terms of mitigating clumsy interactions, traditional cut-scenes & general locomotion. Great roadmap for future ports!
VR has been such an important tool for my kids during lockdown. They are distant from friends but experience a deep sense of play, of spacial awareness with the people that they love. I have a tremendous sense of gratitude to all the people in this industry that made that happen.
So Valve ♥️ While you're making changes, could we just rethink compatibility filters with whether or not something is or isn't "made for" VR? This would help automate the pruning (or categorization) of 2D ports, which surface in the VR section due to "dirty" 2D sales metrics.
Doing research...When I read articles from back in the day (2015), I can't help but to think that in some ways, it feels like we've moved backwards in VR. Or like there's some existential difference between the purity of what it was and what its becoming.
The 6th highest-ranked Playstation game of 2020! Ok, this isn't even VR!!! Hence it's hard not be super proud of our relatively tiny team and the validation of VR as a competing medium.
* If you focus on "VR as its own medium", at a hardware & software level you will move units
* If you aggressively grow your content ecosystem, you will move units
* If you treat your VR base with respect, you will move units & grow beyond
Its kinda simple
#peoplelikeVR
Can we just admit that VR treadmills wont make any sense until we can directly stimulate the vestibular system? Treadmills are puke machines, they inhibit movement more than they accommodate it, & they increase setup time. More friction = bad for VR.
Its the non-pukey Gorilla Tag. There are a number of VERY smart (and subtle) ways the team is getting around vection here but still giving you a full sense of mobility.