A short lecture I gave at the GameIS 2014 convention - about lessons learned from designing several VR games, including a launch title for Samsung Gear VR

1. Designing for VR
Elad Drory
Designing for VR
Elad Drory

2. Topics
•Why VR?
•Welcoming our players
•The elephant in the room
•Best practices
•What this means for game design
•Rethinking the world
•Rethinking pace and flow
•Production and budget
•The future!

3. Why VR?
•We are on the edge of a huge leap forward in VR
•Hardware is taking huge steps forward, and will keep improving
•In March 2014, Facebook bought Oculus for $2 Billion
•Samsung’s Galaxy Note 4 and future phones will support Gear VR. 10 million VR-capable phones in 2015.
•Google and other companies invested over $500 million in Magic Leap, a VR/AR company
•As game designers, working in VR tests our ability to create truly immersive experiences
•Because, seriously, VR is awesome

4. Welcoming our players
•As VR pioneers, one of our first goals is to help people transition into this new medium
•Remember that as developers, we will quickly get used to VR, and forget how shocking the transition can be
•We have to introduce players to VR gently, even at the expense of gameplay

5. The elephant in the room
•Oculus is working hard to prevent motion sickness
•As developers, we have an interest in this as well
•At its core, motion sickness happens because of a mis-match between our senses.
•What our eyes see doesn’t match what our body feels, creating confusion

6. And speaking of elephants
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OXixY2weuk

7. Best practices
•Never ever take control of the player’s head
•This includes head bobbing, camera shakes, and zooming
•Fixed position in games is the most comfortable, and there’s a lot of possibilities to explore
•Ideally, let the player control their own movement and set their own pace
•If you must move the player:
•Move at a constant speed in one direction, don’t change direction or axis suddenly
•Help them understand where they’re going by using lighting and architecture
•Avoid gameplay that requires looking away from direction of travel
•Read the Best Practices document!

8. A little demonstration
ROMANS VIDEO GOES HERE

9. Rethinking the world
•HUD must be part of the world, it can’t be glued on screen
•Don’t strive for too much realism
•Scale is an easy and extremely powerful tool – feeling bigger or smaller is fun!
•Let players get up close and personal with stuff
•No more cheating – you can’t introduce objects into the game from “off-screen”

10. Rethinking pace and flow
•Add a lot of breaks in the action
•Let players explore, remember that just being in the world is magical
•Think of ways to encourage and reward exploration
•Don’t forget that it’s a game. Have clear objectives and sense of progress.

11. Production and budget
•Be nice to your 3D guys, you’re going to need them!
•The whole world is 3D
•3D budget on Romans VR was 100% more than we anticipated - and that included tons of assets from the mobile game
•3D artists have to be much more hands-on, and work closely with both dev and 2D to integrate things into the world
•Leave a lot of overhead for experimenting
•This is always true, but especially in new mediums
•Playtest a lot, but trust the research and community
•You won’t be able to test every kind of player, and your testing tools are limited

12. VR is the future
•Like it or not, VR is going to grow in the coming years
•Not just through games, but through cinema, professional and medical apps
•Is it going to be a gimmick or a lasting new medium?
That depends on us, and the experiences we create.

13. Thank you!
@eladrory
If you’re interested in bringing your games to VR,
contact us at Sidekick!
info@sidekick.co.il