VR in practice
Designing, building and growing a community around
VR and sailing
Olga Dziemidowicz
Greg Dziemidowicz
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?
MarineVerse brings sailing to Virtual Reality
Delivering
value
Finding the
problem/opportunity
`
Build
Deliver
Measure & learn
Generate hypothesis Choose next
increment
Prototype
Test & learn
Decide
what’s next
Delivering
value
Finding the
problem/opportunity
`
Build
Deliver
Measure & learn
Generate hypothesis Choose next
increment
Prototype
Test & learn
Decide
what’s next
PDD - Passion Driven Development
Delivering
value
Finding the
problem/opportunity
`
Build
Deliver
Measure & learn
Generate hypothesis Choose next
increment
Prototype
Test & learn
Decide
what’s next
Delivering
value
Finding the
problem/opportunity
`
Build
Deliver
Measure & learn
Generate hypothesis Choose next
increment
Prototype
Test & learn
Decide
what’s next
iOS
Delivering
value
Finding the
problem/opportunity
`
Build
Deliver
Measure & learn
Generate hypothesis Choose next
increment
Prototype
Test & learn
Decide
what’s next
Delivering
value
Finding the
problem/opportunity
`
Build
Deliver
Measure & learn
Generate hypothesis Choose next
increment
Prototype
Test & learn
Decide
what’s next
Delivering
value
Finding the
problem/opportunity
`
Build
Deliver
Measure & learn
Generate hypothesis Choose next
increment
Prototype
Test & learn
Decide
what’s next
Delivering
value
Finding the
problem/opportunity
`
Build
Deliver
Measure & learn
Generate hypothesis Choose next
increment
Prototype
Test & learn
Decide
what’s next
VR as a service/experience
Delivering
value
Finding the
problem/opportunity
`
Build
Deliver
Measure & learn
Generate hypothesis Choose next
increment
Prototype
Test & learn
Decide
what’s next
Delivering
value
Finding the
problem/opportunity
`
Build
Deliver
Measure & learn
Generate hypothesis Choose next
increment
Prototype
Test & learn
Decide
what’s next
Delivering
value
Finding the
problem/opportunity
`
Build
Deliver
Measure & learn
Generate hypothesis Choose next
increment
Prototype
Test & learn
Decide
what’s next
Delivering
value
Finding the
problem/opportunity
`
Build
Deliver
Measure & learn
Generate hypothesis Choose next
increment
Prototype
Test & learn
Decide
what’s next
https://www.fishbowlvr.com/
Delivering
value
Finding the
problem/opportunity
`
Build
Deliver
Measure & learn
Generate hypothesis Choose next
increment
Prototype
Test & learn
Decide
what’s next
Delivering
value
Finding the
problem/opportunity
`
Build
Deliver
Measure & learn
Generate hypothesis Choose next
increment
Prototype
Test & learn
Decide
what’s next
Delivering
value
Finding the
problem/opportunity
`
Build
Deliver
Measure & learn
Generate hypothesis Choose next
increment
Prototype
Test & learn
Decide
what’s next
Delivering
value
Finding the
problem/opportunity
`
Build
Deliver
Measure & learn
Generate hypothesis Choose next
increment
Prototype
Test & learn
Decide
what’s next
We are here
Thank you!
@olga_wo@dziemid @MarineVerseVR
Resources for VR
http://voicesofvr.com/
Slack (VR Creators, VR Developers, VR Australia)
https://unity3d.com/learn/tutorials
https://www.youtube.com/ (Oculus and Valve presentations)
Ready Player One ( https://www.amazon.com.au/Ready-Player-One-Ernest-Cline-
ebook/dp/B005CVWWJY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1469408761&sr=8-1&keywords=player+one )
Infinite Reality ( https://www.amazon.com/Infinite-Reality-Avatars-Eternal-Revolution-
ebook/dp/B004CFA9WI/ref=pd_sim_351_4?ie=UTF8&dpID=51EBL48QrLL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_OU01_
AC_UL160_SR106%2C160_&psc=1&refRID=0VTNM8B1NEVDFDFQXWC2 )
Meetups meetup.com
https://developer.oculus.com/documentation/intro-vr/latest/concepts/bp_intro/
https://www.fishbowlvr.com
HTC Vive dev in 1h
https://unity3d.com/
https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/32647 SteamVR plugin
https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/64131 Steam VR Toolkit
Cardboard dev in 1h
https://unity3d.com/
https://developers.google.com/vr/unity/

Virtual reality startup in practice

Editor's Notes

  • #2 VR in practice. Designing, building and growing a community around VR and sailing.
  • #3 What’s your sailing experience?
  • #4 What’s your VR experience?
  • #5 MarineVerse is a start-up that brings sailing to virtual reality.
  • #6 Our flagship products it’s VR Regatta - a game for HTC Vive that’s on Steam. http://store.steampowered.com/app/468240/
  • #7 VR Regatta game play https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHgjXsLFC9U
  • #8 Our team: Greg, Olga, Nate & David.
  • #9 We are getting feedback on YouTube, some of it we don’t understand ;) https://www.youtube.com/results?sp=CAM%253D&q=vr+regatta
  • #10 MarineVerse got a mention in Yachting World. http://www.yachtingworld.com/yachts-and-gear/virtual-reality-sailors-new-specially-targeted-apps-77052
  • #11 This presentation will be organised around this model, that we found roughly fits what we have been doing.
  • #12 1. Finding the problem: Generate hypothesis
  • #13 First step. Where did the idea come from in the first place. http://blog.marineverse.com/sailing/3d/3dphotos/2016/01/10/sydney-to-hobart-yacht-race-finish-line-in-google-cardboard.html Surely, people will love to learn about sailing in virtual reality. Let’s create a training application.
  • #14 Step 1: Tweet about it :-)
  • #15 Step 2 - build a prototype.
  • #16 We started with Cardboard.
  • #17  First iteration - very quick sketch in unity. Learn about “Points of Sail”.
  • #18 https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.marineverse.sailingterms
  • #19 Also a “bootstrap” website for a good measure.
  • #20 Test & learn.
  • #21 We both joined a sailing course. First of all, location was amazing :-) But also great opportunity to interact with our potential users: instructors and people who want to learn to sail. We discovered, that in that context VR wasn’t working well - people were interested in enjoying sun, drinking beer and socialising - not so much putting a bit of plastic box on their face.
  • #22 They also expressed desire to sail in a boat in VR (rather then static experience we gave them).
  • #23 We also suggested they try our app - by installing it.. But most of them had an iPhone - our app was on Android.
  • #24 Maybe they will like sailing simulator more? That’s what they asked for?
  • #25 But what about simulator sickness?
  • #26 Great podcast: http://voicesofvr.com/
  • #27 In one of the podcast Kent discussed a locomotion method - 3rd person view used in Lucky’s Tale.
  • #29 We’ve build a prototype using 3rd person view.
  • #31 Another way to test: asking for feedback on Reddit. They said - we want to sit on the boat!
  • #32 People liked the story in Sail to Freedom: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.marineverse.sailtofreedom They didn’t like simplicity of assets, Performance was not good enough.
  • #33 We created a version where you could sail with Stan. First person view. It worked fine (For most people)..
  • #34 But our usage stats didn’t look that great.
  • #35 Leaky bucket - our audience was not staying with us, mostly trying experience once.
  • #36 What to do?
  • #37 Planning what to build - The Service Designer in the room Greg - The idea and vision Olga - I can’t code but let’s use SD tools to think about it. There’s still a client, they still go through a journey, it’s still good to understand the persona Customer journey maps (camera) - discovering our apps JM for within the game Brainstorming ideas Persona Strategy >>> insights
  • #38 MarineVerse personas.
  • #39 Helped make decisions in a strategic way When you lay it all out it suddenly makes sense Helps you think about other options and scenarios - especially for new things like sailing in VR
  • #40 Let’s create a sailing game, for gamers. Trying use gamification techniques. Notice simpler environment (for performance reasons and due to lack of artist on the team). - Targeting GearVR.
  • #41 MVP? Race around a course.
  • #42 The first thing you see in VR Regatta.
  • #44 We are using Unity to build our apps and games.
  • #46 SideLoadVR is a great platform to deliver an app to users at that stage: http://sideloadvr.com/detail.php?id=10012
  • #48 People don’t understand how to sail. Sailing upwind is confusing.
  • #49 Extra insights from screen captures (people get lost).
  • #50 You can use fishbowlvr to pay for VR user testing.
  • #52 OK - let’s create something simple - collect stars and sail downwind.
  • #54 Meetups in Melbourne have a great “small” community feel.
  • #55 Greg - let me fly to Vision Summit next week Olga.. http://gregdmd.com/blog/2016/02/13/my-6-favorites-demos-from-vision-summit-2016/ Eyes opened - VR is a huge industry, 2000 attendees, VIP events (that we were not invited to :( ) etc.
  • #56 But we got a free HTC Vive :-)
  • #58 https://github.com/thestonefox/SteamVR_Unity_Toolkit Great starting point when building for Vive.
  • #59 https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/ Great resource for Unity content.
  • #61 Check this https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=1131-WSFG-3320 when publishing on Steam.
  • #63 Great spike when launching, but then people moved on to different things. Can we make this graph go upward? (Daily users)
  • #64 We are trying different things to make people stick, come back and join us for sailing. Multiplayer, relaxing sailing, more realistic racing. We are working on improving graphics (richer, more interesting environments, nicer boat models, etc)
  • #65 But at some point we expect to go back to a drawing board. Still looking for a viable business model.
  • #66 We are just starting, and hope the best things are still in front of us and our customers.
  • #68 https://twitter.com/MarineVerseVR