Category: CAD Development Part 2 Week 13

After my tutorial with Al (where I presented the headset masks and talked about the development of the PC version of Lunarium),  I jotted down some notes.

In adopting a spirit of reflective reflection ( a multi-layered reflection on practice). I hope to adopt a similar approach to my final video in which I will present Lunarium, talk about it’s development while speculating on future development as well as reflecting on my personal journey through this course and tentatively talk about my next steps.

Headsets

Material
I’d like to echo the materiality of the headset masks and set prototypes, in the app aesthetic but this has been difficult so far. It may be achieved in post production which I will discover when I begin to capture walkthrough video.

Project Concept 
Sharing the headsets with Al sparked a concept which involved a group of headset users deeply immersed in their experience while one person wasn’t as they didn’t have a headset. Strangely I could see how this could evolve and we had a good discussion over its potential.

Multiplayer
It’s too late to develop the app as a Multiplayer but this should definitely be considered in the next phase. However, research shows that teenagers tend to exhibit more risk taking behaviour when in a group and that social networking is important, particularly for this age demographic.

It may be that the app could be altered to reflect the character that the player has chosen by the choice of their headset.

PC Build 
I have spent a week rebuilding the app completely from the bottom up. I have done this so that I could gain wider access to user testers.  The VR build was limited to Oculus Go users and I couldn’t access that many players. I have since joined a discord group who may be able to help. I also felt that I would be able to add more features and have more freedom to create the app as I clearly envision it on my mind. I am hoping that, as I do this, I will be able to better represent my app concept as walkthrough video. This is an essential aspect of the assessment process.

Shifting between Unity 2019.17 and Unity 2018.4 LTS has been really insightful. It is clear that VR is still very much in its early stage of development (as am I). I felt that I could freely develop my concept within my early knowledge of the engine. 

Cross Platform Development 

Although the Oculus Go App works well and I have set up an Alpha works okay and has given a small amount of user research I wanted to capture wider user research. This is why I decided to develop the app Standalone PC. I have also experimented with WebGL export for publication on itch.io. This worked fine and could be published but I am not happy with the player controls.

in the next phase of development I will be able to Optimise the PC Version for Mobile VR. At the moment, in many respects the two apps are very different due to performance issues. The PC file is very small and this is mainly down to lighting and effects optimisation and so I think that tweaking this for mobile VR is feasible without too much work.

Additional Features 

I would like to add some additional features for which I have a list. Essentially I’d like to include particle dynamics and instantiation in the project but this will be dependant on the time I have to produce a high quality walkthrough video. One feature I’d like to include is a card shower using the particle dynamic function (similar to leaves falling from a tree). The question I have is, In the particle dynamic generator,  Is it possible to draw from a pool of materials rather than just one?

I have given the PC app link to Al and I’m hoping he will have time to play it. I have advised that is really is simple but any feedback would be very welcome.

Submission

Video Submission Video 8 – 10 minutes
1) App Showcase
2) Development ( Review Blog) challenges/research
3) Next phase of project development
4) Course Retro.

It will be possible to Submit the app APK for PC and Mobile VR – (email is Al’s), and so I will submit my files on google docs.

I need to remember to package the submission as if demonstrating it to my Mum (lol) This will avoid the trap of assumption and the resulting confusion.

What’s next… 

Recent events have allowed to to reflect on my intended career Direction and this has prompted a change. I am currently planning two routes both commercially and experimentally.

Commercially

I was self employed for 10 years before becoming involved in academic research. I have now decided to work on a number of indie development projects in my commercial practice.

To do this, I have identified an App Jam which will run from 1st May to 8th May. This will help continue the impetus to create apps quickly while also forging a new network.

I also have my next major project is on the drawing board but this is likely to be a very large project. This is Fizhogg, and Illustrated Adventure Game.

I would like to submit a piece of work to Annecy Animation festival and am looking at prospect of lively collaboration 😀

Experimentally

I’m an artist .. just keep making work as it will be in its originality that will be of interest not just common games made to high quality.

I can see how experimenting with the engine and immersion in nature could be really interesting. Self reflexivity on technology and form of videogames/natural environments/world building/immersion. I intend to just experiment with the engine to see what happens…

I could also see how my experimental work could be presenting using unity, representing immersive work in an immersive medium. My immersive arts portfolio.

Also, As part of the Falmouth Alumni I should be able to keep in touch and maybe even come back to talk to future students about my work, both commercially and experimentally. I should be able to access the course content after the course ends.

Research

I am not currently considering research as a first priority although I know in my heart that I will complete my PhD. It’s a timing, location and person thing.

In the past I have applied material thinking to CGI tools and produced projection mapping along with kinetic sculpture and animated film.

I have also applied the Basic principles of CGI to material craft and explored the glitch through the tension between algorithm and heuristics amongst other things.

Now I have a game engine and code to play with… how exciting 😀

Next steps:

🔲  Use timeline, Cinemachine and post production to capture a walkthrough video.
🔲  Capture user feedback

After my tutorial with Al (where I presented the headset masks and talked about the development of the PC version of Lunarium),  I jotted down some notes.

In adopting a spirit of reflective reflection ( a multi-layered reflection on practice). I hope to adopt a similar approach to my final video in which I will present Lunarium, talk about it’s development while speculating on future development as well as reflecting on my personal journey through this course and tentatively talk about my next steps.

Headsets

Material
I’d like to echo the materiality of the headset masks and set prototypes, in the app aesthetic but this has been difficult so far. It may be achieved in post production which I will discover when I begin to capture walkthrough video.

Project Concept 
Sharing the headsets with Al sparked a concept which involved a group of headset users deeply immersed in their experience while one person wasn’t as they didn’t have a headset. Strangely I could see how this could evolve and we had a good discussion over its potential.

Multiplayer
It’s too late to develop the app as a Multiplayer but this should definitely be considered in the next phase. However, research shows that teenagers tend to exhibit more risk taking behaviour when in a group and that social networking is important, particularly for this age demographic.

It may be that the app could be altered to reflect the character that the player has chosen by the choice of their headset.

PC Build 
I have spent a week rebuilding the app completely from the bottom up. I have done this so that I could gain wider access to user testers.  The VR build was limited to Oculus Go users and I couldn’t access that many players. I have since joined a discord group who may be able to help. I also felt that I would be able to add more features and have more freedom to create the app as I clearly envision it on my mind. I am hoping that, as I do this, I will be able to better represent my app concept as walkthrough video. This is an essential aspect of the assessment process.

Shifting between Unity 2019.17 and Unity 2018.4 LTS has been really insightful. It is clear that VR is still very much in its early stage of development (as am I). I felt that I could freely develop my concept within my early knowledge of the engine. 

Cross Platform Development 

Although the Oculus Go App works well and I have set up an Alpha works okay and has given a small amount of user research I wanted to capture wider user research. This is why I decided to develop the app Standalone PC. I have also experimented with WebGL export for publication on itch.io. This worked fine and could be published but I am not happy with the player controls.

in the next phase of development I will be able to Optimise the PC Version for Mobile VR. At the moment, in many respects the two apps are very different due to performance issues. The PC file is very small and this is mainly down to lighting and effects optimisation and so I think that tweaking this for mobile VR is feasible without too much work.

Additional Features 

I would like to add some additional features for which I have a list. Essentially I’d like to include particle dynamics and instantiation in the project but this will be dependant on the time I have to produce a high quality walkthrough video. One feature I’d like to include is a card shower using the particle dynamic function (similar to leaves falling from a tree). The question I have is, In the particle dynamic generator,  Is it possible to draw from a pool of materials rather than just one?

I have given the PC app link to Al and I’m hoping he will have time to play it. I have advised that is really is simple but any feedback would be very welcome.

Submission

Video Submission Video 8 – 10 minutes
1) App Showcase
2) Development ( Review Blog) challenges/research
3) Next phase of project development
4) Course Retro.

It will be possible to Submit the app APK for PC and Mobile VR – (email is Al’s), and so I will submit my files on google docs.

I need to remember to package the submission as if demonstrating it to my Mum (lol) This will avoid the trap of assumption and the resulting confusion.

What’s next… 

Recent events have allowed to to reflect on my intended career Direction and this has prompted a change. I am currently planning two routes both commercially and experimentally.

Commercially

I was self employed for 10 years before becoming involved in academic research. I have now decided to work on a number of indie development projects in my commercial practice.

To do this, I have identified an App Jam which will run from 1st May to 8th May. This will help continue the impetus to create apps quickly while also forging a new network.

I also have my next major project is on the drawing board but this is likely to be a very large project. This is Fizhogg, and Illustrated Adventure Game.

I would like to submit a piece of work to Annecy Animation festival and am looking at prospect of lively collaboration 😀

Experimentally

I’m an artist .. just keep making work as it will be in its originality that will be of interest not just common games made to high quality.

I can see how experimenting with the engine and immersion in nature could be really interesting. Self reflexivity on technology and form of videogames/natural environments/world building/immersion. I intend to just experiment with the engine to see what happens…

I could also see how my experimental work could be presenting using unity, representing immersive work in an immersive medium. My immersive arts portfolio.

Also, As part of the Falmouth Alumni I should be able to keep in touch and maybe even come back to talk to future students about my work, both commercially and experimentally. I should be able to access the course content after the course ends.

Research

I am not currently considering research as a first priority although I know in my heart that I will complete my PhD. It’s a timing, location and person thing.

In the past I have applied material thinking to CGI tools and produced projection mapping along with kinetic sculpture and animated film.

I have also applied the Basic principles of CGI to material craft and explored the glitch through the tension between algorithm and heuristics amongst other things.

Now I have a game engine and code to play with… how exciting 😀

Next steps:

🔲  Use timeline, Cinemachine and post production to capture a walkthrough video.
🔲  Capture user feedback

User feedback suggest that I take a close look at the OVR Controller for Lunarium and try to develop either a teleportation system or an incremental turn controller, or something like a touch pad controller.

As, over the last few days I have tried to implement additional functionally and geometry I need to take another look at optimising for VR mobile. I think the answer lies in good scene management as I think that loading scenes incrementally will allow me to get more out of the device generally. I will then be able to add more bells and whistles 😀

I thought I’d take week 10 of the second phase of development to step back and review the app so that I can

1. Assess the apps current build  
2. Reflect on the development progress. 
3. Refresh my memory on the development process and check that i’ve covered everything. 
4. Take the new ‘Design, Develop and Deploy for VR Unity Training Course’ as this uses the up to date Unity software and latest VR functions. 
5. Plan for the next stage of development after submission at the end of April. 
6. Allocate features to the next development phase backlog.         

Design, Develop and Deploy for VR Unity Training Course (Rift/Quest) Applied to Lunarium (Go)  

The VR Ecosystem 

Project : VR Escape Room Verticle slice

PC based Rift HMD with Oculus Controllers

High quality, complexity and scope on Videogames.

Great Art designed for performance.

Solve Frame Rate = End user comfort

Spatialised Audio

Hand Representation

VR UI 

High Quality production values (Polish, quality, depth)

Course Overview. 

11 Units

Building a VR Escape room

Unit 2: VR Game Development and Prototyping 

Intro: Game Development, tools and tips to developer

Unit2:2 Ideation 

Preproduction: Research resources, art and narrative.

Mind Mapping: Puzzles – Escape rooms and affordances

Exsquisit corpse Exercise

Randomly pair nouns or adjectives i.e underwater temple

Unit2:3 Audience
Know your audience
Rift customers play interactive games where they can use their controllers
Try to make the most of your touch controllers.
Interactions should be solid and fun.
Players want to feel in control – the control should be intuitive.

Gamer Segments
What games they like to play
why they play
How long they play
Their favourite genres
how much they would spend
overall motivations to play

There are research reports that can be purchased to acquire this information.

Target Audience

What are some comparable escape room games (VR action adventure games)
What are some comparable escape room games (VR action adventure games)
What do they do well?
What do they do poorly?
What are they missing ?

e.g Shadow Point (redefined VR puzzling using the occlusion tool) Magic glass

Play ALOT in VR… 

Ideal User Profile



Unit 2:04 : Defining Game Design & Features 

VR Game Development and Prototyping

What will the player be doing in the game
How will they do it
How the player progress through the game
How will the UI Look?
How is the narrative Delivered? by Audio Logs, text, speech bubble ? Will players have the option to skip past the narrative? Will there even be one?
What type of transitions are there ?

Eg: Audio log grey box testing.. Ask the players if the game is boring or if the audio is too long?
Eg: If teleporting.. grey box and ask if it works
Best practice Controllers and movement
Show the players how to use the controllers
Can you give left handed players their own mode?
In game options menu – Toggle on/off
Use the oculus hand model
Movement: Locomotion –
Teleportation – which button will use use to activate the teleportation arch?
will you include a fade option?
Add comfort options

Unit 2:05: Building a Game Design Document  (GDD)

What the game is about
What it will look and feel like
How the user will interact with the game
Game overview
Unique Selling Points
Gameplay Scope
Map out game loops
target art style details
player profile stories
Milestone schedule – Alpha Beta and Master channels etc
Development Cycle
Team Composition
Development Costs

Development Tracking Tools:
Jira
Confluence
Hansoft
HacknPlan
Trello 

Burndown Chart 

Marketing Plan: 
Will you be using primarily social media?
Which Platforms and how?
Will you be targeting specific interest groups?
Who and How do you plan on reaching them?

Building a user community…. for the launch.

Unit 2:06 Development and Prototyping 

Modular Game Development

Unique Selling Points (USP) can come from simple prototypes

EG: This game has a badass flight mechanic. It’s comfortable, immersive and thrilling.

EG: The sense of scale you get from encountering monsters and environmental danger in this game puts you inthe middle of an intense apocalyptic world that feels impossible for you to get out of alive.

Prototype
locomotion
Scale
Hand game mechanics
Art
Sound UI

Test in VR before inclusion in the final game.

What would you look and what actions would you take in the VR World?

Use Three dimensional Objects to act out in.

As well as materials like clay and paper

You can also use
Quill
Medium
Tilt Brush
and More

You use live reenactment – what is the player drawn to.. what affordances does each object have can this be played with?

Unit 2:07 Management Tools

Unity Hub
Package Manager
Version Control – Storing version online Github or Perforce (larger art assets files)
Production
First playable/interim/playable slice

Unit 2:08 First Stages of Production 
First Playable is the first limited visual and narrative but had controllers and basic mechanics.
Scaling will come later.

Interim Builds Prove out:

• Locomotion 
• Comfort 
• Interactions 
• Art Style 
• Scale 

 Monthly, bi weekly and interim builds can be passed to the user/publisher.

Vertical Slice
A portion of the game which acts as a proof of concept for stakeholders to experience how the full game will look and feel.

Slice of a cake: Narrative Story/Art/Mechanics

Should be representative of

• Character Art and Environmental Art 
• Core gameplay, including player movements and interactions 

 The master Verticle slice should include

• tutorial to adequately guide the player on how to use the controller. 
• can be used to get feedback from industry professionals. 
• External testing 
• Publishers can help too.   

Unit 2:09 Final Stages of Production

Alpha Beta and Master Build

Alpha
Content Complete
Core Mechanics
Core features
QA Testing

Beta
Content Complete
Features Complete
Final Core Art
Final Mechanics
Final Gameplay
Sign up Sheets and test for feedback.

Master Build
Completed version of the game

Unit 2:10 Distribution, Publication and Marketing. 

Application Stage
Technical Review Stage
Content Review
Publishing Review Stage

All VRC’s should be covered
Framerate
Controls
Tests okay

There is a test you can conduct yourself.

Press Kit

Art Assets
In-Game Screenshots
Announcements
Game Trailers

One sheets
Price
Gaming Platform
Release Date
Website Links
Game Description
Unique Selling Points
Game and Company Logos
Company Bio
Bitesize Gifs: Video that highlights game mechanics

Social Media
Lunarium handles (urls) and usernames
Use these platforms to get feedback
promote to outlets that have a strong number of your users
send the press kit out
meet and establish face to face in gaming conferences
join an event – social tab > events > set up a developers dashboard
Where do the target demo spend their time ?
Do they listen to podcasts, letsplay, twitch, youtube ?
Dance with Devs live stream ? Discord? share memes, updates, grow networks
Beta channel can help communicate with user testers on Discord.

Unit 3:01 Intro

Instructional Design:

My Name is Sarra Hornby and I am an instructional Designer at Holovis International. I Holovis I design Instruction for companies that want to learn more about immersive training, whether they are just getting started or if they have been working with immersive tools for years.

One of the best things about my job is …

• Enable VR in the Unity Editor 
• Obtain the Oculus Integration tools and VRTK
• Tips for developing VR Projects in Unity 

Unit 3:04 Creating a Vertical Slice

File Save as Scene :

 

  

User feedback suggest that I take a close look at the OVR Controller for Lunarium and try to develop either a teleportation system or an incremental turn controller, or something like a touch pad controller.

As, over the last few days I have tried to implement additional functionally and geometry I need to take another look at optimising for VR mobile. I think the answer lies in good scene management as I think that loading scenes incrementally will allow me to get more out of the device generally. I will then be able to add more bells and whistles 😀

I thought I’d take week 10 of the second phase of development to step back and review the app so that I can

1. Assess the apps current build  
2. Reflect on the development progress. 
3. Refresh my memory on the development process and check that i’ve covered everything. 
4. Take the new ‘Design, Develop and Deploy for VR Unity Training Course’ as this uses the up to date Unity software and latest VR functions. 
5. Plan for the next stage of development after submission at the end of April. 
6. Allocate features to the next development phase backlog.         

Design, Develop and Deploy for VR Unity Training Course (Rift/Quest) Applied to Lunarium (Go)  

The VR Ecosystem 

Project : VR Escape Room Verticle slice

PC based Rift HMD with Oculus Controllers

High quality, complexity and scope on Videogames.

Great Art designed for performance.

Solve Frame Rate = End user comfort

Spatialised Audio

Hand Representation

VR UI 

High Quality production values (Polish, quality, depth)

Course Overview. 

11 Units

Building a VR Escape room

Unit 2: VR Game Development and Prototyping 

Intro: Game Development, tools and tips to developer

Unit2:2 Ideation 

Preproduction: Research resources, art and narrative.

Mind Mapping: Puzzles – Escape rooms and affordances

Exsquisit corpse Exercise

Randomly pair nouns or adjectives i.e underwater temple

Unit2:3 Audience
Know your audience
Rift customers play interactive games where they can use their controllers
Try to make the most of your touch controllers.
Interactions should be solid and fun.
Players want to feel in control – the control should be intuitive.

Gamer Segments
What games they like to play
why they play
How long they play
Their favourite genres
how much they would spend
overall motivations to play

There are research reports that can be purchased to acquire this information.

Target Audience

What are some comparable escape room games (VR action adventure games)
What are some comparable escape room games (VR action adventure games)
What do they do well?
What do they do poorly?
What are they missing ?

e.g Shadow Point (redefined VR puzzling using the occlusion tool) Magic glass

Play ALOT in VR… 

Ideal User Profile



Unit 2:04 : Defining Game Design & Features 

VR Game Development and Prototyping

What will the player be doing in the game
How will they do it
How the player progress through the game
How will the UI Look?
How is the narrative Delivered? by Audio Logs, text, speech bubble ? Will players have the option to skip past the narrative? Will there even be one?
What type of transitions are there ?

Eg: Audio log grey box testing.. Ask the players if the game is boring or if the audio is too long?
Eg: If teleporting.. grey box and ask if it works
Best practice Controllers and movement
Show the players how to use the controllers
Can you give left handed players their own mode?
In game options menu – Toggle on/off
Use the oculus hand model
Movement: Locomotion –
Teleportation – which button will use use to activate the teleportation arch?
will you include a fade option?
Add comfort options

Unit 2:05: Building a Game Design Document  (GDD)

What the game is about
What it will look and feel like
How the user will interact with the game
Game overview
Unique Selling Points
Gameplay Scope
Map out game loops
target art style details
player profile stories
Milestone schedule – Alpha Beta and Master channels etc
Development Cycle
Team Composition
Development Costs

Development Tracking Tools:
Jira
Confluence
Hansoft
HacknPlan
Trello 

Burndown Chart 

Marketing Plan: 
Will you be using primarily social media?
Which Platforms and how?
Will you be targeting specific interest groups?
Who and How do you plan on reaching them?

Building a user community…. for the launch.

Unit 2:06 Development and Prototyping 

Modular Game Development

Unique Selling Points (USP) can come from simple prototypes

EG: This game has a badass flight mechanic. It’s comfortable, immersive and thrilling.

EG: The sense of scale you get from encountering monsters and environmental danger in this game puts you inthe middle of an intense apocalyptic world that feels impossible for you to get out of alive.

Prototype
locomotion
Scale
Hand game mechanics
Art
Sound UI

Test in VR before inclusion in the final game.

What would you look and what actions would you take in the VR World?

Use Three dimensional Objects to act out in.

As well as materials like clay and paper

You can also use
Quill
Medium
Tilt Brush
and More

You use live reenactment – what is the player drawn to.. what affordances does each object have can this be played with?

Unit 2:07 Management Tools

Unity Hub
Package Manager
Version Control – Storing version online Github or Perforce (larger art assets files)
Production
First playable/interim/playable slice

Unit 2:08 First Stages of Production 
First Playable is the first limited visual and narrative but had controllers and basic mechanics.
Scaling will come later.

Interim Builds Prove out:

• Locomotion 
• Comfort 
• Interactions 
• Art Style 
• Scale 

 Monthly, bi weekly and interim builds can be passed to the user/publisher.

Vertical Slice
A portion of the game which acts as a proof of concept for stakeholders to experience how the full game will look and feel.

Slice of a cake: Narrative Story/Art/Mechanics

Should be representative of

• Character Art and Environmental Art 
• Core gameplay, including player movements and interactions 

 The master Verticle slice should include

• tutorial to adequately guide the player on how to use the controller. 
• can be used to get feedback from industry professionals. 
• External testing 
• Publishers can help too.   

Unit 2:09 Final Stages of Production

Alpha Beta and Master Build

Alpha
Content Complete
Core Mechanics
Core features
QA Testing

Beta
Content Complete
Features Complete
Final Core Art
Final Mechanics
Final Gameplay
Sign up Sheets and test for feedback.

Master Build
Completed version of the game

Unit 2:10 Distribution, Publication and Marketing. 

Application Stage
Technical Review Stage
Content Review
Publishing Review Stage

All VRC’s should be covered
Framerate
Controls
Tests okay

There is a test you can conduct yourself.

Press Kit

Art Assets
In-Game Screenshots
Announcements
Game Trailers

One sheets
Price
Gaming Platform
Release Date
Website Links
Game Description
Unique Selling Points
Game and Company Logos
Company Bio
Bitesize Gifs: Video that highlights game mechanics

Social Media
Lunarium handles (urls) and usernames
Use these platforms to get feedback
promote to outlets that have a strong number of your users
send the press kit out
meet and establish face to face in gaming conferences
join an event – social tab > events > set up a developers dashboard
Where do the target demo spend their time ?
Do they listen to podcasts, letsplay, twitch, youtube ?
Dance with Devs live stream ? Discord? share memes, updates, grow networks
Beta channel can help communicate with user testers on Discord.

Unit 3:01 Intro

Instructional Design:

My Name is Sarra Hornby and I am an instructional Designer at Holovis International. I Holovis I design Instruction for companies that want to learn more about immersive training, whether they are just getting started or if they have been working with immersive tools for years.

One of the best things about my job is …

• Enable VR in the Unity Editor 
• Obtain the Oculus Integration tools and VRTK
• Tips for developing VR Projects in Unity 

Unit 3:04 Creating a Vertical Slice

File Save as Scene :