Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/639267
j a n u a r y . f e b r u a r y 2 0 1 6 c g w 7 V I E W P O I N T apparently is to have some of our most reliable and powerful game development tools taken away from us. And to make it even more fun, these constraints aren't just limited to the design space! To build a compelling VR experi- ence, you have to pay the extra computing cost for stereo ren- dering, which naively equates to nearly twice the rendering cost for a single frame in previous games. On top of that, we've discovered that compelling VR requires consistent high frame rates to avoid causing signifi- cant discomfort for viewers. With the last console gener- ation upgrade, most developers in the industry were grudgingly making the transition from building 30 fps games to 60 fps at 1080p resolution. This may not sound like much, but it actually ends up being a considerable challenge from a technical point of view. Then VR comes along and demands even more – render every scene twice for stereo and then run at a guaranteed 90 fps! Going from the mentality of aspiring to hit 30 fps "most of the time" in the last generation to now unfailingly needing to hit 90 fps to prevent people from becoming ill turns out to be a monumental leap in engineer- ing effort. N E W L E V E L O F G A M I N G Fortunately, though, we've already found these constraints and trade-offs to be absolutely worth it. For the first time in a long time, I find myself once again passionate about solving really hard problems in building VR games. There's so much un- discovered ahead of us for this new platform, and I'm absolute- ly excited that this year, in par- ticular, we'll see a massive influx of new creative talent, now that more people can finally get their hands on VR hardware. Both veteran and newcomer developers alike are once again put on equal footing, and we're put in a situation where the best idea will win – nobody knows quite what that is, but everybody is welcome to try to figure it out. Furthermore, the VR devel- opment community has been incredibly open and forthcom- ing with their own prototypes in learning. It's as though everyone recognizes that nobody actually knows what they're doing yet with VR, and so we might as well all share our successes and failures in an effort to help one another figure it out that much quicker. It's incredibly refreshing as a developer, especially when, in recent years, many other developers may have been more focused on making money rather than on making some- thing novel and new. One other unexpected add-on of the VR platform emergence is the surge of new interaction models that are coming on-line in support of it. HTC (along with partner Valve) somewhat surprised the industry at GDC 2015 by announcing its motion con- trollers alongside its Vive HMD. And then not long aer, Oculus was quick to showcase its own motion controller answer along with some really compelling content. Out of this particular case, I believe we've somewhat acci- dentally identified the minimum requirements for a truly immer- sive VR experience – high-qual- ity head-mounted displays plus some form of motion-tracked controllers. Without that form of 1:1 input, you're le shoehorn- ing previous forms of archaic input into the new VR medium, and it quickly becomes kludgy, reminiscent of the early days of touchscreen mobile games, when developers thought that virtual D-pads (directional pads) would be a good idea (or at least good enough). Clearly, mapping physical D-pads to tiny touchscreens didn't work out so well, and it wasn't until developers started really embracing the capabilities (and limitations) of the touch- screen that we started to see some of the defining experienc- es for mobile. Motion controllers for VR feel as if they are very much in the same situation in this particular instance, and without being able to use my hands directly with VR, it's hard to not feel severely handicapped. Will we discover the killer app of VR in 2016? Maybe not, but I can guarantee we'll absolutely see some truly amazing games this year. And probably some really astounding evolutions of storytelling from the film indus- try brought to VR, as well. May- be there also will be some novel ways for us to communicate, with each leveraging VR. Who knows? Or is VR really so boring that any development will only find life in enterprise settings? I doubt it, but no matter what, I'll be there along with every other passionate developer, trying to figure out all the cool, new things we can do with VR, learning and sharing everything along the way. VR will consume and replace all our other methods of inter- acting with technology. It's sim- ply a matter of time as to when we're ready to embrace it. ■ Ray Davis is the manager of Epic Games' West Coast studio, driving developer relations, evangelism, and support for Unreal Engine. He is also Epic's VR strategist for the Unreal Engine. EPIC'S SHOWDOWN, A VIRTUAL-REALITY EXPERIENCE, IMMERSES USERS IN THE MIDDLE OF A STREET BATTLE. VIDEO: GO TO EXTRAS IN THE JANUARY.FEBRUARY 2016 ISSUE BOX C G W. C O M