Don't get too comfortable with your coding/modelling/designing/gaming skills just yet!

Virtual Reality - the next big thing - is just around the corner , all the big guns are into it and its going to change the landscape ( for modelling and designing for games particularly)

Was compiling some links but was getting too long so abandoned it

Of course there will be some overlap between the existing ways and soon to be new tech but i reckon just roughly 45% overlap, .... so as the new VR hardware reigns , old PCs , Consoles and associated skills - in the bin

EDIT: Oops, forgot the most important question i intended asking is how obsolete will our current development skills be due to the emergence of VR tech?

EDIT: I guess mobiles development might escape the revolution because there are a different philosophy

Cool story bro.

The Oculus DK2 still makes me sick and the resolution is depressing, not to mention the awful screen door effect. Everyone keeps saying that will all be solved, but I need to actually be in a headset that doesn't trigger multiple discomforts before I can even think about developing for it. And the thoughts of it being a widespread consumer device are laughably premature. The hype is way over the top on what's being shown in VR now. Not only that, the current demos are mostly trash. They're either warmed over (usually FPS) demos of existing games that don't use the medium in any useful way, or they're over the top gimmicks that are meant to be impacting during a five minute expo demo rather than being practically usable.

Even if it does take off, it's entirely a game design problem. Production, whether it's the engineering side or the art side, won't change even slightly.

I'm 38 and VR has been "The Next Big Thing™" since I was a small child. I wont hold my breath...

How is modelling going to change? A game model is a game model. A person might have to make arms in an FPS or something...but really that's not a huge change. Game Design and UIs are the big ones. And that's if VR actually catches on.

There's actually a bunch of work that could be done with OS's to better support VR. A version of windows that worked with VR would be interesting.

The Oculus DK2 still makes me sick and the resolution is depressing, not to mention the awful screen door effect. Everyone keeps saying that will all be solved, but I need to actually be in a headset that doesn't trigger multiple discomforts before I can even think about developing for it.

Thats Oculus, Have u seen Microsoft' demo? its even more impressive and realistic

@ ferrous you asked "How is modelling going to change?" check the vid

The Oculus DK2 still makes me sick and the resolution is depressing, not to mention the awful screen door effect. Everyone keeps saying that will all be solved, but I need to actually be in a headset that doesn't trigger multiple discomforts before I can even think about developing for it. And the thoughts of it being a widespread consumer device are laughably premature. The hype is way over the top on what's being shown in VR now. Not only that, the current demos are mostly trash. They're either warmed over (usually FPS) demos of existing games that don't use the medium in any useful way, or they're over the top gimmicks that are meant to be impacting during a five minute expo demo rather than being practically usable.

Even if it does take off, it's entirely a game design problem. Production, whether it's the engineering side or the art side, won't change even slightly.

I'm sorry to hear your discomfort with the DK2, I personally love mine, and suffer very little ill effects after hours of use. as for your claims about the current offerings being trash, might i suggest trying Elite: Dangerous, Half-life 2, Dying Light, or with the help of software like vorpX, skyrim, gta V, and countless other games? for me the DK2 has been an eye opening experience, the effect of walking into another world is absolutely immense, and the sense of presence can be amazing. Don't put down VR just because it hasn't worked out all the kinks yet, what it does offer when you don't suffer from those symptoms is an overall amazing experience.


Do not get me wrong, the DK2 does have problems, but i do feel we are nearer now to actual VR games then we have ever been before. the Vive and CV1 models both look stellar, and although i am slightly disappointed in the expected resolution of the CV1, it does offer instead higher quality screens which should remove the screen door effect all together.

I'm sorry to hear your discomfort with the DK2, I personally love mine, and suffer very little ill effects after hours of use. as for your claims about the current offerings being trash, might i suggest trying Elite: Dangerous, Half-life 2, Dying Light, or with the help of software like vorpX, skyrim, gta V, and countless other games? for me the DK2 has been an eye opening experience, the effect of walking into another world is absolutely immense, and the sense of presence can be amazing. Don't put down VR just because it hasn't worked out all the kinks yet, what it does offer when you don't suffer from those symptoms is an overall amazing experience.

If we ignore the sickness thing, I just see rehashes of games I've already played. Why the hell would I care? I don't doubt that enterprising game designers with something to prove can produce great experiences that truly use VR in useful ways. But the available demos, including all of the ones you mentioned, are a complete waste of time to use with VR.

So no, I don't feel that bolting VR on to a normal game after the fact is added value or an amazing experience. I might consider tolerating the sickness for a novel experience. I'm not going to endure it so I can play Half Life again. That's a joke.

So no, I don't feel that bolting VR on to a normal game after the fact is added value or an amazing experience.

then your core problem isn't with VR, it's with any game produced today if all you see is rehashes. i'm not really sure what type of games you expect to come from VR, and certainly there will be some unique VR experiances, but for many the addition of adding VR to any of todays game is already quite the experience alone.

So no, I don't feel that bolting VR on to a normal game after the fact is added value or an amazing experience.

For the most part, I agree with you. But... Elite: Dangerous.

In a way, I think that simulators have always been the sweet spot for cumbersome and expensive VR kit. And Elite is, at it's core, a pretty-ish space fighter simulator.

Despite the low resolution, the screen door, and the fact that I can't really play it for more than half an hour at a sitting... The ability to keep an eye on your opponent over your shoulder, as you come around to finish him off - that's unparalleled. It immerses me in the cockpit of this spaceship to a degree that wrap-around monitors and positional audio will never be able to accomplish.

And I think that, once they solve some of the remaining technical challenges, is where the current generation of VR will shine.