For this assignment i was tasked to visit The Rift, which is a entertainment theme park located at Mid Valley Megamall. Inside there, I tested a few attractions but for today I will only be reviewing one, which is EXA. 

EXA

Design

EXA is a virtual reality game where you play as one of four so-called "agents" and your task is to explore a world called Dimension 12. You are equipped with a gun which can change during the game. You and your friends will encounter different enemies in the form of creatures (spoiler alert) in the form of bugs and crystal spiders. At one point during the game, you will meet a boss, which is a giant dragon of sorts. You will fight them using guns like a beam gun, a flammenwerfer(read, flamethrower), and a blaster. The way you shoot the enemies is by shooting at their indicators. These indicators vary from a triangle, a circle or an arrow. As for health indicators, ther is none available. Your health is indicated by the screen cracking when you take damage and the screen turns red when you die, on the likes of battlefield and insurgency games. Graphically, the game looks rather okay but with some stuttering and drops in framerate as the scene gets more and more complex.

Technology

The game runs on DJM's propriotary solution, called the TANGRAM. It consists of 4 user computers which connects to the headsets and 1 server which composites and merges the 4 users in a seperate computer. Usually, the user computers are backpack computers which the user carries, but in The Rift's case, they stored the computers in a rack and the user only needs to wear the headset and controller, which are tethered by cables. The output devices are the HTC Vive with the Deluxe Audio Strap and a controller connected to a custom housing which looks like a gun. The system only runs on the two tracking lighthouses, which are IR emitters which emit lasers into space and is read by the recievers on the headset and controllers which returns the x,y,z positions of the devices in somewhat realtime.

Suggestion

I guess there isnt much to say about this. The experience was rather okay for theme park level experience, coming from DJM. Maybe more movement in game design or gun interactions? Because there’s the controller there, but maybe hardware limitations didnt allow for that. Perhaps. Also, optimization from a hardware standpoint maybe? Since there isnt a need for lightweight backpack computers, maybe bigger and beefier hardware can be substituted. Or maybe in the future, we will have backpack computers that is as powerful as static ones? Who knows. Another point. HTC Vive is a room scale device. Use the space more. But I guess theres those tethered wires in the way. Until DJM upgrades their systems with wireless receivers that wire is still a huge problem. But it’s a problem for VR in a whole at this point. To solve that now is by awareness by users. Or use tools like TurnSignal. Depends.

the end

*images are in the odt file tq.

As what have been discussed with the classmates, we made our mind to choose VR Lab for our second field trip instead of EXA Midvalley since it offers similar Virtual Reality experience but with a more affordable price which is suitable for students. At first, we were a bit disappointed when we were told that they did not provide Oculus Touch as requested by our lecturer, Mr David. So we decided to go for HTC Vive for our review.

 

It was not my first time using this device but it sure took time to get used to the system. I really like the technology how good the motion tracking system is because of how accurate it is. It was almost 80% of my movements were successfully tracked except for physically walking. The head-mounted device for HTC Vive was definitely user-friendly when it comes to delivering VR experience as there was no frame rates delay in gameplay and this is a good thing especially for people who mostly get motion sickness plus the real-time sound system that synchronized with the head-mounted display made the experience more immersive, it was almost like “ What you see is what you get”.

 

 

The design of the device is very ergonomic to the point that people will not find it uncomfortable to use/wear. The Head-Mounted Device was designed to be easy and comfortable to wear which is not too heavy that fits every head size. As for the hand controllers, they were designed to match what user experience in the game ( eg; shooting game) so people will easily get the idea of what to do, which button to press and where to move the controllers during the gameplay. They also take safety into consideration when they design the device with the hand-straps to prevent the controllers from falling or being thrown away.

 

I admit it was not a perfect VR experience but I think it was decent enough because I am aware that VR technology is still evolving, it is just a matter of time for it to deliver the best experience.

 

Talking about what could be improved on the device, it is definitely sweating problem when wearing the headset that could damage the device. The device has to be somewhat resistant to any liquid damage because majority will sweat a lot when playing. Another thing for future improvements, the resolution and frame rates should be better to mimic a real-life experience to the wearers so that they people will eventually realize that VR can be a major part of their lives if done properly.

 

We were requested by Mr David to play 3 VR games in VR Lab. Shockingly, they have many latest games on Steam and even the expensive ones. We book the room for RM40 with my selected 3 games - Job Simulator,The Last Sniper and Insanity VR .

This is the first game that caught my eyes, so I tried it. I set my expectation low because title itself sounds like a joke and too “formal” for me, but it turned out be one of the VR games that I actually enjoyed.

 

With the VR technology, this game is perfect to show what virtual reality can be today. It is like you are in simulation or training of real-life jobs such as working in office, working as mechanics and others but in a fun way. You will be tasked to do simple random things in an immersive way like turning on the PC and it captures perfectly what is in in front of you.

 

The design of the game is very vibrant and colourful. I think it wants to make the job experience less stressful that it actually is especially in VR. The graphics are cartoonish but the realism is what makes the game really enjoyable such as the physics and the accurate representation of working environment mixed with a little comedy.

 

My suggestion on what to improve is by reducing the numbers of objects they put in the game which can make players a little distracted and confused. I understand that it wants to mimic the real life working environment but at least it has to highlight the game that should be interacted according to task.

 

 

 

This second game did not actually meet my expectation but it has done its best in delivering the war-like experience in VR. Basically, it is a world war 2 themed shooter that puts you in a task to face numbers of enemies by using a sniper rifle.

 

The technology of this game is somewhat a letdown. The gun mechanics was mediocre and the AI enemies did not feel humans enough as if there were robots without any strategy. The way to handle the rifle was a little awkward by using only one hand instead of two hands and because of these things, it took away the immersive experience. 

 

However, the impressive visual design is something else. Graphics is excellent and well-optimized given the game is runing in VR. It actually offers you the right atmosphere in a battlefield but the physics may be inconsistent at times. The UI is user-friendly and simple so it is easy for new players to understand how the gameplay works.

 

My suggestion would be improving the gameplay mechanics in terms of how players handle the rifle by making it similar to how people use real-life rifles. To make the game more interesting, it should be less repetitive and make the enemies more intelligent because nowadays players crave for challenge.

 

 

The last game was horror game mixed with puzzles. It was a horrific experience but very entertaining. Out of all three, this game gave me the best VR experience with the overly-intense gameplay.

 

What I really like about this game is the way player walks. It was not just teleporting from one point to another, you actually had to do hand gestures to walk as if you are really walking in physical world. Plus, the speed of how fast you walk is captured by how fast you move the controllers and that is how you do a fully immersive VR game. Another thing is they use minimal interactions and controls with the game objects which make you focus on your objective.

 

As for graphics, it did not offer much realism but what makes it unique is the simplified and abstract design they use in this game, its a pretty rare thing to see in a horror game that offers their distinctive style but at the same time it gives realistic atmosphere by keeping the horror elements.

 

There is only one improvement that I want this game to have, it is the poor sound effects they use in this game. They should prioritize more on delivering the best audio to scare the players given the games are already too colourful for a horror game.

 

We were initially asked by our lecturer Mr David Setiabudi to visit The Rift at MidValley Megamall as part of our second field trip. Due to the expensive cost, we decided to instead to change the trip to VR LAB at SS15. We were abit disappointed that the place didn’t provide Oculus Touch as it was requested by our lecturer, instead we were offered to use HTC Vive. 

 

The technology behind HTC Vive is actually pretty similar to Oculus Rift as it has two handheld controllers, one headset and two infrared tracking sensors. The form of VR is room scale VR. I would say most of the tracking done by the headset can detect 6 degrees of freedom. These include roll, pitch, yaw, elevation, strafe, surge. There no motion sickness as the headset supports high framerates. The 110 degrees field of view paired with the two OLED panels of 1080×1200 (2160×1200 combined pixels) provides a great viewing experience.

 

The design and comfort of the headset has always been comfortable for me although I wear glasses. The ergonomics of the headset is actually pretty good as it doesn’t weight me down much and it does it all ranges of head sizes. The Vive controllers provide a great multitude of inputs such as a trackpad, grip buttons and trigger buttons. The Vive controllers also come standard with hand straps to prevent any accidents occurring to the controller when the user uses it.

 

The suggestions that I want to give is to improve the weight of the headset by making it even lighter and removing the need of using cables and using an internal battery to power the headset. The headset should also be IP rated to be dust and water resistant as the sweat generated from using the headset for prolonged time can be subject to sweat. The resolution and framerates of the display panels should also be increased and the ghosting should be reduced.

 

 We were requested by Mr David to try out a few games at VR Lab. They have a huge selection of games on Steam and I tried two games, Cowbots and Aliens and Blasters of the Universe.

 Game 1 | Cowbots and Aliens

This game is a furious PvP Multiplayer brawl in VR set in the Saloon-iverse of Cowbots and Aliens. The game features free movement, deadly gunplay, multiple competitive modes and a custom networked physics system that lets you use everything as a weapon. The was actually pretty fun as I got to move around the map using the teleportation function and also to use anything as a weapon to fight the enemies in the game which were the Aliens as I choose to be on the side of the Cowbots. The game features cartoonish graphics that were fun and very pleasing for the aesthetics of the game. I would say that it is really nice as the game really is immersive and I choose the team deathmatch mode and I was hooked and I didn’t want the game to end. The game really made the use of the 6 DOF that HTC Vive offers. The game would have been great if there was a treadmill that allowed the player to move around instead of using the teleport function.  

Blasters of the Universe is the first of its kind, bringing the bullet hell genre into first person VR. Intense gameplay is heavily reliant on physical movement, requiring the player to duck, dodge, twist, turn, and maneuver their way through tons of enemies and hundreds of bullets. The game was really fun and it reminds me of the game that I was going to make for my VRD3 assignment. The game had great physics but it was really hard to play as it will take some time to find the best spot to stand when the bullets come hitting towards me and I didn’t succeed in block most of the bullets. The game provides a shield and a gun and I had to really move around the play area to dodge all the bullets and prevent myself from dying in the game. The graphics was really realistic and really nice. Overall the game was pretty nice but hard to play for beginners.

 

For this field trip, me and my classmates were given a choice between VR Lab or EXA Midvalley. We choose VR Lab because the price was more affordable compared to EXA. They both offer the same experience and immersion but EXA has slightly more. There was an unexpected situation when me and my classmates when we went to VR Lab, they didn’t provide Oculus Touch as our lecturer wanted us to do a review on Oculus Touch, so that was an unexpected situation for us to be in. So me and my classmates did a review on HTC Vive.

1.1 Technology
 The HTC Vive, I wasn’t quite used to the device because I have only tried it just a couple of times but I know my way around it. The device itself is unique as the accuracy of the motion tracking system but sometimes it doesn’t really detect your movements but overall there is no problem with it. The head-mounted device consists of two OLED panels, one per eye and each of it displays good resolution. The controllers have multiple input methods including a track pad, grip buttons and a dual-stage trigger. The Lighthouse (Base stations) tracking system has a 360 virtual space up to 15x15 foot radius.

1.2 Design

The design of the device is quite complicated for people trying it out fir the first time. The head-mounted device designed was to be easy and comfortable to wear, its not heavy but to put it on and to take it off can sometimes be a bit hard because you have to re-adjust the straps and different people has different head size so sometimes it can hard to adjust it according to people preferences. 

As for the controllers, the designed is different then any other joystick controllers. Each controller has five buttons and a touchpad. Their shapes is somewhat random and seems dictated more by aesthetics then ergonomics. It takes awhile to get used to the controllers since there is no icon indicating what button is what. It also has hand-straps to prevent users from accidently throwing the controllers while being too immersive.

1.3  Suggestions

In my opinion, I think the device can be further improve, theres a couple of things that I find disturbing but it still can deliver the best experience and immersion. Since VR is still new and developing and soon it can deliver the best experience and immersion compared to other devices.

For the the head-mounted devices, I suggest maybe improving the straps. Instead maybe use the black plastic clip and make it free size so that it fits according to peoples preferences and it can be adjust without having to much trouble. Also improve the cushions on the devices, it is comfortable but it is easy to sweat and it is uncomfortable to use when your using it and to feel other people sweats on your face.

As for the conrtrollers, make it more user-friendly, it is hard for users to identify the functions of each button since there is no icon or whatsoever. As for the straps, maybe replace it with a new design that is more easier to strap on and off.

2.0 The Games

As for the games, not many games can be played properly, some of it was glitched out, some it couldn’t load properly but I managed to find games that were good and quite well-known.

Game 1 | Beat Saber

So what do you get when you combine lightsabers and music, you get Beat Saber. This game has caught my attention since the game has released its first trailer and I am excited to play this game. It was my first time playing the game. I enjoyed it very much.

Whats good about this game is that it goes perfectly well with VR technology, it because the controllers act as the lightsabers and you begin to slice the box while following the arrows, in a way, it is quite similar to playing drums. You hit the notes like your hitting the drums, up and down and when you want to hit other instruments you have to move left and right to do so, this is my opinion on the game.

The design of the game is mainly red and blue as it is resembling the star wars light sabers. It suits the game as well as the colors are neon and it attracts your eyes to them. It is also set in a quite futuristic environment and it has the characteristics of the movie TRON, for its bright neon lights.

My suggestion to improve the game is that maybe try adding more songs and maybe further improve the play style of the game.

Game 2 | Fruit Ninja

Fruit ninja. This game takes me way back to my childhood and when is saw it hard a VR version, I had to try it. I was quite surprised they had a VR version of it. 

The technology of this game is quite different from the ones I played before since its VR. The controllers act as two katanas and I had to slice up the fruit and prevent it from falling down while dodging the bombs. It was quite hard playing the game actually, I was struggling. The game felt small for some reason, like it had no space for me to have a full view of what’s going on around me. I had to look at around while trying to slice the fruit and dodge the bomb, so it was quite challenging for me.

The design of the game is still the same but its nicer it VR. The graphics was excellent well designed. I could feel that I was actually someplace else and it gives off a vibe that I was in Japan since the designed is based on Japanese culture and the katanas.

My suggestion to improve the game is maybe make it less cramped or small, it is hard to see all the fruits coming out as it literally pops up in front of your face. 

At first, I decided to go The Rift at Mid Valley Mall to experience on using Oculus. But due to its high entrance price, I changed the location to VR Lab. Plus, VR Lab offers discounted price for students but they require reservation beforehand. Unfortunately, VR Lab only offer HTC Vive at the moment and their Oculus Touch is under maintenance. We were given one hour to play any game they provided. 

It is not my first time using this device. There is a head-mounting device (HMD), HTC Vive, controllers, LCD screen, and motion tracking motion in the room we used at VR Lab. Furthermore, sound absorber sponge attached on wall of the room so that those who are outside of the room cannot hear the sound inside the room. From my experience, the motion tracking device tracked my motions almost accurately but still lack some precision. The HTC Vive HMD gave an immersive experience and gave me a chance to explore virtual world. In terms of audio experience, the sound only came from the LCD screen.

The design of the HTC Vive HMD is kind of bulky and a bit heavy once I put on my head. It might be no problem for short period of playing VR games but it might cause fatigue towards head and neck. This HMD has an adjustable strap so that any size of players’ head. As for the controllers, it has wrist strap on both controllers for safety. For me, the controllers are difficult to grip and hold as my palms were sweaty and it became slippery. This kind of controller is suitable for shooting games. The design of the controllers are not that ergonomic and unrealistic because it does not feels like our own hands. But overall, it is still a good device for playing VR games.

 

I am sure that this device will be less bulky and more portable in the future so that it can be used anywhere and not just one place. For the sweaty face problem, it is suggested the sponge on the HMD can be removable and clean. Also, based on my experience when I was in Japan, I tried Samsung Gear VR and they gave me a disposable hygiene VR face mask to wear under the headset. Thus, it will not leave any foul smell and oil residue from users’ sweat on the headset. I think attaching rubber grip is the best solution on the controllers. As for wire on the HMD, it is best to make it wireless so that we can move freely and not tripping on the wire while playing. For a better gaming experience, it is better if the audio can be experienced through a headphone.

1.      Snow Games VR

This game has no clear and direct instructions although in tutorial mode. The size of the font used in the game is rather small to read. This game requires only trigger button to make a snowball using the right hand. To throw the snowball, we need to release the trigger button and throw the snowball towards the target. In this game, we need to block enemy’s snowballs from hitting us by using the left hand. In order to throw the snowball, we need to put some force as if we are throwing a real snowball.

The technology for this game is partially immersive because it is illogical as the snowball suddenly appears of our hand instead of collecting snow from the snowy ground. The design for this game is realistic and the content included in the game is suitable and related to the theme of the game. 

My suggestion to improve this game is to show the correct way to throw the snowball. Instead of ‘growing’ the snowball on our hand, it would be more realistic and fun if we can make snowballs from collecting snow.

2.      The Ranger: Lost Tribe

This game has a very beautiful and realistic graphic design. This game begins with storytelling and it started with some tutorials. The tutorials are very helpful by giving clear instructions.

This game use the controllers to fight all the enemies and can move to any place by pointing which direction we want to go by pressing forward button. It feels real since we can pull out the sword from our left side and put the shield at the back of us.

This game is immersive and it scares me when the enemy suddenly appears and jumps straight towards me. The design for this game is very realistic and the content included in the game is suitable and related to the theme of the game. 

The only thing to improve for this game is the audio experience and the indicator should be more visible.

3.      Superhot

Superhot is a shooting game and this game needs to shoot, punch and grab items to hit enemies. The enemies move only when we make any movement.

The technology for this game is partially immersive because it uses low polygon and only three colours; white, black, and red. The tutorial provided is not clear but it is easy to understand the game after a few levels. Design of this game is minimalistic and simple but not realistic. The content included in the game is suitable and related to the theme of the game.

If we play this game for too long, we will get nausea and dizzy. So the solution is to create a leg and hands so that we would not feel like we are floating in the air.