By Brian Thomas at Enlightened Digital

The gaming market has been on the rise for a long time now. The industry as a whole is projected to hit over 90 billion dollars by 2020. That will be 12 billion dollars in growth since 2017.

Strategy and war games, which have historically been more popular in Europe, have been gaining serious ground in the US
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It would seem that this rising tide is lifting all ships, including the TableTop industry. Strategy and war games specifically, which have historically been more popular in Europe, have been gaining serious ground in the US. Simultaneously, AR has been coming on strong since the launch of PokemonGo. Visual technology has advanced so much since then, that it was only a matter of time before designers from both worlds started coming together to try and create the most epic gaming experiences possible.

At some point in time, needing to be in the same space to play games may be a thing of the past
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Easier scheduling

One of the biggest struggles most gaming groups have is scheduling. For those groups (like mine) that consist of players in their 30s and 40s this little thing called “life” can get in the way of regular gaming sessions. Babysitters can cancel. Spouses can “correct” your understanding of the schedule for that week. There are many things that keep gaming groups apart for weeks or months at a time, which is a shame.

With some of the capabilities AR literally “brings to the table”, groups can play together online, and see the same game “board”. Check out this video from TiltFive, which, at the time of writing, has raised over $1Million on Kickstarter with over 21 days left on its campaign that had an original target of $450,000. The pad that players connect on can sync up so everyone can still see and interact with the same board wherever they are playing from. At some point in time, needing to be in the same space to play games may be a thing of the past.

With the capabilities AR literally brings to the table, groups can play together online and see the same game board
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@tiltfive has so far raised over $1Million on Kickstarter
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Increased Design Space

Along with an increase in connectivity, game developers will see a massive increase in design capabilities with the implementation of AR. Since the advent of board games, they have for the most part been stuck in two dimensions. The pieces and “meeples” are of course 3 dimensional but the board itself is typically flat. With AR, the design space goes from a sheet to a cube in front of the players, so even if the physical components of the game stay flat, UI elements like points and progress trackers can now be displayed in a 3rd dimension. We’ve all played games that end up needing way too much space on the table. With AR, UI and gameplay elements can start going up rather than out, saving lots of space and providing developers with new spaces to explore when building their games.

Along with an increase in connectivity, game developers will see a massive increase in design capabilities with the implementation of AR
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Cross-Functionality

New games will have a field day with these new designs, but don’t be surprised if some of your current favorites also get re-released with AR functionality. One of the major areas of focus is wargaming, and Dungeons and Dragons in particular. Any game that utilizes some sort of grid-based environment with combat mechanics would work beautifully with AR. DMs can conjure up their nightmare environments that are hard to replicate without incredibly expensive add-ons. They can even control fog of war for their players!

With AR, UI and gameplay elements can start going up rather than out, saving lots of space and providing developers with new spaces to explore when building their games
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Potential Problems?

Even with all the great things AR can bring to the table, there still could be some downsides to it. We talked about how awesome it would be to not have to miss sessions due to scheduling conflicts. But being connected online should never replace those face-to-face moments with friends and family. If your group finds itself getting together in the same room less and less for “convenience”, you may need to pump the breaks and realize one of the things you loved most about gaming in the first place was being together. So watch out for that.

Another thing we could lose is the tactile feel of manipulating pieces. There is a tangible difference between video and board games and that is the physical manipulation of pieces around a board. You pick things up and put them down, it feels good. With AR, those pieces can be represented digitally and moved through wands, joysticks, or hand motions.

Jeri Ellsworth, CEO of TiltFive told Engaget.com that “The things that people like about board games are connecting with people, storytelling, and working with physical objects. The thing that people love about video games is that you can jump in really quick, you can save your games, and you can play with people over a long distance. We’re kind of somewhere in between.”

So admittedly some of that tactile feeling will go away, and if we start to lose the “togetherness” of being at the same table, tabletop gaming may start feeling a lot more like just, well, video gaming.

I think that overall, AR will be amazing for tabletop gaming, the pros will far outweigh the cons. I for one can’t wait to try to DM for my D&D group and really show them the horrors I have planned! Mwahahaha!

Brian Thomas is a contributor to Enlightened Digital, long-distance cyclist, and lifelong advocate for women in business from Philadelphia.

The post Playing With XR appeared first on Tech Trends.

So many green pigs that must be got, yet so little time… Rovio and Resolution Games have brought out a fully immersive version of their popular Angry Birds franchise for the HTC VIVE and Oculus Rift. Over 50 levels of exploding birds await among exotic beaches, steep cliffs, snowy slopes and party city

“As a company we’re deeply interested in the future of gaming and in fact, investigating new tech and platforms remains one of our core strategic pillars. We’re delighted to be supporting the VR industry’s growth and introducing the beloved Angry Birds slingshot gameplay to new platforms,” says Sami Ronkainen, Creative Director, Extended Reality at Rovio Entertainment.

“The beauty of VR is that it allows players to enter and play in a 3D, fictional game universe, something people have fantasized about for decades. And, VR inherently lends itself well to strong characters, which is why the Angry Birds brand is such a great fit with its humor and strong gameplay,” said Tommy Palm, CEO of Resolution Games. “It has been incredibly fun for us to bring that to life, opening the door so players can immerse themselves in that world.”

It will be good to see what the appetite in the market is for a popular franchise in this new medium
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What is interesting is that the companies have clearly invested quite a lot in making this a premium game, and also priced it accordingly. In a landscape where so much immersive content is still subsidised and offered for free, Angry Birds VR: Isle of Pigs will set you back $14.99 on the Oculus Store , Steam and Viveport (further platforms as well as new levels of gameplay should be added in the coming months according to Resolution Games).

The beauty of VR is that it allows players to enter and play in a 3D, fictional game universe, something people have fantasized about for decades
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It will be good to see what the appetite in the market is for a popular franchise in this new medium, but it does seem a particularly well-suited IP for a test case, as the short, casual and intuitive nature of the game lends itself well to VR in its current form. However, I’m a bit spoiled, having recently had a demo of the Magic Leap version of Angry Birds, and I have to say that you really haven’t experienced an exploding bird until they’ve slingshot across your office in full holographic Mixed Reality glory. I can’t help to think that is what the future of entertainment looks like.

This article was originally published on VRScout

Angry Birds VR Now Available On Oculus Rift & HTC Vive via @alicebonasio https://t.co/8rgWpKe3vI pic.twitter.com/AB2V4Bldbj

— VRScout (@VRScout) February 11, 2019

For companies looking to get into Immersive technologies our VR Consultancy service offers comprehensive support in strategic deployment of Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality

Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio on Twitter.

The post Angry Birding in VR appeared first on Tech Trends.

As with all immersive hardware and platforms, the success (or otherwise) of Magic Leap will hinge on whether it can attract creative developers to make awesome content to bring its technology to life.

The idea of seeing something come into your environment, that alone has a magical quality to it
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That’s why it’s so exciting to see people like veteran VR Storyteller Robin Hunicke getting on board.

“What struck me about it was that this was not so much an entertainment technology, but a future technology, and from that moment I was pretty much hooked,” says Hunicke, who’s the CEO and Co-Founder of Funomena. The Independent game studio just launched its first title for the Magic Leap One Creator Edition, called Luna: Moondust Garden.

The success (or otherwise) of Magic Leap will hinge on whether it can attract creative developers to make awesome content to bring its technology to life
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This is an extension of the IGF-finalist VR fairytale Luna, which was launched back in 2017 for PC and VR, and was Funomena’s first commercial release. It uses Magic Leap’s scene room scanning scene reconstruction technology, together with spatial audio (music plays an important part in building this storyscape) to create an experience that feels very intimate and full of wonder.

“With Luna we wanted to take those same sort of concepts – building, constructing, playing with space and causing your friends to emerge and building a little narrative that was specific to the Magic Leap,” Hunicke explains.

Your task is primarily to go around collecting magic moondust, which you can sprinkle on plants and flowers to get them to grow and transform beautifully in front of your eyes. Rather simple, really, but you’re given extra motivation by a very sweet storyline, whereby an owl and a bird cannot get their friend the fox to come out and play with them, as the poor creature is feeling rather down in the dumps (we’ve all had days like that).

Luna is a little different because you’re kind of put in a different world it’s not your living room, it’s sort of this ether
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So what you do is build a happy world around the sad little thing, by planting beautiful flowers and trees, and filling it with colours, music and sensory delights until you’re finally rewarded with the sight of this extremely cute fox frolicking around like a puppy. I challenge you not to laugh out-loud at that point.

“Luna is a little different because you’re kind of put in a different world it’s not your living room, it’s sort of this ether. With magic leap you’re still in your world, but your toys are coming alive, and that’s really incredible,” muses Funomena’s Art Director Glenn Hernandez.

Magic Leap were very enabling partners, who encouraged them to bring their existing ideas on board
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Just the idea of seeing something come into your environment, that alone has a magical quality to it,” adds Senior Producer Eddy Ortega. “So instead of worrying about “how can we make this feel magical” what we kind of learned is that we can focus on the feeling that we’re trying to create,” he says, adding that Magic Leap were very enabling partners, who encouraged them to bring their existing ideas on board and gave them the freedom to do so on their terms.

“They were kind of like, just have fun with it, see what you can do, and if it doesn’t work, then we figure out how to execute our ideas a little bit better,” agrees 3D artist Meghan Auer.

Tadhg Kelly, Senior Account Manager, developer relations at Magic Leap, says they were keen to work with Funomena because of their track record of making experimental apps that really try and push the boundaries the platforms they worked with. “All the sort of things that a new device can maybe do, they’re the kind of studio that really wants to try and push it and make it do that.”

If you fancy trying it out, Luna: Moondust Garden is now available for download in Magic Leap World for $4.99 USD

This article originally appeared on VRScout

Magic Leap’s Latest Experience Is An Interactive Fairy Tale via @alicebonasio https://t.co/PfODg0GTmj pic.twitter.com/IqzUD3RURd

— VRScout (@VRScout) December 19, 2018

For companies looking to get into Immersive technologies our VR Consultancy service offers comprehensive support in strategic deployment of Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality

Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio on Twitter.

The post Growing a Mixed Reality Magic Garden appeared first on Tech Trends.

Back in 2016, Oculus’s chief scientist Michael Abrash predicted that within five years, VR headsets would have a monocular 4K resolution and 140-degree FoV. So by that measure, Pimax over-delivered at CES 2019 with its Leap Motion bundle featuring 8K VR headset with built-in speakers, 200° FOV and optional eye tracking being developed in partnership with 7invensun.

Pimax is now working with partners to make the headsets more extendable with wireless transmission module and bring more content dedicated to the headsets with developers
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Pimax over-delivered at CES 2019 with its Leap Motion bundle featuring 8K VR headset with built-in speakers, 200° FOV and optional eye tracking
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Pimax holds the Guinness World Record for the most successful crowdfunded VR project with over $4m in funding. At CES, they showcased a prototype of its upcoming open-palm controllers, which are compatible with the 8K VR headset as well as other devices such as the Steam VR tracking 1.0 and 2.0. These are ergonomically comfortable with new industrial design, and come in both a thumbstick and trackpad version.

“Science fiction stories like Minority Report and more recently Ready Player One gave us a glimpse into the future for immersive experiences and UI control. Today we’re ready to prove that era is closer than ever before by bringing VR 2.0 to the industry,” says Kevin Henderson, Head of US Operations of Pimax VR, touting thatwith their headsets, users can experience VR with extensive peripheral vision, thus solving the “screen door effect” (whereby you notice fine black lines between the pixels of a digitally projected image) which can sometimes be a problem in VR.

VR 2.0 brings high resolution, wide field of view (FoV) and a more natural interaction as well as the application of innovative technologies, such as foveated rendering, focal surface displays and wireless transmission, will bring a more immersive experience to users in the virtual world.

“In terms of display and optics, in the time of VR 1.0, users suffered from low resolution and narrow FoV, but eye-tracking technology for high viewing performance Foveated rendering technology reduces GPU load power consumption and dizziness, which brings high viewing performance to VR,” adds Henderson, saying they are now closely working with 7invensum, focusing on R&D for eye-tracking technologies to achieve this goal, as well as NVIDIA – the inventor of GPU.

Minority Report and Ready Player One gave us a glimpse into the future for immersive experiences and today we’re ready to prove that era is closer than ever before by bringing VR 2.0 to the industry
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“As a contributor to the industry, we are eager to work with our partners to integrate more innovative technologies into our headsets and make these features easily accessible. We want to provide world-leading technologies to our community and users with a highly effective global customer service and support system and help VR enthusiasts realize their dreams in VR.”

Pimax is now working with partners to make the headsets more extendable with wireless transmission module as well as to bring more content dedicated to the headsets with developers. The company also plans to open customer service centers in North America and Europe customers, with a U.S. based support center due to open in March 2019.

Pimax holds the Guinness World Record for the most successful crowdfunded VR project with over $4m in funding
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For companies looking to get into Immersive technologies our VR Consultancy service offers comprehensive support in strategic deployment of Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality

Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio on Twitter.

The post Showing Off VR 2.0 at #CES2019 appeared first on Tech Trends.

How immersive technologies like Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality bring real-world benefits to us all.

Companies big and small are using Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality solutions to solve pain points, save money, connect people and make workflows more collaborative
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I love VR and I love gaming, but I have now got to the point where the mention of the two things in the same sentence – specially when people seem to imply they’re the same thing – makes me roll my eyes and sigh.

Part of it is due to the fact I’m yet to get really hooked into a VR game. Most of them just make me feel queasy, so I’m limited to short experiences that showcase the potential of the medium, for sure, but in no way prompt me to sell my console and screen setup just yet.

I’m yet to get hooked into a VR game. Most of them make me feel queasy
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What I have seen, however, are plenty of solid examples of how immersive technology is being applied in industry sectors as diverse as education, retail, filmmaking, or medicine, with significant and measureable ROI.

There’s a wealth of evidence out there about how adding immersive tech to a company’s existing workflow can instantly boost efficiency and collaboration. One of my favourite examples of that is how global construction giant Trimble uses Mixed Reality to help its architects and other professionals on the ground to visualize plans and spot problems at concept stage, when they are infinitely easier and cheaper to address than after building work takes place.

There’s a wealth of evidence on how adding immersive tech to a company’s workflow can instantly boost efficiency and collaboration
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I have seen plenty of solid examples of how immersive technology is being applied in industry sectors as diverse as education, retail, filmmaking, or medicine, with significant and measureable ROI
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Another more recent example of that I came across was PIXO VR partnering with HP to provide virtual reality training to enterprise, and interestingly the company was keen to highlight the fact that they provided “AAA-game quality VR training experiences and behavior-changing narratives.”

Headsets like The HoloLens or Daqri will never sell as many units as the Xbox 360, but that doesn’t mean they’re not game-changing technology adding real value to businesses
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These are important cases to highlight not only because they are interesting (at least to enthusiasts of the technology such as myself) but also because if we attempt to measure the success or otherwise of VR/AR/MR by the yardstick of gaming, we’re likely to get it wrong. Headsets like The HoloLens or Daqri will never sell as many units as the Xbox 360, but that doesn’t mean they’re not game-changing technology adding real value to businesses.

So, while I do enjoy gaming as much as the next gal, what’s most exciting to me is seeing how companies big and small are using Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality solutions to solve pain points, save money, connect people, make workflows more collaborative, and generally make our real world a better – and more efficient – place.

This post originally appeared on The Next Web

How VR is more than a game https://t.co/bji6fXdDEc

— TNW Contributors (@TNWcontributors) August 27, 2018

For companies looking to leverage Immersive technologies such as VR/AR/MR/XR Tech Trends offers a comprehensive range of Virtual Reality Consultancy Services.

Alice Bonasio is a VR and Digital Transformation Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio on Twitter.

The post Moving Beyond VR Games appeared first on Tech Trends.

Has mobile gaming peaked or can we expect the rates of explosive growth we’ve experienced to continue even as other media like virtual reality gather momentum?

Mobile gaming has long been popular and as people spend more and more time on their devices, we don’t expect the popularity of titles such as Candy Crush Saga and Temple Run to go anywhere any time soon.

We don’t expect the popularity of titles such as Candy Crush Saga and Temple Run to go anywhere any time soon
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This infographic from Mr Gamez dives into the world of mobile gaming, comparing its growth to that of other platforms, examining the numbers behind some remarkable case studies, and looking to what we can expect in the future. Enjoy!

Alice Bonasio is a VR and Digital Transformation Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio on Twitter.

The post Infographic: Mobile Gaming Growth appeared first on Tech Trends.

With the launch of its new fashion marketplace, Linden Lab wants to attract more users to Sansar.

While still in public Beta, Sansar does seem to be gathering some momentum. In October I was impressed by the quality of the scary and atmospheric experiences they showcased in a Halloween competition that I helped to judge, while only last week they also opened the virtual doors of their Hollywood Museum to showcase some exclusive Star Wars movie memorabilia.

While still in public Beta, Sansar does seem to be gathering some momentum
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Marvelous Designer is a 3D fashion design tool used by numerous mainstream brands and independent designers to visualize true-to-life 3D garments
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Now Linden Lab has announced it is launching a fashion market for user-created avatar clothing. It will be powered by integration with Marvelous Designer sofware, which is widely used in the film and games industry to create digital clothing. It can virtually replicate fabric textures and physical properties to the last button, fold, and accessory, which is pretty important if people are actually going to start spending money to kit up their avatars and spending more time in social VR platforms like Sansar.

Linden Lab has announced it is launching a fashion market for user-created avatar clothing
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Users will now be able to play around with those realistic cloth simulation as they customize the fit and style on their avatars
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Marvelous Designer is a product of CLO Virtual Fashion a 3D fashion design tool used by numerous mainstream brands and independent designers to visualize true-to-life 3D garments. CLO can be used to express a variety of design details for every type of garments from simple T-shirts to complex outerwear, and Sansar users will now be able to play around with those realistic cloth simulation as they customize the fit and style on their avatars.

“Our experience operating Second Life has shown how important and valuable user-created avatar fashions are, and with Sansar, we’re taking it to an exciting new level,” says Ebbe Altberg, CEO of Linden Lab. “Our integration with Marvelous Designer means that not only can you change what you wear, you can customize the fit and style to adjust how you wear it in Sansar. For example, you can roll up your sleeves, loosen your collar, and arrange your scarf just as you like it.”

For designers, Sansar’s fashion market could prove to be a tangible business opportunity
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Linden Lab says that this opens up new creative and entrepreneurial opportunities for users. For designers, Sansar’s fashion market could prove to be a tangible business opportunity, if Second Life (SL) is anything to go by. Over the past 15 years, SL users have created nearly two billion virtual objects, and avatar fashions account for a major portion of the $500 million (USD) user-to-user economy, and some designers have earned millions of dollars from their virtual fashion businesses.

“Innovative fashion companies, world-leading film and gaming studios, and creative hobbyists around the world are already using Marvelous Designer to create incredible virtual clothing designs,” said Jaden Oh, CEO & CTO at CLO. “Our integration with Sansar is the first of its kind, and it makes it easy for our users to sell their creations in this new market.”

New and existing Sansar users can currently get a 60-day free trial of Marvelous Designer
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New and existing Sansar users can currently get a 60-day free trial of Marvelous Designer, and Linden Lab is clearly hoping that this move will not only help kick-start Sansar’s in-world economy, but also increase user take-up and engagement by allowing them to customize their avatars in creative ways. Fashion is a major part of how humans convey individuality and personality IRL, and the same applies in virtual reality.

This article was originally published on VRScout

Time to Dress to Impress—in Social VR #Sansar via @alicebonasio https://t.co/HoAPe4lSki pic.twitter.com/CqZh6U3e0A

— VRScout (@VRScout) December 28, 2017

Tech Trends offers comprehensive Virtual Reality Consultancy services to support businesses looking to adopt VR/AR/MR technologies into their brand and communications strategy.

Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio on Twitter.

The post Dressing Up Social Virtual Reality appeared first on Tech Trends.

There are many apps out there focusing on finding a romantic or sexual partner, but what actually happens after Tinder?

That’s the question that Marta Plaza, an entrepreneur from Barcelona, asked herself back in 2015, when she Founded Desire, an erotic app for couples.

“Half the population already has a partner, that’s about 70 million people in the US and 20 million in the UK.” And these people, she figured, could probably also use a little help from technology in keeping those romantic flames burning. “Nowadays is very common for singles to jump into an app to find love, but is not equal common to find couples that have an app to have fun together. We believe this will change within next few years.”

She came up with the idea of using gamification to spice up relationships, making an app where couples could set each other dares and earn points by completing them.

“We’re so competitive, I love the point system,” raves one of their users. “The dares are so fun and some can be challenging, but trying something new with my partner is always fun. We’re already an amazing couple but this makes things even better.”

The Desire app currently has over 30,000 dares to help couples spice up their love lives
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The app currently offers over 30,000 different dares (uploaded by editors and the community) and each additional “level” completed unlocks new and spicier challenges. You can choose dares from categories such as: Love sensations, Roleplay and Fantasy, Dress Code, Bath Time, Under my Thumb or Kamasutra, with new ones being uploaded on a daily basis. Once you set a dare, your partner has the option to accept it, and if they complete it they get the points, and vice-versa. Users are also free to let their imagination run wild and invent their own dares.

Technology can help you keep those romantic flames burning
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You can also send “quickies” which are short pre-written messages that appear when you shake your phone, and which you can then send on to your partner. The focus is on playfulness, and giving couples a platform to positively discover and experience emotions together.

“This has really helped me and my boyfriend get to know each other in so may ways I had never thought possible,” says another user testimonial.

When looking at games for couples which were available on Google Play or the AppStore, Plaza found that most used rather traditional mechanisms, such as rolling the dice, but the fact that you had to keep checking your phone while playing broke the flow of interaction. She thought she spotted a niche for making a smart game that people would actually want to play together.

“I like how technology can bring people closer in real life. One of the things that makes Desire different from other apps is that you actually don’t need your phone while you are with your partner having fun.”

They believe that there is a need for a shift in adult entertainment which makes it more social: “We see romance and intimacy in a new way: smart, fun, with gender equality and fueled by true love,” their website states. And if the demand they’ve has had so far is any indication, they might be right.

We need to make adult entertainment more social
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What started as a weekend side-project for Marta and her two partners soon grew, and they have since gone on to win the FbStart Accelerate Program from Facebook and attract about half a million downloads. Most of their users are currently based in Europe and North America, but it’s growing fast in places like Latin America too. It’s available to download for free on iTunes and Android, with options to buy additional in-app items. Some special categories such as “bath time” and kitchen can be unlocked with magic coins, for example.

“I love how technology have the power to impact people’s life in a scale. At Desire, we get emails and reviews from couples saying how much the game changed their lives or how much fun they have playing together, and when I read them, I feel so grateful of being part of a project that have a real impact in couples and in their sexual lives,” says Plaza.

And another clearly satisfied user concurs: “I Love the fact that you can send dirty little messages to each other, and know to open it discreetly because it’s from desire. We’re having tons of fun with the dares.”

And we all know that relationships tend to fare better when we have fun together, so it seems that in this case those couples who dare will win.

Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio and @techtrends_tech on Twitter.

The post Erotic App for Couples Promises to Spice Up Relationships appeared first on Tech Trends.

Let’s for a moment set aside war, celebrity deaths, terrorism and the impeding political Armageddon, and focus on what was good about 2016: VR.

2016 was a great year for VR, if little else
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This was the year when Virtual Reality became a buzzword and we started talking about “experiences,” and how immersive they all were. But as exciting as these have undoubtedly been, it’s just the tip of the iceberg. The really good stuff is yet to come, but 2016 gave some good hints about what’s in in store.

As the real world becomes an increasingly uncertain and unwelcoming place, perhaps it’s no coincidence that we’re so keen to make virtual worlds work out. Maybe we’re indeed headed for a Ready Player One Oasis-type scenario, but if the range and depth of VR I’ve come across over the past few months is anything to go by, it might not turn out to be such a grim fate after all…

VR let us get that Superman(or woman) feeling by flying around in VR using Google Earth and witness Andy Murray’s Wimbledon Victory from the middle of Centre Court, or the Olympics in Rio. With VR people can already experience different places such as West Hollywood, but the technology can also help you fight phobias, and even reunite an elderly war hero with the community he helped save during World War II.

You can get that Superman(or woman) feeling by flying around in VR using Google Earth
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We’ve also seen some beautiful and powerful examples of how VR is being used in storytelling and I talked to creators about the shaping the language and conventions of this new medium. When leveraged properly, VR has also shown great potential as a tool for tackling difficult issues and engendering empathy. From the BBC project showing the plight of a refugee family fleeing Syria to making us care about the demise of coral reefs.

From virtual books to sports coaching many companies are exploring the potential of VR for education
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From virtual books to sports coaching many companies are exploring the potential of VR for education, as the opportunities for engaging students with content quickly become apparent and tools like Google cardboard made the technology easily accessible to teachers and students around the world.

In April I went to Linden Lab’s Headquarters in San Francisco and discussed the potential of VR for education with their CEO Ebbe Altberg, who explained how their virtual platform Second Life had already been used by Universities and that while the creative SL community did use the legacy platform, they were now investing in a brand new platform to allow users to generate and share their own VR content, Sansar.

We also discussed how the platform would inevitably be used for less “Safe for Work” purposes and how Virtual Reality Porn might help to drive the technology towards mass-market adoption much as it did for the Internet itself. While in the beautiful City by the Bay I also geeked out at their amazing arcade museum and mused about how we can see the evolution of VR from those early machines.

Tools like Google cardboard made VR accessible to teachers and students
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Sansar is not the only player emerging in the social VR space, however. Earlier in the year I saw some interesting developments from Improbable in London and AltspaceVR is pushing ahead with initiatives like allowing punters to watch live events such as comedy shows in VR. One of the challenges of making social interaction in such platforms, work, however, is to create a sense of presence – which requires creating more realistic personalized avatars – and making people comfortable in VR for longer periods of time, which means tackling issues such as simulator sickness.

One challenge of Social VR work is to create a sense of presence, and that means better avatars
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And let’s not forget games of course, VR is a whole lot of fun and although I definitely don’t have as much time as I’d like for playing them, I came across some interesting titles, such as HOVR by independent Lebanese studio Game Cooks, and popular Swedish game SVRVIVE, not to mention my own personal, longstanding obsession: Resident Evil

Even without the expensive headsets, people have been doing amazing things with AR
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When I finally got my hands on the HoloLens for the first time I was rather blown away, and while Magic Leap came under intense fire for allegedly misleading people about its demo videos, causing some to question whether they can deliver on their promise of fully immersive, untethered mixed reality – there were plenty of signs that AR and MR have a bright future indeed.

I was blown away by my HoloLens Demo
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Even without the expensive headsets, people have been doing amazing things with AR such as supporting surgeons in war zones and teaching children digital and creative skills. Many of the interesting projects I came across were from relatively small companies exploring specific niches; One start-up in Russia was crowdfunding development of Mixed Reality lessons to bring subjects like Chemistry and Physics to life, and even the Adult industry got in on the action, producing a low-budget workaround to project live holograms of a much naughtier kind to users around the world using just their mobile phones and a cheap adaptor. And with players like Apple giving out strong signals that they are about to enter this “ARena” (sorry, couldn’t resist) things are bound to get very interesting in 2017.

Watch this space.

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Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio and @techtrends_tech on Twitter.

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I first met the folks at Game Cooks when they came over to London as part of the UK Lebanon Tech Hub accelerator. They’ve been making quirky addictive mobile games for years, and now have started developing for VR.

Game Cooks is an independent games studio founded in Beirut
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Game Cooks is an independent games studio founded in Beirut by two Lebanese brothers – Arz and Lebnan Nader. Since 2011, they’ve released over a dozen successful mobile games on iTunes and Google Play, but HOVR for Gear VR is their first foray into virtual reality.

They’re now keen to see how mobile VR can enhance immersion and engagement for the highly addictive casual games they specialize in making.

The transition to VR was quite smooth, since Game Cooks was already working with the Unity engine on their previous mobile titles
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“The real ‘Eureka!’ moment came earlier this year when we went to this year’s Game Developer’s Conference (GDC) and were just blown away by how fast things were moving in the VR space,” says Lebnan Nader. “We knew we had to get in on that action, and started jotting down ideas on the flight back from San Francisco. By the time we landed back in Lebanon we set the team straight to work on those concepts.”

The transition to VR development turned out to be quite smooth, since Game Cooks was already working with the Unity engine on their previous mobile titles. Considering their portfolio, it made sense to focus on mobile VR and the Samsung Gear for this first project, but Nader stresses that the team is also keen to explore other VR platforms in the future.

The idea they settled on (which is admittedly inspired by their fondness for the Mr. Robot TV series) takes you into an alternative dystopian world where humanity’s collective mind has been hijacked. You are one of a group of international hackers competing to decipher “The Serve” – the enemy’s mind-control tool. You race through this world on a hoverboard at breakneck speed, outrunning other hackers to deliver that crucial intel to the highest bidder.

“Most other VR games we’ve seen focus more on a first-person perspective and open-world, exploratory aspects of the environment, but we wanted to explore a different side to VR gaming, giving people an action-packed, time-sensitive mission that frames and gives a sense of urgency to that experience. We believe that narrative works to make the game even more immersive,” Nader explained.

You start the game by choosing between 4 characters, then hopping onto a hoverboard which takes you into the fast-paced game environment. Once there, you pursue three main objectives which will feel familiar to anybody who’s ever played an endless runner: Reaching the finish line, outrunning the bots hot on your heels, and achieving a high score, which you can boost by performing artistic maneuvers – such as grabs, jumps and other special tricks – and collecting extra elements like battery packs and power-ups.

A consideration in such a fast-paced VR game was the speed factor
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We wanted to explore a different side to VR gaming, giving people an action-packed, time-sensitive mission that frames and gives a sense of urgency to that experience
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Early on in the process, the Game Cooks team realized that using a first-person perspective in such a fast-paced game could easily trigger dizziness, causing disorientation and even nausea. The solution was to use a 3rd person perspective, which also opened up a lot more interesting design possibilities: “We felt that this gaming dynamic worked to give the player more options and feel more in control of their character,” adds Nader. “We enabled a much broader range of movement and maneuverability than would have been possible if using 1st person perspective, as that can quickly become uncomfortable for the player. We also thought quite carefully about the scale in the environment, and decided to make it a bit bigger than you would have in a normal game in order to increase immersion.”

It’s an interesting experiment into how you can still create that sense of full immersion which is central to VR while using a 3rd person perspective.

It wasn’t all smooth sailing, however. One big technical obstacle they tackled in development was the strain of rendering particle systems. For those not familiar with the term, a particle system is a technique that uses a large number of very small 3D models and other graphic objects to simulate “fuzzy” or chaotic phenomena such as explosions, smoke, and abstract visual effects. As a workaround they created a frame-by-frame animation of this particle system that they were then able to use throughout the game without compromising on the visuals. They also developed an AI system that tracks the user progress so that the pursuing bots never get too far ahead or behind the player, keeping a constant competitive edge.

One big technical obstacle they tackled in development was the strain of rendering particle systems
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Another consideration in such a fast-paced VR game was the speed factor. Typically, the acceleration/deceleration issue is something that developers stay clear from because of the tendency to cause motion sickness, but they believed that speed would have a big impact on the player experience, so didn’t want to shy away from it, explains Nader.

“The team actually took it as a challenge to find a way around that problem. We came up with a system that jumps the speed in one shot and creates an impact on the player without disorienting them.”

The game has been very well received so far, being shortlisted for Google Play’s Indie Games festival last month. The most interesting thing about HOVR is how it blends a well-established format with a new medium. It will be exciting to see whether it inspires other game developers to follow suit and update the formats which we know and love, and adapt them into to virtual reality experiences.

HOVR is now available on the Samsung Gear VR. You can find more information about the game on its official website.

This article originally appeared on UploadVR

‘HOVR’ is @GameCooks‘ first step into creating games for virtual reality. via @alicebonasio #VR #GearVR #HOVR https://t.co/p6S5Nbu564 pic.twitter.com/Y0tyIUifof

— Upload (@UploadVR) October 28, 2016

For companies looking to get into VR/AR/MR our Virtual Reality Consultancy services offer guidance on how these technologies can enhance and support your brand strategy.

Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio and @techtrends_tech on Twitter.

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