Battling Motion Sickness with a Good Frame Rate

Putting on the VR headset for the first time is a truly awesome experience, but can also be a little dizzying after a while.  The best defense against this is by having a super fast frame rate with a constant 60fps as a minimum.  The reason for this is simple.  In daily life you turn your head all the time to look around in the real world.  Your brain is extremely accustomed to this change in instant head rotation.  In fact, your brain requires it.  With the VR headset you are creating your own digital world but all the real world expectations still exist.  I can’t even begin to tell you how jarring it is if the frame rate drops to around 20fps or so.  As you look around the visual lag is so striking that your brain starts to ache, in a weird motion-sickness-kind-of-way.  Thankfully, all you need to do is keep your frame rate up and this issue just disappears.

Keys to High Frame Rate For VR

For the Tuscany Demo we wanted a very rich, bright, colorful, and detailed world all while running on medium grade computers.  We were also co developing for a custom C++ version of the environment which had very limited rendering capabilities, but still needed to look exactly like the Unity version.  It was a bit of a challenging task, but our approach was to go low res with the modeling and ultra high res with the textures.  This way we had the rich detail that would hold up even if you walked right up to an object all while running very fast on even our lowest system spec.  In fact, we designed all objects in the scene: house, fences, distance objects, etc to look good as low res objects.  It totally reminded us of developing for PS2, but with huge 2K textures on everything.

Designing a Compelling VR Experience

There’s certain things that can be done to improve the VR experience.  Here’s a list of tips that worked for us through trial and error:

• Measure everything.  Make sure you use a consistent unit scale and match to the real world.
• Try to use a few everyday objects in your scene to reinforce world scale.
• High Res textures from photo sources adds the kind of realism your mind will expect.
•  Be sure to adjust the camera and character size to a proper height.  It might even be good to allow the player to change these values in the game.
• Ambient animations (birds, particles, butterflies, dust) and ambient sound FX go a LONG way in making the world more believable.
• Try and create little areas of the environment that tell a story. Building a VR world is an environment artist’s dream project.
• Adding camera bobbing with the walk animation adds a ton of realism.
• Watch the speed of the character movement.  Too fast feels unnatural.  We found to error on the slower end of the speed spectrum.
• Adjust character speed when going up and down ramps like stairs, make it much slower for more realism.

VR is an Extremely Intimate Experience

While many console games focus on fast action and tons of bullets and explosions flying everywhere, I expect VR games to be far more subtle in design.  A strange thing happens when you have the headset on – there is no longer any safety net of the real world in your peripheral vision, only this new digital world.  It’s a new level of immersion that creates an interactive intimacy like never before. Most of the console genres of such as shooting and fighting games will probably be way too much movement and chaos in VR.  These console games need to be designed like this to keep the player interested and not wandering off during a play session.  With the Oculus Rift, the entire play session mindset changes.  You start to think, “OK, I’m going to get lost in the world for a while and just kind of zone out”, kind of like when you decide to watch a movie.  You completely escape the real world when in the VR digital world.

My prediction is that this will bring a host of new and eclectic game genres to the medium.  Sure, there will be ports from other games, some of them big franchises, but the games designed for the Oculus Rift will really shine.  Genres I see are some older types coming back in a new way such as the adventure, hidden object, mystery genre like Myst. I also see survival horror doing extremely well here, especially games that get the suspense element down cold.  Of course, super hero games can be really great too, but not the typical style like Superman or Iron Man.  I suspect something like the TV show Heroes can do well since it’s so grounded in reality and the powers are more subtle.  It’s exciting to think that games can finally be as intimate and immerse as a movie if done right.

I’m not suggesting that you live in a hut in the middle of the desert (although this would be nice and quiet) but I am suggesting to think of indie game development as a lifestyle. For example, most people load themselves up with monthly payment obligations in all areas of their life: mortgage/rent, car payments, utilities, credit cards, etc. The “ideal” employment budgeting usually goes like this; if I make “X” per week we’ll be able to afford “Y” in monthly payments. Then they go and fill that amount “Y” to the absolute maximum allowed budget, or in many cases going over, which essentially forces them to completely depend on their employer. They are now in a position where their lively hood depends on their job, the office politics become extended episodes of “Survivor” and they must do whatever the job requires of them or risk losing everything…

In indie game development, there usually is no set weekly salary. Even if you work at a huge publisher a mass layoff can wipe out half the company in an instant, forcing you to run for another job and possibly even move across the country or world. Some people like this, like my friends in the Special Effects Industry. They love crunching on a project for a few months only to take off to some island where they can live like kings for a month, followed by working in another country for a few months. For them it’s definitely an adventure.

Sooner or later you might want to settle down, have kids, and live a “normal” life. Is this possible in indie game development? Absolutely! As I write this I’m now 37, my wife and I live in a beautiful house, we have no debt except for our mortgage, and even have a baby on the way.

Build A Runway

The first thing you’ll need is a runway. A runway is simply how long you can go without earning any money. Most financial experts advise 3 to 6 months of savings. In indie game development I would suggest growing a runway to multiple years. The longer the runway the more at peace you will be and the more creative decisions you can make. It would be impossible to try to spit out a top ten iPhone game in less than a month. Don’t do this to yourself! Find ways to pay for things in cash, pay off your debts, live modestly, and grow your runway.

Don’t Depend So Much On Others

It’s so easy to have some drinks with friends and talk about the next big thing. Maybe your friends are even an established artists or programmers. There should be nothing stopping you guys, right? You have the tools, the know-how, the markets are wide open, and now you even have an amazing game idea. Complete global domination is within your grasp!

If you partner up with someone be sure to have an understanding what will happen if your partner’s drive dwindles or simply doesn’t pull their weight. I’ve seen many instances of dead beat partners latching onto creator’s success (remember “Social Network”?). Be VERY careful when working with other people. The game industry has a bit of a gold mine mentality. Lots of people think that all you need is a little work and BAM, millions of dollars start rolling in. Always remember, money makes people crazy.

I have found it best to not rely on others unless I am paying them full rate for their services. Any indie film director will tell you the same thing. They usually loath directing unpaid actors since these actors will be looking at the situation as a way to build their reel and not performing as much with the project in mind. The same is true for indie game development. You might have a friend who makes great 3d models, but unless you pay him full rate expect that he’ll probably only do something that he can later use in his reel for his own promotion. The concerns of your game production are usually a distant second, even among the best of friends.

Of course, there are ways to structure partnerships for success, but this involves contracts and other legalities. Unless you’re dead in the water on your project I would strongly recommend thinking about either doing the work yourself or finding someone you can rely on with reasonable rates that you can afford to hire on a contract basis. Besides, nobody knows your vision better than you.

Being An Indy Game Developer Is A Badge Of Honor

If you can have and keep a healthy runway all while not relying on others than you are well on your way to Indie Game Bliss. You probably run into all kinds of people who talk about starting something on their own but so few actually do it, let alone do it well enough to be able to keep doing it. I’ve been on my own for over 7 years now and our business continues to grow at a healthy and manageable rate. I find that it does get easier once you know the ropes.

Of course, I’m not here to tell you how to run your finances or encourage you not to work with your friends. I’m simply sharing what has worked for us and our  successful developer friends.

Fun Component #1 – Effort/Feedback Ratio

Think of the last time you were at a party.  Did you have fun?  Maybe you didn’t know anyone and were forced to initiate conversation with a stranger.  Maybe you knew everyone there and felt very comfortable, allowing you to let your guard down.  Now think of a specific conversation you had with someone at the party.  How did the conversation go?  Did you get the feedback you were looking for?  Now let’s break this conversation event down into an effort and feedback ratio, in other words every time you initiate a thought or topic to the conversation was your “effort” and what you receive back from your audience was the “feedback”, or your returned response for your effort.

When you offer something to a conversation, you are hoping for the maximum output response you can get for the effort you just gave.  Let’s say on a scale from one to ten, one is no response and the audience ignored you,  and ten being laughter, flirting, or shouts of praise.  What would be the most fun?  Obviously, if you told a joke at a party, maniacal laughter would be the response you’re shooting for and a perfect 10 for your effort.  If you got blank stares and heard crickets then it would have been a 1, which, of course, is not fun.  Let’s also assume that the quality of the joke was equal to the feedback: you either told an amazingly funny joke and received the appropriate response, or you put in very little effort and therefore got what you deserved, crickets and strange looks.

Taking this ratio further, let’s play with the proportions a bit.  Let’s say you gave an effort of about a 4 for your joke, and got a perfect 10 response.  This is even more fun because you just received far more return for your contributing effort to the party.  Alternatively, if you told an amazing joke of 9 and got a return of 2, then something is wrong, leading to frustration and other feelings of discouragement, definitely not fun.

Now apply this to a video game.  It takes effort every time the player enters input and will therefore always be looking for maximum return on their effort, as a general rule of thumb.  Shooting a building with a BB gun and setting off a giant mushroom cloud explosion would be fun in this model as your effort of 2 got feedback of 10.  Many social games reward the player immensely for even the smallest effort, such as tapping a character on the screen and therefore gaining an nu-proportional amount of virtual gold and other various rewards.  Many games use character animation and interaction as feedback: a simple jump button command leads instantly to a beautifully animated jump, exuding tons of personality in his facial expressions, particle effects, and sound effects, and then follows through to an expressive landing sequence complete with more visual feedback and animation to the player.  And this is just the jump command!  Add this to all areas of your game and you are on your way to adding a bit more fun to the experience.

This, of course, is just one tiny component.  Blowing up an entire building with a BB gun may be fun at first, but over time will lack balance, friction, difficulty and other gameplay components that lead to a longer term satisfying gameplay experience.  This is the difference between a simple “gimmick game” and game that has a longer lasting and deeper gameplay experience.  Both types are perfectly valid, IMHO: a simple ragdoll game where you throw a character down the steps may have an effort of 1-2 and a return of 7-10 randomly, which could be fun but might drop off quickly – perfectly suited to lower budget mobile game experience.  An RPG where you grind out to gain XP and advancement might have occasionally very powerful drops, such as killing an Imp which happens to drop a +3 Ice Ax, definitely a huge return on your effort.  In this last case, it’s the chance of a huge feedback return that keeps you going for one more battle.

Fun Component #2 – The Element of Surprise

While we’re at it, let’s paint another example: Christmas morning.  When you open your presents, you are obviously putting in very little effort and getting huge permanent feedback.  What can be more fun!  Taking is a step further is the element of surprise.  Do you make a list of gifts you would like to receive for Christmas, or do you allow your friends and family to surprise you?  Let’s say you wrote out a list.  You know what the box shapes are and prior to opening your gifts you inspect the dimensions, weight, and maybe even rattle the gift to help you predetermine what the gift may be.  After getting a good idea of what this gift is you finally are allowed to open it.  Is this an element of surprise you feel or just validation for your detective skills ? (which is still fun).  Now let’s contrast this by not asking for anything on a list, allowing yourself to be completely surprised.  In fact, you’re not even allowed to see the gift boxes prior to Christmas morning.  As you come down the stairs on Christmas morning you are overwhelmed to see so many gifts, especially one specifically because it’s a HUGE wrapped box.  Your anticipation (which is also an element of fun) is suddenly sent through the roof.  You have no idea what the gift may be and are therefore completely surprised when you open it and bam!  It’s the best gift you could ever imagine!  This example is a perfect 1 effort to 10 feedback with a surprise multiplier of 10 – total surprise!  Because this event was so fun and exhilarating you will probably never forget this experience for the rest of your life.  This also illustrates something else: all parents become game designers during Christmas.

Well, that it for now.  I’ll continue on Surprise a little later.