Oculus Rift!

Eric dropped a bomb on me! Professor Garvey let me use the Oculus Rift with my space game, which is now titled "Dark Matters" thanks to Kevin and I. It took us almost 3 hours to brainstorm names, and when it stuck, it stuck. We expanded more on the back story for the game, and the characters, and I don't want to reveal too much at the moment (waiting for next semester). I've decided to forgo the space hub and the additional scavenger mission. Txema came up with some great character models for the game, which made the switch all that much harder:

But we all decided that it was the right (and overwhelmingly exciting) thing to do:

Me with the Rift on.

Txema with the Rift on.

Additional goofy selfie.

Since the school invested in the original kickstarter, this was the first iteration of the prototype. I experienced massive amounts of motion sickness, but I was too excited to care. I was also incorrect in assuming that adapting the level to use the oculus rift would be very easy to do. The way the game is set up is that it uses multiple cameras to simulate the effect of deep space. This all proved to be a challenge. I had to disable head tracking since it messed with the flight-sim controls of the game. But without the head tracking, the motion sickness got even worse. It took 3 additional hours in the morning, and Eric had to give me a hand in the end to set up the background cameras properly, but I got it to work. This is possibly the most satisfying moment of my short career as a student of game design and development.

Revised race level.

The game in all its glory!

Original earth level also recreated for the Oculus.

Explosions!