Virtual reality is gaming’s storytelling tool of the future.
This article originally appeared in the Den of Geek New York Comic Con special edition print magazine.
you’re free to find the digital copyhere.
Illustration by Sophie Erb.
There was a time when I thought VR was dead.
Four players work together as officers of the Federation, each member manning a different station on the U.S.S.
Aegis with the shared goal of finding a new home world for the recently displaced Vulcans.
Red Storm have bridged the universe ofStar Trekwith immersive VR.
Its a new frontier, as they say.
The future of VR is finally here, and its been a long time coming.
They called it the Virtual Boy.
My passion for VR started in the 90s.
Thats why it died.
Now, with the headsets that are out there, we finally have a baseline.
We can generate a sense of presence for the player.
It starts to really feel like youre there.
The pricing is low enough and the quality of the graphics is generally high enough.
Weve been focused on social VR, Votypka says of the studios approach.
One of the first prototypes we did was the Werewolves prototype, which led toWerewolves Within.
It was something different and something special.
That led us to thinking about crew-based experiences and strategy-based gameplay, but with a social hook.
When you think crew-based,Star Trekis perfect for that.
WithStar Trek: Bridge Crew, I felt that hand tracking was super important, Votypka explains.
But I also didnt want to do floating hands; I wanted a full-body avatar.
A limitation is that we dont have elbow tracking.
We cant exactly tell where your elbows are.
Virtual reality is kind of self-defining, right?
The end goal is to create experiences that are virtually real.
A thing I think is probably coming in the next generation is facial expression recognition, Votypka says.
There are headsets that have been announced that do that.
That, in a social game, would be awesome.
Thats happened, which is amazing.
Unlike the home VR experience, The Void allows you to walk around and explore and touch and feel.
The Void sounds awesome, says Votypka.
Id thought of the idea before, I havent tried it yet.
Im super excited to experience it.
Were just scratching the surface right now.
The future of VR is blindingly bright, but the mediums potential extends far beyond the world of gaming.
We think VR experiences are more powerful if you have accessed the world through other forms of media first.
We would like to make content that converts early adopters into a wider audience, Petridis says.
I think it will take longer to become mass market than others say, says Fan.
But when it does, the impact will be huge.
And Im not just talking about entertainment.
It will change every industry you’re free to travel without getting on a plane.
In school you’re able to actually experience the Middle Ages or Ancient Greece.
Surgeons can train in VR rather than in life.
Theyve already shown that VR can help people with nerve damage regain some movement.
The explosive popularity and potential of VR right now is mind-blowing.
Twenty years ago, many of us, like Votypka, assumed VR was a dead-end concept.
