I like mini-maps, because they make up for one thing we lack in a game: real-world physical senses. When you walk through a game world, you get a very poor representation of what it's like to be...
I like mini-maps, because they make up for one thing we lack in a game: real-world physical senses. When you walk through a game world, you get a very poor representation of what it's like to be in that world. A mini-map (and for that matter, enemy blips on said mini-map) should be something that improves over time. As your character goes through an area repeatedly, it becomes more familiar to them, in a way that a pixel representation can't easily replicate with us.
I wonder why that is. What's missing? Smells? A sense of temperature? The inherent boredom of having to go everywhere in real time? Or is it a solvable problem? Is it because you can't look around...
When you walk through a game world, you get a very poor representation of what it's like to be in that world.
I wonder why that is. What's missing? Smells? A sense of temperature? The inherent boredom of having to go everywhere in real time?
Or is it a solvable problem? Is it because you can't look around freely in first person? Because the surroundings are insufficiently unique (as mentioned in the video)? Maybe the ambient noises aren't good enough?
That's a very interesting idea. Could you elaborate on what exactly you mean by big, though? There are games with some very large open worlds - why do they not feel big? Is it fast travel?...
That's a very interesting idea. Could you elaborate on what exactly you mean by big, though? There are games with some very large open worlds - why do they not feel big? Is it fast travel? Normally players don't want to traverse them in real time, since it takes forever. It takes forever in VR, too, if your walking speed is too slow. Or is it about something else, such as being able to reach a place you see in the distance? Don't VR headset resolution limits get in the way of immersion when you can "see" things that are too far away?
It's about the physical scale of everything and the perspective granted by truly being in the scene in first person. The classic example is seeing a picture of the Grand Canyon in a magazine...
It's about the physical scale of everything and the perspective granted by truly being in the scene in first person. The classic example is seeing a picture of the Grand Canyon in a magazine compared to seeing it in real life. I've also heard people describe a similar effect seeing things in IMAX for the first time (I didn't get that effect personally though).
It feels more real because more of the bits of your brain that decide where you are (in the game or in the room) get convinced you're in the room.
Peripheral vision is a big part of it. A human has roughly a 180 degree range of vision, and most games will give about half that to make up for the fact that they're in a screen.
Peripheral vision is a big part of it. A human has roughly a 180 degree range of vision, and most games will give about half that to make up for the fact that they're in a screen.
So you're saying this is perfectly solved by existing technology (high FOV VR), which is cool! I'm still waiting patiently for a new VR headset to be released whose specs are worth the price...
So you're saying this is perfectly solved by existing technology (high FOV VR), which is cool! I'm still waiting patiently for a new VR headset to be released whose specs are worth the price (non-Meta).
It's solved by an existing technology, but as long as first person experiences are primarily developed to be seen on computer screens developers will work to provide adaptations to make it work...
It's solved by an existing technology, but as long as first person experiences are primarily developed to be seen on computer screens developers will work to provide adaptations to make it work within those constraints.
It's something of a combination of those factors. We think we have five senses, but we have so many more than that, and they all contribute to our world experience.
It's something of a combination of those factors. We think we have five senses, but we have so many more than that, and they all contribute to our world experience.
I really like how DayZ handles maps. The only in-game map is a physical item that you find randomly in the world. Opening the map doesn't bring up a UI overlay. Your character physically holds out...
I really like how DayZ handles maps. The only in-game map is a physical item that you find randomly in the world. Opening the map doesn't bring up a UI overlay. Your character physically holds out the map as a person would IRL. You can then look around the map. No waypoints, no markers.
Granted, DayZ is not an open-world single player game. It's a rogue-lite murder simulator. But the maps you explore are very large in size, comparable to or larger than many open-world games. You're expected to spend hundreds of hours getting familiar with the map through road signs, the in game map, and getting lost. It's such a brutal, simple, and fun game.
I like mini-maps, because they make up for one thing we lack in a game: real-world physical senses. When you walk through a game world, you get a very poor representation of what it's like to be in that world. A mini-map (and for that matter, enemy blips on said mini-map) should be something that improves over time. As your character goes through an area repeatedly, it becomes more familiar to them, in a way that a pixel representation can't easily replicate with us.
It seems a fog of war system gels with that idea. Although I'd say that's more common for filling out a primary map than a minimap.
I wonder why that is. What's missing? Smells? A sense of temperature? The inherent boredom of having to go everywhere in real time?
Or is it a solvable problem? Is it because you can't look around freely in first person? Because the surroundings are insufficiently unique (as mentioned in the video)? Maybe the ambient noises aren't good enough?
The most obvious thing to me is a sense of scale. The thing that surprised me most when trying VR for the first time was how big things were.
That's a very interesting idea. Could you elaborate on what exactly you mean by big, though? There are games with some very large open worlds - why do they not feel big? Is it fast travel? Normally players don't want to traverse them in real time, since it takes forever. It takes forever in VR, too, if your walking speed is too slow. Or is it about something else, such as being able to reach a place you see in the distance? Don't VR headset resolution limits get in the way of immersion when you can "see" things that are too far away?
It's about the physical scale of everything and the perspective granted by truly being in the scene in first person. The classic example is seeing a picture of the Grand Canyon in a magazine compared to seeing it in real life. I've also heard people describe a similar effect seeing things in IMAX for the first time (I didn't get that effect personally though).
It feels more real because more of the bits of your brain that decide where you are (in the game or in the room) get convinced you're in the room.
If IMAX can do the trick for some people I imagine it's what MimicSquid wrote, about peripheral vision. I really have to try a Pimax headset someday.
Peripheral vision is a big part of it. A human has roughly a 180 degree range of vision, and most games will give about half that to make up for the fact that they're in a screen.
So you're saying this is perfectly solved by existing technology (high FOV VR), which is cool! I'm still waiting patiently for a new VR headset to be released whose specs are worth the price (non-Meta).
It's solved by an existing technology, but as long as first person experiences are primarily developed to be seen on computer screens developers will work to provide adaptations to make it work within those constraints.
It's something of a combination of those factors. We think we have five senses, but we have so many more than that, and they all contribute to our world experience.
I really like how DayZ handles maps. The only in-game map is a physical item that you find randomly in the world. Opening the map doesn't bring up a UI overlay. Your character physically holds out the map as a person would IRL. You can then look around the map. No waypoints, no markers.
Granted, DayZ is not an open-world single player game. It's a rogue-lite murder simulator. But the maps you explore are very large in size, comparable to or larger than many open-world games. You're expected to spend hundreds of hours getting familiar with the map through road signs, the in game map, and getting lost. It's such a brutal, simple, and fun game.