Research, Ideas and Proposal

Proposal 

My proposal is to come up with ideas and concepts to create a virtual reality headset that can create further immersion other than 3D sound and vision. A virtual reality that can simulate the feeling from weather and an environment from a game. It could have a way of simulating harmless pain for the player depending on what happens to their character in the game. 

Research

I will be looking in to different projects and experiences that involve immersive interaction using the ideas to apply to a VR headset. I will also be analysing different VR headsets themselves to generate ideas for my own headset design.

Stitches Great Escape 

In Disney World’s Magic Kingdom there is a 4D simulation ride that is based on the beginning of the movie Lilo and Stitch when Stitch escapes from the alien mother ship. The ride has the audience sitting in a circle around the room with their backs against the wall and during the simulation the room is dark with sounds of Stitch, creating the illusion that he is in the vents behind the audience. At times the sound of Stitch gets really loud suggesting he is right behind you with warm air blowing on the back of your neck to simulate he is breathing on you and it smells of specific foods like he has just eaten. When Stitch is in the middle of the room he spits his saliva which confuses the guns pointing at him, but when he spits a spray of water hits the audience.

The Battlefield 3 Simulator

The company “Running In The Halls” based in Huddersfield created the most realistic video game simulator based on the game Battlefield 3 in 2011. The simulation used paint ball guns that triggered to shoot the player when the character in the game was getting shot at.  

The Pain-station

The Pain station was developed in 2001 by two students and it is a interactive version of the game pong found in the video game museum in Germany but losing will inflict pain. Both players have to put one hand on a metal plate while the other hand is on the dial that controls their paddle in the game. The metal plate has two buttons on it that the player must keep pressed while their hand lies flat on the plate. On the screen will be the standard game of pong but if a player misses the ball, coloured power ups appear in a line behind the paddle and then if they miss the ball again and the ball hits one of these power ups the metal plate will cause pain to the hand that rests on it depending on the power up that was hit. The red power up causes a bulb to turn on under the plate burning the players hand, the blue power starts a whip to slash back and forth hitting the top of the hand and finally the green power up sends small amounts of electricity through the metal plate shocking the hand. The first player to remove their hand from the plate letting go of the pressed buttons will lose the game.

  

Playstation VR Headset

The PlayStation VR headset is the one that is considered the most comfortable. To put on it has a adjustable head band that can be pulled to make the head space bigger but goes back to its original shape when let go. This allows the user  to hold it over their head while pulling it so that when they let it go it stops at the shape of the head making it quick and easy to wear. On the front of the headset is five blue lights that the PlayStation camera detects and tracks while on the back of the headset there is another two blue lights that allows the player to look all the way around them. The player is very limited with the PlayStation VR however because they will always have to be in view of the PlayStation camera so sometimes the player might wander away from the camera or the camera can’t detect the lights because the room is too bright.

This type of headset for my concept won’t be ideal because there isn’t enough room on the back part that goes over the players head to add any external features to the device. The headset using light to track would also be a bad idea for external features because if the headset did lost track of the headset it couldn’t send the information to trigger the feature leaving the player with a frustrating experience.  

Oculus Rift

The Oculus Rift is much more expensive than the PlayStation VR but comes with a more reliable technique to track motion. First of all the Oculus Rift uses flimsy plastic that goes over the players head receiving feedback from irritation where wearing the headset is uncomfortable, the PlayStation VR on the other hand uses a solid plastic but layers it with cushioned leather. However the motion tracking is a constant wonder with no interruption because the tracking information comes through the same wire that the information to display the screen does. This gives the player more freedom so they can stand up while playing and also get low to the ground to check under objects like beds or desks in the game. 

Again the design of the headset wouldn’t work for external features because there is no room to attach external devices on it. The idea of motion tracking coming through the wire instead of using light to track might be the way to go because the trigger for the external features need to be constant and accurate to get the best experience.   

Star Wars Rebel Pilot Helmet

The VR headsets out at the moment won’t be suitable for my ideas but looking at the shape and design of the helmets actors would wear in the Star Wars movies seem to be a more feasible starting point. 

Speed Helmet

The speed helmet professional cyclists wear also has a good shape and design for a possible VR headset and it also looks more modern and attracting to my target audience.

VR Prototype

This early VR prototype gives me the idea to give the pieces that stick out at either side a purpose for my idea. Maybe the pieces could shoot water or warm air on to the front of the faces.  

Ideas

Horror Shivers

A head massager inside the VR headset. A head massager when it is pushed on the scalp sends a sensation of shivers down peoples spine and it is known that if someone sees a ghost or there is a disturbing presence near by people get the same feeling. If the game is a horror game that uses ghosts, when the ghost gets near the player it sends a signal to the headset to drop the head massager on the players head to send the shiver down their spine. In a more casual scenario the massager could be used for building tension in any horror game when the player senses something scary is going to happen. 

Warm Climate

A VR headset that takes the shape of one of three helmets above. This is so the helmet goes over the entire back of the head and then having four small heaters on the four quarters of the inside of the headset that discretely warms the air inside the helmet which could simulate the player being in a hot moist rainforest or a desert. It could also simulate someone breathing on the players if something came up behind them.

Water Gun

A VR headset that is similar to the warm climate idea in the term of a helmet shape and on the inside going around the inside of the headset will be little nozzles that spray water on to the player. If the player’s character in a game goes underwater or gets water poured on them the nozzles activate and spray water around the players head.