In most cases Virtual Reality is a singular and exclusive experience. As a user you wear a headset, you dive into whatever experience there is at hand and you’re disconnected from the world. However, true absorption - the promise of VR - comes from a few yet to be explored variables. For instance, 360 video is not real VR. There’s zero interaction with the user’s surroundings, nor is there a dynamic playback of the experience - it’s all linear. One of the things we wanted to experiment with is multi-user VR. In other words, we wanted to let multiple users inhabit the same Virtual Space.
Modern game engines facilitate a multi-user experience, however the barrier to entry is high. The problem is the high cost to participate: You need the right glasses, the right equipment and even the right game-license.
WebVR is an open standard. This enables a developer to create a virtual environment where people can enter via a browser, both from mobile phone and desktop. We’re working with 3D audio, moving objects, interactivity, etc. Through the use of this standard we are able to democratize VR to the world and open up the experience for every user with a compatible browser.
Especially for Bright Day we created a demo to show the zero-barrier-to-entry-quality of WebVR. The demo consists of three stages. The participants are made up of 1 HTC-vive player - also through the web - and an unlimited amount of browser players, in this case mobile browsers from people in the audience. People could go to a URL displayed on screen, enter their name and the game would start. In the first stage, they choose the color of their laser gun. In the second, they choose the color of their laser-beam. Then comes the third stage - the HTC vive player being the center of the game. The room needs to destroy the “blob” controlled by the HTC vive player. The only mode of defense the HTC player has, is to draw shields that would surround the blob.
If you want to challenge us to a little game of Laser VR, let us know! Drop us an email or a txt and we’ll set up a game asap.