Behind the Scenes of VR Development

Developing VR simulations is different from creating video games. For one thing, movement is very limited—so developers have to decide if they’re going to use a trick, or not move the player at all. You need to shape your initial concept around that. Then you need to spend a lot of money on high-end PCs and the developer VR hardware.

Different player behavior also changes your design. “We had to consider that people spend less time maneuvering and more time inspecting the world,” explained Dan Chambers, designer on The Assembly. “So we aimed for smaller environments with a richer level of detail. This is especially important given the challenges of motion sickness in VR.”

You also need good environmental signposting to tell your story, as The

Assembly’s design manager, Steven Watts, points out. “Cut-scenes are impossible to implement in a traditional style, as taking control of the camera away from the player is prohibited, lest it induces simulator sickness.” The

Assembly uses audio cues, lighting, animation, and gaze detection to capture and direct the player’s attention.

That detail isn’t just visual; audio effects need to be accurate or the immersion is broken. For example, lifts in The Assembly have audio sources attached, so sound is realistically blocked and faded as they move. “On one hand, we have the benefit of positional audio technology,” says Matt Simmonds, The

Assembly’s audio director, “but we also need to focus more on detail in sounds to make objects feel believable in a 3D space.”

Finally, you have to make sure the humans are convincing. “We are most certainly not through the uncanny valley,” says Martin Field, The Assembly’s art manager. “If anything, VR emphasizes and amplifies any differences. Lip-synching and realistic animations are even more important in VR than for flat-screen games, as there's so much scope for spotting something that will break your immersion, and pull you out of the experience.”

And these are the just the basics of producing a static, slow-paced VR investigation game—imagine what they’re going to be like in a few years!