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[FINISHED+APK+DK2] Telescopic

drash
Heroic Explorer
Ahhh, finally done! Here's Telescopic:



ChallengePost page is here.

APK Download:
https://vrjam-submissions.s3.amazonaws.com/signed/6bd5fd75bc9b/pWhcRIlTEKyziXdy3cGE_TelescopicVRJam....

DK2 Windows Download:
https://www.adrive.com/public/znm3ZT/TelescopicDemo-DK2-Windows.zip

Controls:

This app uses the touchpad only.

* To use a button, gaze at it and then tap touchpad.

* To aim the telescope, slide finger on touchpad.

* To dismiss UI elements, use the Back button.


Mechanics:

Overall, the user may either freely explore and learn about the night sky, and/or choose to attempt challenges called "tasks" which are intelligently served to the user a few at a time.

The user can interact with the telescope by calling up the Scope to help with a rough aim, and then calling up the Telescope viewer to get a deep look at the target area. At all times, the touchpad can be used to refine the aim.

The user may also call up a UI, where the user can fiddle with tasks, view hints, adjust settings, and ponder the "unlockables" that will be available in the full version of this app.


Innovation:


  • If the user has a swivel chair, this app takes full advantage of that to reduce simsickness to a minimum by letting the user be fully responsible for their own rotation.

  • If the user does not have a swivel chair (or opts not to swivel), this app attempts to reduce "rotation sickness" by dimming the night sky, thereby reducing the size/intensity of the visual field that is rotating.

  • Viewing through a telescope without neck discomfort, but in a way that is still reminiscent of a real telescope.

  • Ability to use headtracking to easily and naturally compare what's in the night sky with the view through the telescope.

  • Ability to tap into lots of situational and supplemental information about the stars by looking left or right of the view through the telescope.


New GIFs:

Swiveling around:


Browsing the stars:


Navigating the menus:


------------------------------
Original Post below
------------------------------

This is my Mobile VR Jam entry:

Placeholder logo (definitely very obsolete now!):


Telescopic is a combination of a telescope simulator + observatory + planetarium that aims to make learning your way around the night sky fun.

This entry can also be found at ChallengePost here.

Motivation for making this app:

I'm primarily creating this app for myself, but if others eventually benefit from it that would be pretty awesome too. As profoundly amazing as the night sky is, it's overwhelming for me. I've used planetarium apps to find my way around, read night sky reports, etc. But, after all this time, I'm still only truly familiar with Orion and the Big Dipper. Because I don't get to see the stars every night, I forget most of what I learn. This app will hopefully change that by combining several motivational and memorization techniques to keep me engaged and help me retain more of what I learn.

What the player will experience:

In Telescopic, you start off in the middle of nowhere, sitting on a chair that has a big telescope attached to it, with a great big clear view of the sparkling heavens. In VR, this means it's just you and the telescope with no distractions. Rather than actually peeking into scopes and eyepieces, you'll be staying in your chair to interact with the telescope, and it's where you can manage your goals, achievements, unlockables, and fiddle with various options.

The Gear VR's touchpad is used to aim the telescope, and interact with UI elements. The player can switch between various modes: UI, scope, telescope, and sky rotation. The scope mode is used to generally aim the telescope, and the telescope mode is used to get a deep view of the target. Looking up at the sky from your chair, you will not see helpful constellations drawn onto the sky, no labels, no celestial compass. But, when you look into the telescope, you'll potentially see far more than any real backyard telescope can reveal.

Development challenges include:

1. Comfortably seeing what the telescope sees without the aid of positional tracking
2. Ease and intuitiveness of control
3. Efficient data retrieval from star catalogs
4. Goal/achievement storage and persistence
5. Well-defined goals that maximize engagement and encourages exploration

A note on development:

This will be the first time I've openly shared previews of an in-development VR experience. This Jam is also somewhat unfortunate timing for me as my time is really scarce right now, so I'm hoping to get as far as I can with this. I'll be posting screenshots and stuff along the way.

Milestone 3:

Progress Video is up @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3DiMYZPn8M



Soundtrack and high quality deep sky imagery isn't ready yet so I'll save that for next time.

And, the new telescope that I already posted before:



Milestone 2 images:

1.

Slightly updated platform model. Still a long way to go, and the telescope itself is still just placeholder cylinders and such.

2.

The new telescope viewer. Rather than killing one's neck to look through the actual eyepieces, I'm taking a different approach.

3.

This shows using the new scope mode without having to leave the chair. No matter what you're doing, the touchpad can always be used to aim the telescope.

4.

And this shows the new telescope mode. It's a big "visor" (shown in #2 above) positioned in front of the player designed for comfortable viewing, and it provides a place to supplement the view with additional information and UI. Tapping the touchpad reveals information about what you're looking at. Pausing to look at a point of interest will mimic a long exposure and let you see more than what a telescope would reveal in realtime. While in telescope mode, the player can still see the mode buttons below, and the sky above.


Milestone 1 Images: (Note, some of this no longer applies)

1.

The above screenshot shows a model of the chair and the telescope platform. The vertical stalk you see there is what the telescope attaches to. The entire platform will swivel around the telescope, making this a simple conversion to work with positionally-tracked headsets in the future (as you'll only need to get up and walk straight forward at all times).

2.

This shows basic aiming for the telescope (and thus the platform). As you get closer to the telescope, the aiming sensitivity goes from wild swings to fine-tuning. The telescope itself is still placeholder-ish with basic geometric primitives.

3.

Using the scope. This is tricky to line up the right eye to the scope at all times yet still give the player the freedom to look around, since the scope itself moves with the telescope when you aim it. At some point, I plan to make it an option to make the scope be on the left vs right side of the telescope.
  • Titans of Space PLUS for Quest is now available on DrashVR.com
38 REPLIES 38

cybereality
Grand Champion
Good stuff, and I wish you the best of luck.
AMD Ryzen 7 1800X | MSI X370 Titanium | G.Skill 16GB DDR4 3200 | EVGA SuperNOVA 1000 | Corsair Hydro H110i Gigabyte RX Vega 64 x2 | Samsung 960 Evo M.2 500GB | Seagate FireCuda SSHD 2TB | Phanteks ENTHOO EVOLV

KominAaa
Honored Guest
Nice concept! I'm glad to see other people modelling stuff with blender 😄

Best of luck for this project, I'm eager to try it!
Hi! Check our VRJam2015 entry SteamCrew VR, Our VR Game Shufflepuck Cantina Deluxe VR and our VRJam2013 entry EpicDragon VR! Follow us on Facebook!

nilstastic
Explorer
Really excited about this one! 😃

Sidenote: I showed my 70 year old father in law (a very serious man) Titans of space a few years ago and he was stunned. After running the whole demo he slowly took of the headset and said:
"That was amazing"
I said "Ok", but he just kept looking at me and and said "No, I mean. That... was... amazing". Every time he visits he runs Titans, and I can't wait to show him something new this summer. 😃

(no pressure)

drash
Heroic Explorer
"kominaaa" wrote:
Nice concept! I'm glad to see other people modelling stuff with blender 😄

Best of luck for this project, I'm eager to try it!

Likewise! And yes, it's delicious freedom now that I'm finally comfortable using blender. 🙂

"nilstastic" wrote:
Really excited about this one! 😃

Sidenote: I showed my 70 year old father in law (a very serious man) Titans of space a few years ago and he was stunned. After running the whole demo he slowly took of the headset and said:
"That was amazing"
I said "Ok", but he just kept looking at me and and said "No, I mean. That... was... amazing". Every time he visits he runs Titans, and I can't wait to show him something new this summer. 😃

(no pressure)

Whoa, it's the V^Bert guy! Do you have your own entry for this Jam? Thanks for the story about your father-in-law, I appreciate that. 🙂

--------------

I've got a couple of new GIFs to share (also added to first post):

Aiming the telescope (and thus the platform):


Using the scope:
  • Titans of Space PLUS for Quest is now available on DrashVR.com

dignifiedweb
Protege
I can't wait to try it either Drash. I have shown many people Titan's of Space and they're always blown away. My brother was so touched, he shed a single tear, took it off and said: "that was beautiful." Many people I show Titan's of Space say that it should be replacing the planetariums. Seriously, I've heard it from so many people. Great job on this project so far, can't wait! I'll buy Mars is a real place on the weekend, hopefully that buys you a pint of something.
Check out my Mobile VR Jam 2015 title Man Overboard! - Try the DK2 Version if you don't have a Gear VR

cybereality
Grand Champion
Good stuff.
AMD Ryzen 7 1800X | MSI X370 Titanium | G.Skill 16GB DDR4 3200 | EVGA SuperNOVA 1000 | Corsair Hydro H110i Gigabyte RX Vega 64 x2 | Samsung 960 Evo M.2 500GB | Seagate FireCuda SSHD 2TB | Phanteks ENTHOO EVOLV

Anonymous
Not applicable
Oh man, I'm really excited about this one. Inspiring work with the telescope so far. I know all of three constellations, hopefully this will help 🙂

spinaljack
Protege
I'd love to see VR become a learning tool.
This will be a great app for people like me who live in a big city (in cloudy UK) and rarely get to see the night sky without all the light pollution.

Maybe you can even include objects like the ISS or get support from NASA to produce a full version post jam.

nilstastic
Explorer
"drash" wrote:
Whoa, it's the V^Bert guy! Do you have your own entry for this Jam? Thanks for the story about your father-in-law, I appreciate that. 🙂


Yeah, I'm making something. Right now all I got to show for is a tree, but things will ease up after this weekend and I'll hopefully be able to post some gameplay videos that will prepare people for all the jumping they will have to do. 😃