Oculus Rift Experience

Oculus Rift: A month in review


Day 1: I got my Oculus Rift developers kit! I was literally waiting by the front window all day. I moved a chair so I could read while viewing my front door, to make absolutely sure I didn't miss the delivery.

Day 2: What genius chose the machines for Full Sail? Welcome to the year 2010, everyone: I DON'T HAVE AN HDMI PORT. Honestly, why????

Day 3: I've ordered some dongles online that should enable my computer to be Rift-compatible. In the meantime, my little sister got a new computer maybe 6 months ago, and her (3-4 year) old one has HDMI.  So, (with permission) I'm wiping it completely clean of everything and installing Unity and the Oculus SDK.

Day 4: It is an amazing experience. Really, truly. The sense of realism is fantastic. I don't even have a proper 'gaming' computer, but the Tuscany demo provided by Oculus and Unity works great and I can't wait to get started.

Day 6: So far, this is almost suspiciously easy. Delete 'main camera' from scene, replace with the Oculus player, and go.

Day 8: First bump in the road: attaching a spotlight to the player. I essentially was aiming for a flashlight effect in my scene. Interestingly, I had to play around with all sorts of combinations before discovering that only using the camera of the right eye will actually allow my spotlight to aim where ever my head is looking. Apparently my left eye doesn't have an x-axis. Shhh, no one tell it- my brain may get confused.

Day 15: The Oculus has had next to zero issues- instead, I've been primarily working with and concentrating on Unity and Mecanim.

Day 20: I finally find something with a serious problem to it. I've been searching the internet and put up a forum topic, but apparently no one has used the accelerometer in the Rift. Or, if they have, it hasn't worked out. I was hoping to be able to sense velocity in addition to rotation, but I may have to put this aside for now.

Day 22: So. I bought a Razer Hydra. I am weak. DON'T JUDGE ME.

Day 29: I got my Hydra! It wasn't a simple process, either- apparently Razer is completely sold out, but I was able to buy through Sixense. Here's more what I was expecting from new tech, though: even keeping my hands completely still, the Hydra will send my mouse jumping all over the screen. I'm a little disappointed, but I've seen games where the peripheral is used well, so maybe a fix already exists.

Day 31: On review of my month, I'm honestly surprised at how little had to do with the Oculus Rift. An amazing technological breakthrough, with such flawless integration I had nothing further than a drag-and-drop to complete for the gyroscope and camera to be working and synchronized in my Unity application. Sure, I had occasional instances of frustration or confusion, but I can only assume that is exactly what Oculus is working on now, in their quest for an improved consumer version.

When I first heard about the Rift and decided to work on it, I was looking forward to joining a small group of forward-thinkers. Looking online today, I am overwhelmed by how not small this group is. The Rift hasn't even been commercially announced yet, and there are already 210 apps and games listed on the website Rift Enabled - with plenty more being worked on. I'm actually a little intimidated- how will my tiny puzzle game measure up to ports of Half Life 2 and Mirrors Edge? - but mostly I'm excited. We are living in the future, and I am a part of developing it.