Playing D&D In Virtual Reality

And no, that doesn't mean playing a D&D video game. It means playing round a virtual game table with virtual dice! (thanks to Sean for the scoop). I don't know if this looks awesome or awful. It's from a small VR company called AltspaceVR, using Oculus VR headsets. Apparently there was some level of collaboration with WotC, who provided some art assets for the project. The commercial version of the app is coming in 2016. I think the easiest way to understand it is to just watch the video!

[video=youtube;gp3uLoXQCyI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gp3uLoXQCyI[/video]​

 

[TerraDave]

I think the idea is that, with the headset, you can look around, switching from the game room view where you look at the other virtual players and dice, to looking at the virtual table top, tiles and virtual minis, which they mention will be available at the end of the article.

I think thats the idea.

 

[BrockBallingdark]

I love the potential but it can't be approached lightly like previous ventures. It has has to add something to D&D players. Time will tell.

 

[Curmudjinn]

It would be better to have video streams of each player at each chair instead of avatars.

 

[Wrathamon]

this looks awful ... even their dice rolling looked amateur hour.

There is some new tech that can map fine manipulation with the cameras and pretty much let you pick up real dice, roll them, and have them also be virtually rolled, to give you the sensation of rolling real dice.

But, not sure if this would make playing D&D remotely any better than skype/google/ or any other VT other than maybe making you feeling like you're playing in a cooler environment with your friends then your office.

First do the porn version to make money and launch the virtual room with a dicer rolller, figures and map adds ons as freebies as a easter egg.

 

[robus]

Two questions:

Why do the graphics look like they're from 1998?

Why do the avatars look like they're from Wall-E? You think with all the 3D models available you could have an avatar that matched your character at least?

And yes - doesn't seem to enhance anything in anyway...

 

[robus]

I wonder if VT in 5 or 10 years will do that - map the avatar so accurately and relocate your expressions and movement that you pretty much are in the room.

I think vr gesturing is going to be like scuba diving and astronauts. Broad, cartoony gestures that get basic information across... As noted the googles really get in the way of expression recognition.

 

[Mercurius]

Creepy. I sometimes get the feeling that the D&D world is passing me by. They'll take my analog books and dice and paper and scribbly stuff...from my dead, cold hands....

 

[FoolishFrost]

As a game designer (used to do d20, now I do Computer/Mobile game design), I would say what you're looking at is a prototype design.

As to some of the questions asked:
- Why the terrible avatars? Due to the uncanny valley, AND that it's probably a quick prototype app. Badly done human-like characters hurt the eyes more than a cheap robot avatar.
- You can get expression on an avatar, if you're willing to use some basic tricks. Simplest one is to replace the avatars head with a tv screen, and use the webcam to show the player's face. It's a cheap trick, and it works.
- The dice was so large due to it being made for a VR headset. VR resolution is notably low-rez still. Reading anything means it will need a large text scale to be visible.

As for how useful it is? Honestly, I have seen a half dozen attempts to virtual world display systems. They never seem to take off. It's a gimmick until VR becomes universal like tablets.

And yes, Tablets are universal. With Amazon making $50 tablets now, it just isn't going to go away...

 

[Paraxis]

Seems like you could combine Roll20 or Fantasy Grounds with FaceRig http://store.steampowered.com/app/274920/

and if you want a 3d playing surface just use Tabletop Simulator http://store.steampowered.com/app/286160/

The future is now.

 

[Umbran]

- You can get expression on an avatar, if you're willing to use some basic tricks. Simplest one is to replace the avatars head with a tv screen, and use the webcam to show the player's face. It's a cheap trick, and it works.

But remember that the player's face has a set of VR goggles on...