Our own VP of Creative, (the biggest VR enthusiast in our office by far), recently combined his love of 3D model making and his countless hours of immersion into this new platform to create a deeper dive into the differences between developing a conventional video game versus one that will be experienced via virtual reality. The full article, Keeping it Canny – Asset Preparation for Virtual Reality (available on Medium), digs into the demands made on 3D assets used in the development of this evolving and ever-expanding breed of content.
Below is the beginning of the post, but the full read is strongly recommended. It is an insightful overview of the issues to consider when creating content for VR.
The gaming industry is at the beginning of a transition to VR that is already prompting some deep re-thinking of the very fundamentals of game development. There’s intense activity in VR right now – from indie developers to triple-A giants (and all this before a single high-end VR headset has shipped to a single consumer). It’s becoming increasingly apparent that there are significant differences between developing a conventional video game and a VR title – differences that extend to every aspect of production, putting unique demands even on the 3D models that populate these environments.
Many great game models will also work perfectly as VR assets, but others will fail in surprising ways. Virtual Reality is a real-time art, and as such the models used to create these experiences must look great while also loading and rendering as quickly as possible. Sure, optimization of assets has always been important for game dev, but VR significantly increases the need for efficiency, while also introducing a host of visual considerations unique to VR.
If this was enough to get you hooked, be sure to head over to Medium to read the complete post. It’s more than worth the 7 minute read time.