Xtended Realities

Let’s figure out what it takes to open and run a game studio, with Nesting Games Co-Founder and Studio Head, Frederick Brassard! Tune in as we chat about his early days helping to found Ubisoft, lessons he learned with failed companies in the past, and how he’s worked with a full team to create an original IP. Plus, he’ll share his advice for aspiring game developers, and folks considering opening their own studios. Keep your eyes on the horizon for the announcement of Nesting Games’ first release, and enjoy this inside scoop before they announce!

• 0:00 - Intros
• 1:26 - Frederick’s early career at Ubisoft
• 8:57 - Differences founding a studio in the past vs. the present
• 11:35 - Lessons learned from past mistakes
• 13:30 - Nesting Games’ core principles
• 15:38 - How to turn Vision into an actual Studio
• 16:37 - Biggest challenge starting a studio
• 19:06 - How to approach funding a studio
• 21:11 - Structuring a roadmap when starting a company
• 24:35 - Approaching publishers
• 30:02 - Building a team from scratch
• 36:20 - Prepping the team for a first pitch
• 41:30 - Maintaining a solid team throughout the process.
• 45:00 - Developing an IP from scratch
• 49:40 - How to successfully communicate across teams
• 53:43 - Removing ego
• 59:25 - Frederick’s biggest professional risks, and how he keeps taking them
• 1:03:43 - When to finalize your game and prep for release
• 1:10:37 - Frederick’s first step for upcoming devs who want to break into the industry
• 1:13:39 - Lightning round and conclusions

It's time to get technical this week with Survios Co-Founder and CTO Alex Silkin! Join us for a deep dive into VR gamedev in Unreal Engine as we cover decisions and challenges faced by Survios while making some of the market's biggest VR games like Raw Data, Creed: Rise to Glory, Sprint Vector, and an upcoming Aliens title.

• 0:00 - Welcome back/intros.
• 1:55 - How Alex approaches game design.
• 5:38 - VR games as fitness tools.
• 7:31 - Player fatigue and session playtime.
• 13:41 - Designing gameplay loops around fatigue.
• 14:50 - Survios "must-haves" when designing for VR.
• 20:33 - What Survios considers before production.
• 22:27 - Flat screen games vs VR.
• 29:45 - Lessons Survios has learned.
• 33:31 - Survios' standards with VR design.
• 40:51 - Survios' testing process.
• 45:29 - Collaboration between designers and engineers.
• 53:06 - Survios' "must-have" tools.
• 1:05:20 - Best practices for architecting systems in Unreal Engine.
• 1:27:32 - Shift from blueprints to next steps.
• 1:33:12 - Alex's thoughts on Nanite/Lumen.
• 1:38:32 - Mistakes made and lessons learned.
• 1:44:28 - Lightning Round

• Arkit - :45
• • https://www.macrumors.com/2020/06/22/apple-announces-arkit-4/
• Apple AR glasses - 6:50
• • https://appleinsider.com/articles/20/05/19/apple-glass-details-leaked-will-cost-499-and-work-with-prescriptions
• Oculus Go dead - 18:00
• • https://uploadvr.com/oculus-go-gone/
  • No more 3DOF
• Success of HL:Alyx - 24:50
• • At least 500,000 https://www.npr.org/2020/04/09/820648379/half-life-alyx-and-the-promise-of-virtual-reality#:~:text=But%20just%20how%20many%20people,for%20a%20VR%20exclusive%20title.
• Star Wars Squadrons - 26:10
• • Full VR support!

• Industry impact of covid - 27:09
• • The work from home shift, and how tech companies were already well-suited to making the change
  • We’ve covered virtual production before https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/icvr-xtended-realities/xtended-realities/e/64617153
  • Most steam players ever - 34:45
  • • https://uploadvr.com/steam-hardware-survey-2-million/
  • Mobile gaming doing better than ever before
  • More offices using virtual offices: https://spatial.io/#features
  • AI-enabled semi-autonomous food delivery robots - 36:05 https://electronics360.globalspec.com/article/15391/uber-buying-postmates-will-drive-3-technology-innovations
• Virtual Events Shit:
• • Fortnite - 37:30
  • • Travis Scott: https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/24/entertainment/travis-scott-fortnite-concert/index.html
    • Marshmello - 37:50
    • https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/21/18234980/fortnite-marshmello-concert-viewer-numbers
    • Christopher Nolan movies (Inception, Batman Begins, The Prestige)
    • Where is Fortnite going with Party Royale Island?
  • John Legend https://go.wave.watch/johnlegend
  • • https://www.msn.com/en-us/entertainment/news/john-legend-to-perform-songs-from-new-album-bigger-love-during-first-ever-virtual-live-concert/ar-BB15QmM0
  • Lindsey Stirling https://youtu.be/mK5Jb1vgrgw
  • • WaveXR
  • Virtual Burning Man - 40:35
  • • https://burningman.org/culture/virtual-brc-2020/
    • • Portal submissions through Kindling, new internal app: https://edm.com/news/burning-man-project-kindling
  • LIB Festival - 39:10
  • https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=lib+festival+2020&docid=608011852511907714∣=A6074FB6F3EC09EFD981A6074FB6F3EC09EFD981&view=detail&FORM=VIRE
  • • What it did well and not so well
    • • Used Vita Motus: https://vitamotus.com/dgtl-lib/
  • Red Dead Redemption 2 for meetings: https://mashable.com/article/red-dead-redemption-2-coronavirus-meeting-work-from-home-social-distancing/
  • Lightning Round - 48:30

We talk all things VR education-related on this week's episode with special guest Taylor Freeman - co-founder of UploadVR. 

We'll also look at some of the latest industry news and market numbers.

Learn from Taylor's hands-on experience about what works and what doesn't, what verticals present the best use cases for VR education, how it is currently being used most effectively, and what VR education will look like in the future.

0:00 - Intro with Taylor
1:07 - Superdata: 180k units in Q3, over 400k total before the holiday season
4:11 - Steam Hardware Survey
7:38 - PSVR2
9:50 LYNX-R1
14:04 Facebook acquires Scape
22:10 Taylor and Axon Park intro
28:27 5 Key Areas of Enterprise Training
45:06 Health and Safety
52:09 HR and Culture
56:44 - Soft Skills
1:06:25 - Technical Skills
1:09:04 - Operations and Compliance
1:12:13 - Obstacles
1:19:58 - Future of Axon Park
1:22:18 - Lightning Round!

You heard that right. We're going down the whole gamut of all the news in XR including a massive announcement from Valve, a rather unexpected acquisition from Oculus, and yes fam, cows in VR. Let's do this.

Show Notes:
:29  Half Life: Alyx
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/half-life-alyx-what-we-know-release-date-price-and/1100-6471549/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2W0N3uKXmo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9K0eJEmMEw
18:13 Boneworks VR
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJ2lzV2LLwM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8a1BAolFIk
https://www.roadtovr.com/boneworks-gameplay-video-stress-level-zero/
:22:47 Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 (VR Support??)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCBgO6St9ug
:26:03 No Man's Sky Updates
:27:41 Google Stadia Launch Woes
https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2019/11/26/google-stadia-review-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/#5b333bc46cc1
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/11/google-offering-refunds-for-players-that-bought-new-stadia-freebies/
35:49 SuperData- over 400,000 Oculus Quests sold
https://gamedaily.biz/article/1337/report-oculus-quest-has-sold-400000-units-will-leapfrog-pc-headsets-superdata
:37:08 Black Friday/Cyber Monday Sales!!
https://www.cnet.com/news/best-black-friday-2019-playstation-deals-psvr-down-to-199-ps4-pro-with-games-for-299/

:38:02 Beat Games Sold to Oculus! But muh MODS!

:44:54 VR For Cows??
http://theconversation.com/virtual-reality-wont-make-cows-happier-but-it-might-help-us-see-them-differently-127916

:50:36:01 Lightning Round

Today's episode looks at Virtual Production practices for Hollywood motion pictures and more! Featuring special guest Adam Maier, of Fox VFX labs. We explain what virtual production is, why it's so important in today's film production, and how it uses emerging tech like VR to bring CGI sets to life onstage.

Today we look at the world of 360 Video- we tout it, we criticize it, we discuss the biggest market for it. 

If anyone is going to attend SIGGRAPH 2019 this year, please come visit us in person at Booth #647/649 and try our Digital Human Project. Enjoy!

Show Notes

02:45 Google Carboard History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Cultural_Institute
04:31 Jaunt VR https://variety.com/2015/digital/news/jaunt-virtual-reality-disney-evolution-media-65-million-1201598574/
12:43 Samsung GearVR John Carmack https://www.engadget.com/2014/09/04/samsung-gear-vr-john-carmack/
15:38 Android Poll https://www.androidpolice.com/2017/03/19/weekend-poll-do-you-regularly-use-vr/
19:16 ARtillery Studies (paywall) https://arinsider.co/
21:33 Challenges of 360/VR https://fortune.com/longform/virtual-reality-struggle-hope-vr/
29:18 The Nun VR Experience https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evzsN1BGR6A
34:41 Adult VR content https://venturebeat.com/2018/07/23/porn-and-games-are-the-biggest-drivers-of-vr-revenues/
40:39 Future of VR Video https://uploadvr.com/jason-rubin-oculus-quest-index-rift-go/
44:03 Disney Kite’s Tale https://vrscout.com/news/first-look-disney-vr-film-a-kites-tale/
55:44 Lightning Round

A look at the recent events from E3 2019 as it relates to the XR community.

Oculus Quest Ecosystem - No Steam Features!
https://www.reddit.com/r/OculusQuest/comments/c084cn/virtual_desktop_update_142_steamvr_feature/ - 1:03

https://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/c08s31/pavlov_vr_wont_come_to_the_oculus_quest_store/ - 9:17

Oculus Quest Development: https://developer.oculus.com/blog/submitting-your-app-to-the-oculus-quest-store/ - 10:48

UPDATE: Pavlov is coming to Quest Store - 16:31 https://www.reddit.com/r/virtualreality/comments/c0qt8a/pavlov_developer_my_apologies_there_was_some/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share

QA with Oculus’s Jason Rubin (VP of Special Gaming Strategies @ Facebook) - 16:54
https://uploadvr.com/jason-rubin-oculus-quest-index-rift-go/

HTC to reveal Vive Cosmos next week - 27:18
#HTCVIVE #HTCVIVECosmos pic.twitter.com/7WkqnH32Yq

New Games!
https://www.roadtovr.com/lone-echo-2-larger-than-predecessor-e3-2019-gameplay/
Lone Echo 2 - 30:07

ACORN: Attack of the Squirrels - asymmetric couch party game, Oculus Quest + Mobile - 33:46

The Curious Tale of the Stolen Pets - cute game with Alumette like art - 37:57

Espire 1: VR Operative - Splinter Cell type experience - 38:15

SpaceTeam VR - 42:17

RedPill - 39:05

Lightning Round - 43:04

It's time to have a current look at the state of the VR Gaming market, and make predictions as to where it's headed.

Size of the market 1:23
https://venturebeat.com/2019/01/24/superdata-vr-grew-30-in-2018-thanks-to-psvr-oculus-quest-will-be-2019s-hit/
Number of active players, broken down between device/platform 11:01
https://www.roadtovr.com/2018-ends-with-a-record-number-of-vr-headsets-on-steam/
Player Demographics 14:40https://www.statista.com/statistics/831819/us-virtual-augmented-reality-device-average-session-time/
VR Content 16:20 (https://quanticfoundry.com/2019/03/01/vr-adoption/)
Sales projections & ROI 18:20https://www.roadtovr.com/vacation-simulator-among-steams-20-top-selling-games-released-april
Digital distribution revenue vs. LBE 29:59
How to make a VR game 36:16
Future market 43:30

00:56 - Qualcomm news! XR1 Chipset details announced https://venturebeat.com/2019/05/29/qualcomm-enables-xr-smart-viewer-augmented-reality-smartphone-apps/
6:24 - NReal AR https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/30/18646160/nreal-light-ar-xr-qualcomm-snapdragon-sunglasses-consumer-price-shipping-release-5g
10:50 - MR Rokid Vision https://www.gizchina.com/2019/05/29/mr-glasses-rokid-vision-shown-at-awe-2019/
12:58 - Facebook AR/Speaker Patent Filing
https://mashable.com/article/facebook-ar-glasses-cartilage-conduction-patent/?europe=true
15:25 - Leap Motion Sold Off https://www.wsj.com/articles/leap-motion-once-a-virtual-reality-high-flier-sells-itself-to-u-k-rival-11559210520
18:44 - Google Shuts Down Jump VR
https://vrscout.com/news/google-shutting-down-jump-vr-program/
22:23 - Google Glass Returns
https://mobile-ar.reality.news/news/hands-on-heres-augmented-reality-google-search-works-0198193/
24:15 - AR Google Searches
https://mobile-ar.reality.news/news/hands-on-heres-augmented-reality-google-search-works-0198193/
25:21 - Minecraft AR
27:38 - Lightning Round

What options does a VR designer have to allow players to move beyond their limited play area? This week we discuss some of the best (and worst) solutions available, and what we think works best.

Xtended Realities is a podcast production of ICVR - a software development studio based in Los Angeles, CA that specializes in VR/AR & emerging tech. 

00:48 - Explaining the VR locomotion problem
2:56 - Keeping the player in one place
5:46 - Cockpits and vehicles
10:33 - Controller-based movement
18:16 - Teleportation
23:02 - Self-propelled movement
24:18 - Treadmills and other hardware
29:55 - Redirected Walking
https://www.roadtovr.com/researchers-exploit-natural-quirk-of-human-vision-saccade-hidden-redirected-walking-vr-gtc-2018/
31:36 - Massive Playspaces
36:58 - Lightning Round

This week we saw final specs & some of the first reviews of not 1 but 3 new headsets - the Valve Index, Oculus Quest, and Oculus Rift S. We compile all this info and share it with you in this week's podcast.

Xtended Realities is a podcast production of ICVR - a software development studio based in Los Angeles, CA that specializes in VR/AR & emerging tech. 

00:49 - Valve Index
01:21 - Valve Index - Price
07:29 - Valve Index - Display

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SI_3jlAV9M
10:53 - Valve Index - Lenses

https://www.roadtovr.com/valve-index-hands-on-preview-valve-vr-headset/

https://uploadvr.com/valve-index-hands-on/
15:50 - Valve Index - Audio
18:29 - Valve Index - Ergonomics
20:24 - Valve Index - Modability
25:54 - Valve Index - Controllers

Denny Unger Statement: https://www.reddit.com/r/ValveIndex/comments/bj9ypg/to_anyone_complaining_about_the_display/em7bm22/
28:52 - Oculus Rift S

https://www.theverge.com/2019/4/30/18523941/oculus-rift-s-review-vr-headset-price-specs-features

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMbgFRCfd2w&t=190s
32:34 - Oculus Quest

https://www.theverge.com/2019/4/30/18523000/oculus-quest-review-vr-headset-price-specs-features
36:03 - Lightning Round

In this episode we finally cover some of our favorite VR content! It's a bit of a mix of older, more recent & upcoming content - both games & immersive entertainment. Most of the experiences we picked are stuff we really enjoyed and wanted to share with the community.

Xtended Realities is a podcast production of ICVR - a software development studio based in Los Angeles, CA that specializes in VR/AR & emerging tech. 

• 01:26 - Space Junkies
• 09:00 - Iron Wolf VR
• 09:36 - Orbus VR
• 11:29 - Vacation Simulator
• 16:14 - Flight & Space sims
• 23:59 - Vox Machinae
• 29:37 - Blade & Sorcery
• 34:08 - Protocol VR
• 38:10 - Cinematic VR
• 46:51 - Boneworks
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJ2lzV2LLwM
• 49:40 - Lightning Round

In this episode we break down all the latest XR news from the 1st half of April. We cover the Nintendo Switch Labo VR, the Valve Knuckles/Index Controllers driver update, PS5 hardware news & how it affects PSVR, Tiltbrush for Oculus Quest, and AR at Coachella.

Xtended Realities is a podcast production of ICVR - a software development studio based in Los Angeles, CA that specializes in VR/AR & emerging tech. 

01:20 - Nintendo Switch Labo VR

https://www.roadtovr.com/nintendo-switch-vr-labo-kit-announcement-april-release/

07:48 - Valve Index/Knuckles Controllers Update

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JRYKY9ZDRU

14:51 - Sony PS5 & PSVR

https://www.wired.com/story/exclusive-sony-next-gen-console/

24:54 - Tilt Brush for Oculus Quest

https://tech.fb.com/google-announces-tilt-brush-for-oculus-quest/

27:18 - AR at Coachella

https://vrscout.com/news/coachella-ar-interactive-stage/

29:42 - Lightning Round

Thanks for listening and please subscribe if you enjoyed the content!

Please visit our website for more information at:
http://icvr.io

Follow us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/icvr.io/

Check us out on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/icvr.io/

This week's Podcast is about all things Augmented Reality. We take a look at the current state of the market, currently released & upcoming AR glasses, current content, and speculation about the future.

This is a podcast production of ICVR - a software development studio based in Los Angeles, CA that specializes in VR/AR & emerging tech. 

1:14 - Current State of the AR market

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/15/niantic-raises-245-million.html
https://news.crunchbase.com/news/last-week-in-venture-invisible-computing-super-visions-and-miles-of-fibers/

5:05 - Microsoft Hololens 2

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/hololens/buy

9:54 - Magic Leap

13:05 - Apple AR Glasses

https://www.macrumors.com/2019/03/08/apple-ar-glasses-launch-2020-as-iphone-accessory/

16:41 - Google Glasses

https://next.reality.news/news/google-glass-engineers-patent-application-points-potential-google-ar-headset-0195799/

17:49 - Out & Upcoming Content

https://www.forbes.com/sites/nikkibaird/2019/03/25/the-four-definitive-use-cases-for-ar-and-vr-in-retail/#319a51ad69c2

https://digiday.com/marketing/snapchats-programmatic-ar-ads/

https://www.mobilemarketer.com/news/campaign-of-the-year-michael-kors-ar-ads-on-facebook/541689/

https://medium.com/@tomemrich/advertising-enters-the-next-dimension-e7672afca05a https://blog.vertebrae.com/building-a-better-path-to-purchase

27:48 - Future of the AR Market

Thanks for listening and please subscribe if you enjoyed the content!

Please visit our website for more information at:
http://icvr.io

Follow us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/icvr.io/

Check us out on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/icvr.io/

Valve has teased their new VR headset, the Valve Index, and it's the hottest news of the week! We break down everything we know so far about this headset and speculate on how it will impact the market.

ICVR is a software development studio based in Los Angeles, CA that specializes in VR/AR & emerging tech. 

General Links:

https://store.steampowered.com/sale/valve_index

Upload VR on the Index: https://uploadvr.com/valve-teases-index-vr-headset-for-may/

https://techcrunch.com/2019/03/29/valve-is-building-its-own-high-end-vr-headset-called-index/

https://skarredghost.com/2019/03/30/valve-index-teased-hands-tracking/

https://skarredghost.com/2018/11/12/all-you-need-to-know-about-leaked-valve-vr-headset-is-half-life-3-2-coming/

02:06 Hardware IPD

03:04 Front Facing Cameras

07:48 FOV

09:10 Lenses

Reddit Thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/vive_vr/comments/b7uaro/redditectives_have_almost_certainly_figured_out/

Valve Lense Patent: https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/bf/96/3e/a6a94ed8109fd1/US20180081092A1.pdf

18:17 Mystery Slot

20:05 Half Life VR?

22:38 Lightning Round

Thanks for listening and please subscribe if you enjoyed the content!

Please visit our website for more information at:
http://icvr.io

Follow us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/icvr.io/

Check us out on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/icvr.io/

Greetings XR Community!

We. Are. Thrilled. to release our inaugural Xtended Reality Podcast!

ICVR is a software development studio based in Los Angeles, CA that specializes in VR/AR & emerging tech. 

This episode breaks down the biggest news coming out of GDC 2019, and gives our take on each announcement.

00:00 - Intro

00:43 - Google Stadia

Reveal: https://youtu.be/nUih5C5rOrA

10:20 - Oculus Rift S

Reveal: https://youtu.be/3vPz9KFXWTk

Palmer Luckey article: http://bit.ly/2Yxfb7n

Correction - 30% of people are excluded from sweetspot IPD (we said 70%)

Kotaku article: https://tcrn.ch/2Ub8hp2

20:16 - Epic Games Announcements

Full Epic video: https://youtu.be/s55Uob494Do

UE4 Video 1: https://youtu.be/Qjt_MqEOcGM

UE4 Video 2: https://youtu.be/9fC20NWhx4s

30:42 - Wrap up

Kotaku on Gabe Newell: http://bit.ly/2YwZjlq

Brainlink Pro site: http://bit.ly/2Yz58ys

Short on tech vs. humanity: https://youtu.be/UXX0TRtg5Vk

Thanks for listening and please subscribe if you enjoyed the content!

Please visit our website for more information at:
http://icvr.io

Follow us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/icvr.io/

Check us out on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/icvr.io/

And, thanks to Dr. Scott at LA Not So Confidential for loaning us some extra equipment to make this podcast come together today. Please give them a listen here:
https://www.la-not-so-confidential.com/lansc