News

VR World Congress - our new Virtual Reality conference

Tue, 10 Nov 2015 15:49:52 +0000

Remember SouthWest VR, our hugely successful VR event in February? Well, our parent company Opposable VR recently announced the newly renamed VR World Congress, a bigger and better event set to take place on the 12th of April, 2016.

As a hub for Virtual Reality in the UK, and a historically creative city in its own right, VR World Congress will take place in Bristol at the Marriott Hotel City Centre.

The name change comes as a result of our grander vision for Virtual Reality in the UK, Europe and beyond. SouthWest VR was the biggest VR conference in the UK, but we're aiming for greater heights in 2016 with a venue that can support up to 600 attendees.

VR World Congress will host the biggest names and brands in VR and technology. So far the speaker lineup includes representatives from AMD, nDreams, Frontier Developments, Lloyd Digital and Opposable VR, with many more to be announced soon.

These guests will speak across two separate talk tracks: a headline track focusing on the bigger picture of VR, sharing experiences and insights. The alternative tech track will consist of in-depth tech talks, ideal for developers looking to expand their skillset.

As well as these two comprehensive talk tracks, VR World Congress will also feature a huge dedicated expo hall where the world’s best VR developers will be showing off their latest and most impressive experiences. Confirmed are Frontier Developments, Tammeka Games, and Opposable - we'll be showing off Salvaged at the event.

As an opportunity for VR developers and enthusiasts to network, learn, and build partnerships, VR World Congress will be unmatched. The Oculus Rift and PlayStation VR are slated to drop in the first half of 2016, while the consumer editions of the HTC Vive and Samsung Gear VR will have been on the market for several months. This makes the VR World Congress a perfect opportunity to observe the market.

VR World Congress is headline sponsored by AMD and its LiquidVR™ technology. AMD designs and integrates technology that powers millions of intelligent devices, including Virtual Reality HMDs. AMD's LiquidVR™ technology is aimed at enabling a fully immersive and comfortable virtual reality experience by creating a new programming model that fully exploits the capabilities of modern GPUs, like AMD Radeon™ products.

You can buy tickets for the event, and find more information, on the VR World Congress website. Opposable will be announcing more speakers, exhibitors and sponsors as we get closer to April 12th.

Brand loyalty? Try brand immersion; How VR can transform your exhibition

Tue, 05 May 2015 11:00:00 +0100

If you’ve attended a large tech conference or festival recently you’ll likely have noticed the ever-increasing presence of virtual reality. You might have seen Samsung showing off their latest incarnation of the Gear VR, a brand using VR as an experiential marketing tool, a company providing medical or engineering training, or a games company demoing a VR title. Whichever it was, it’s a safe bet there was a massive queue to get a demo.

We recently provided tech support for GSMA and Hurricane Media at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The stand we were looking after featured a VR experience that flew delegates through a virtual representation of the GSMA network, highlighting features and the product’s roadmap. To say it was popular is an understatement.

Queues for GSMA’s virtual reality experience at Mobile World Congress, February, 2015

Swathes of people queued at the stand for a chance to experience virtual reality throughout the day, and even after we closed up at the end of the day, people were still asking for a go. Currently, there’s very little on the market that enables consumers to experience VR, and even when the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive do eventually become available, it’s likely going to be a while before anyone beyond the early adopters pick up the hardware; people want to try it.

Suffice to say, the stand we worked on at Mobile World Congress didn’t just attract the attention of delegates though, the press were interested too. CNN dropped by with a film crew to get a taste, and they grabbed an interview with GSMA along the way.

CNN’s Richard Quest tries out GSMA’s virtual reality experience at Mobile World Congress, February, 2015

We were recently asked to showcase virtual reality at the Guardian’s forward-facing Changing Media Summit, an intimate conference with an incredibly high-profile delegate list. Once again we were inundated with interested delegates, all interested in how VR will affect fields from documentary-making to news reporting, films and television.

Vine stars Leslie Wai and Huw Samuel try out the Oculus Rift DK2 and Samsung Gear VR with Opposable Games at the Guardian Changing Media Summit, March 2014

Queues for the Opposable Games/SouthWest VR stand at Guardian Changing Media Summit, March 2014

Put simply, VR garners a lot of attention, and creating an experience that promotes and explains your brand in virtual reality can be very effective. The quality of VR experiences continues to grow as companies such as ourselves explore the possibilities of what can be done.

Immersing your delegates and potential clients in the world of your brand is an incredibly effective tool. Not until now have brands had the opportunity to completely control exactly what their customers can see in 360 degrees, well without buying property and a whole load of props.

If you’re interested in seeing the latest in virtual reality, keep an eye out for our next SouthWest Conference on the website, Facebook and twitter, and sign up to our newsletter.

We've tried the HTC Vive and it's absolutely mind-blowing

Tue, 21 Apr 2015 16:03:30 +0100

News of the HTC Vive headset came as something of a surprise to the VR community. Folks that keep an eye on all things VR had heard on the grapevine that Valve was set to announce a VR headset at GDC, but the fact it was a collaboration with the largely mobile phone-focused company HTC was shocking to put it mildly. Needless to say, it’s great to see such a large manufacturer getting on board with VR, especially as they so confidently announced a November 2015 release date for the consumer edition.

I was lucky enough to get a room-sized demo of the Vive from HTC at Mobile World Congress, and my word, it’s incredible; HTC and Valve have raised the bar significantly.

“We’ve solved sim sickness” said Valve. And indeed they have. Wow.

The hardware (skip this if you don’t care about the nerdery)

The HTC Vive works in collaboration with the Steam tracking system, which utilises two laser base stations placed in opposite corners along with 70 sensors, a gyroscope and an accelerometer in the headset. All this combined provides positional tracking accurate to within a millimetre, all in a space that can be as big as 15 x 15 feet. That is a holodeck right there!

Its two screens offer a resolution of 1200x1080 pixels per eye, a significant jump when compared to the 960×1080 pixels per eye I’ve become familiar with on the Oculus Rift DK2, though it is slightly lower than that of the 1280x1440 pixels of the Galaxy Note 4-powered Samsung Gear VR.

The device’s screens refresh at a level of 90 Hz (or frames per second), again comparing that to the Oculus Rift DK2, that’s a big improvement on its 75hz, and a massive leap from the 60 Hz of the Gear VR. Credit where credit is due though – the latest publicly demoed Oculus Rift prototype, the Crescent Bay, also runs at 90 Hz.

The SteamVR controllers serve as the sole input in the demo reels shown at Mobile World Congress, GDC and Rezzed; they’re held in your hands and offer a way to interact with the virtual world by moving your arms in an incredibly natural manner.

It’s not clear what technology is inside the SteamVR controllers but at a guess they’re likely using gyroscopes and accelerometers. What we do know is that parts of the outsides of the controllers are also covered in the same Lighthouse sensors seen on the headset.

The Steam VR controllers use the same high-resolution ridged circular trackpads seen in the forthcoming Steam controllers for precise selection with your thumbs, all aided with a little haptic feedback.

Behind the trackpads you’ll find a couple of buttons, a trigger, and a squeeze-detecting shaft for further interaction. For now, the controllers are wired but I was told by my demo host that the dev kit controllers will in fact be wireless. Watch this space for more news on that.

The experience

The demo room consisted of very little beyond the headset and its long thick wire, which disappeared off into a corner of the room, the controller and a pair of headphones. A separate unit in a corner allowed the host of my demo to monitor what I was seeing and guide me through the demos with a microphone. The mic was a nice touch and really helped ensure I made the most of my experience.

The very beginning of the experience put me in a large and empty space with virtual controllers very similar to the real ones in my hands. The intention of the section was clearly to get you used to the controllers, allowing you to blow balloons of different colours selected by spinning your thumbs around the trackpad and let them go in the air by pressing the trigger.

By this point I was eager to see more and the host quickly moved me onto the next section. The interface between demos was a large white room with portals to each experience; very Matrix-esque but a really clever way to utilise the advantage of space.

Selecting demos was completely controlled by the host but I suspect this white room will be the new SteamVR user interface when the Vive comes out this November.

theBluVR

The first experience on the demo loop I was placed on was a fleshed-out version of WEVR’s theBluVR. It’s wonderful, placing you on an underwater ship amongst the fishes to explore within the relatively large confines of the physical space you’re in.

“You can bat the fishes” said my host, which I of course did. It’s an epic demo in the real sense of the word. The sense of scale is incredible and the draw distance seemed huge, with all kinds of aquatic goings-on off in the distance.

I immediately ran around as much as I could; being an avid Oculus Rift user I’m so very used to accidentally going out of bounds and causing the horrible jarring tracking reset to occur by simply leaning a little too far forwards in my office chair. This was an opportunity to go way beyond, to really explore a huge virtual space, and it’s magical.

Any cares about field of view, resolution or screen door effect were immediately thrown out the window. I could run, jump and crouch! The only limiting factors were wireframed wall indicators that cleverly faded in when you reached the confines of the physical space and the cable from the headset I was always a little aware of being under my feet.

The presence of the wire is a bit of a shame but it’s not the biggest deal. Hopping over it becomes instinctive quite quickly but it’s a necessary evil at this point unfortunately. Eventually we’ll have rid of all these wires but the technology is a way off yet, especially if it’s to be even remotely affordable. The magic of the full-room experience was enough to make me not care much about the cable at all.

theBluVR demo comes to a close as a giant whale floats right by the boat and stares you right in eye with its person-sized peeper. Obviously meant to trigger a bit of an emotional response it unfortunately didn’t work too well with me. I’m not sure why but I think it could be because I’ve experienced similar eye contact-ey moments in demos like Kite & Lightning’s awesome Senza Peso. Still though, epic whale.

Unknown alpha

Next up was essentially a proof-of-concept alpha experience. By a pretty rough process of elimination I’m guessing this was from Steel Wool but I don’t really know. “The last demo showed you how big stuff can be, this one will show you the wonders of tiny things”, came the voice in my ears.

The demo was essentially a tabletop akin to a Warhammer set or Command and Conquer landscape, complete with tiny men going to war with each other. Some pretty distracting 2D explosion sprites distracted a little from the immersion of it all but as I say, it was essentially a proof-of-concept meant to demonstrate what can be done with this kind of room-scale VR.

Incidentally, the HTC Vive promises to eventually be a local multiplayer experience, and something strategy games will work brilliantly in VR or AR as I’ve said before. Beyond a few fun easter eggs around the map there wasn’t much more to this demo but it was a cool experience nevertheless.

Job Simulator

Next up was Job Simulator from Owlchemy Labs, most definitely my favourite of the five demos I tried out. I’m a fan of their Fruit Ninja-esque mobile game Jack Lumber, and while that is a polished piece of work this next game about to impress me beyond belief.

Job Simulator places you in a friendly cartoon kitchen. You’re immediately talked to by a chatty robot and told to make a soup. Looking around, in one corner was a microwave, another a fridge, and straight in front of me a cooker. Pots, pans and utensils were dotted around and all kinds of bits of cartoon food were quite literally up for grabs.

A wave around with my controllers and I saw my cartoon hands. “Holy cow, I can just pick things up”, I thought. I went ahead and grabbed the steak and tried to shove it into the pan, missed and immediately caught the steak before it hit the floor. That was really special; it took no effort or conscious thought to catch that steak and it didn’t even hit the ground.

I then went to grab some more ingredients while the steak bubbled away on the hob. At this point I thought about how perfect the size and shape of the room were in this particular demo. The freedom to run around and pick anything up was incredible.

I suddenly felt like a child and decided that throwing things around would be great fun and proceeded to pick up plates and begin tossing them around the room without a care in the world. So. Much. Fun. And completely effortless.

On with the soup then, as my host reminded me of the fridge in the corner. I walked across a few feet and opened the fridge by pulling the handle and using the trigger on the controller. I grabbed a tomato and attempted to drop it on another surface, missed and once again managed to catch it before it hit the floor. “I can catch in VR!” I exclaimed. “You can juggle in VR” came my host.

I chopped a tomato with a nearby knife a little before my host informed me I was running out of time. Smashy smashy then! And I threw things around as darkness faded around me and the next demo began.

Tilt Brush

Next up was Tilt Brush from Skillman and Hackett, who were recently acquired by Google. It’s another ridiculously magical demo which I’ve personally been waiting for a go on for a long time.

A watch of the video above will give you a good idea of the kind of thing Tilt Brush entails; it’s a 3D painting program, and with the Vive allows you to create watercolour-esque sculptures. I ran around the room painting trees with animated trunks made of fire, graffitied SWVR in the air like a naughty schoolkid and pranced around like a fool.

“Normally at this point I have to tell people they can move around but I think you get it”, came my host as I skipped around. I’d been reading about the Vive a lot and I knew it’d be a long while before I got to experience that kind of freedom.

I look forward to having another go on this and seeing what some decent artists do with it in the future. My only worry is that the Google acquisition means we won’t see a proper release on the Vive. That would be tragic as making animated paintings the size of a room should be something everyone gets to do at some point in their lives.

Portal

Boom. There it was – Portal.

If you’re a gamer of any sort then you know that experiencing Portal in VR is gonna be very special. I don’t even want to give much away as it’d be a shame to spoil the surprise. Let’s just say it involved a lot of GLaDOS and exactly the kind of Portal-based humour you’d expect from the wonderful mind of Chet Faliszek.

Conclusion

Immersion, presence, whatever you want to call it; the HTC Vive is the next step up from any of the dev kits I’ve tried, and beyond the fact that I wanted to go back immediately I felt absolutely fine; 30 minutes and not a spec of a headache, sim sickness or anything of the sort.

The HTC Vive transports you somewhere else. You’re just there, and it’s spellbinding. Do yourself a favour and jump at the chance to have a go if you ever get one. It’s life-changing.

SouthWest VR Conference 2015: Talks, Interviews, Photos and Summary

Fri, 13 Mar 2015 14:29:56 +0000

So after a rather busy couple of weeks post-conference (during which we tried out the Vive in Barcelona, wow!), we’ve finally had a little chance to upload the talks from the main track, as well as a few interviews kindly caught by Digital Medium and conducted by RoadtoVR’s Jonathan Tustain.

Before we get stuck in I just want to say a massive thank you to everyone that attended, exhibited, talked, volunteered and helped out in any way, we couldn't have done it without you! We've had some fantastic feedback and we’re definitely going to be coming back next year bigger and better!

Below are the talks from the conference, handily all in one place, with a bit of a write-up from our very own Daniel Dowsing on each (a version of this originally appeared on Upload). Make sure you like our Facebook page and check out the awesome photos from Tom Sparey by clicking the photo below!

Hosted by games journalist Will Freeman, the SouthWest VR conference kicked off with Sony’s Dave Ranyard quite appropriately discussing how VR is a new world for creative developers. With what would become a recurring point throughout the day, Ranyard established VR as being about presence, true immersion and, most importantly, ‘getting an experience you might never get’ anywhere else. To illustrate this point he showed a charming video of Sony’s VR experience The Deep, played by his mother – her reaction to encountering a great white shark being truly priceless.

This idea of VR as being a totally new experience for people – to both those familiar with the technology and those completely new to it – was further developed by Henrique Olifiers of Bossa Studios. Olifiers stressed the importance of the first moments in which someone encounters VR as being a make or break moment for the technology. From Bossa’s own work with VR Olifiers advised against using ‘shock and awe’ during the initial moments of the experience as the user is already in a state of sensory overload. Olifiers also noted that one of the major issues VR faces is control; in time, he hopes, a standard control interface will emerge for VR.

Complimentary technologies were discussed by the next two speakers: Patrick O’Luanaigh of nDreams and Tom Carter of Ultrahaptics. O’Luanaigh highlighted the potential for Augmented Reality (AR) to enhance VR by drawing the user into a VR experience through a more natural and gentle access point. O’Luanaigh suggested that a combination of AR and VR could make the potentially isolating VR experience more sociable and prove beneficial for both technologies.

Tom Carter and Ultrahaptics certainly turned the most heads at SouthWest VR with their physical feedback ultrasound technology. Carter theorised that whilst VR enhances the user’s audio and visual senses it neglects the user’s sense of touch – and thus not reaching its potential as a truly immersive experience. By using Ultrahaptic’s unique ultrasound air pads, the user is able to physically feel 3D shapes in the air around them. Such examples on display included the sensation of bubbles popping against your skin and passing your hand through a force field. Needless to say, the Ultrahaptics stall was one of the busiest with people queuing out of the door to have a go.

Phil Harper of AlchemyVR kicked off the discussions for VR’s potential as a filmmaking tool by suggesting the act of watching in VR can be stronger than interacting. Advocating the power of 360 degree video in VR filmmaking, Harper suggested the technology has the power to allow the audience to ‘forget themselves and be brought into the world’ of the film. Whilst AlchemyVR currently developer VR documentaries, their aim for the future is to use the technology to create fictional dramas but hinted that one issue creators will have to consider is whether emotions in VR are enhanced too much – citing some of the truly terrifying VR horror films currently available.

Stephen Gray highlighted VR filmmaking’s limitless potential as an educational tool. Using his own Moved by Conflict exhibition at Bristol’s MShed museum as an example, and echoing Phil Harper’s opinion that watching is as strong as interacting, Gray pointed out that the passive nature of the VR experience enhanced the immersion felt by guests to the museum. A touching response from one historian to Gray’s exhibition highlighted the captivating power of VR as they revelled in the chance to travel back in time through Bristol’s past.

Edward Miller of Immersiv.ly discussed VR filmmaking’s potential as a broadcast tool. Miller suggests that VR is currently in the age of spectacle similarly experiences by early filmmakers such as the Lumiere Brothers; where experimental ‘play’ is currently more important than narrative clarity. In time, Miller suggests, VR filmmaking can develop into a new medium for telling truly evocative and in-depth stories though mentioned that filmmakers will have to learn a new rulebook to create good experiences. Miller highlighted the recent use of 360-degree cameras to film pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong as an example of the emotive potential of VR broadcasting, as the audience became more immersed in the event unfolding onscreen.

Andre Lorenceau of Innerspace seemed to contradict Edward Miller by suggesting that VR filmmaking’s greatest strength laid in its ability to unleash creativity rather than capture real life. Innerspace’s visually stunning body of work features VR experiences in truly fantastical environments.

Whilst Duncan Burbidge of Third Floor Inc. continued the argument for fantasy trumping real life and spoke of how VR’s world building capabilities have benefited traditional Hollywood filmmaking. Burbidge continued by asking questions of VR filmmaking such as how can filmmakers maintain the audience’s focus and whether, in time, all VR platforms will work on a common format.

Returning to VR gaming, Katie Goode of Triangular Pixels imparted game design advice learnt from the development of Smash Hit Plunder. Goode highlighted the importance of finding inspiration outside of games when developing for VR and stressed the importance of ‘tactile immersion’ in the VR space. Using elements such as shadows and world interactions are key to enhancing tactile immersion for gamers.

Pixel Rift developer Ana Ribeiro gave an inspiring talk of her journey from pie shop owner in Brazil to VR game developer in the UK. Using pies as a charming allegory, Ribeiro stressed the importance of testing, learning and creating a community as the key to VR success. Ribeiro’s story teaches us that lessons from all aspects of life can teach us to make games whilst highlighting that, as a new technology, VR has opened the doors for new developers.

Filmmaker Nick Pittom of Fire Panda explored the exciting potential of VR as a technology for real-time storytelling that can adapt to the audience’s control. Traditional storytelling, according to Pittom, is limited when compared to the opportunities made possible by VR. Much like Katie Goode, Pittom suggested looking to other storytelling mediums such as theatre and games for inspiration when creating a VR story but stressed that traditional filmmaking rules do not work in VR and that a new language would have to emerge. Pittom suggested that technology such as Gaze Cues would be integral for allowing the audience to control the narrative of their VR experience.

Games as a medium have started to become insular with regards to subject matter, suggested Mark Washbrook and Paul Colls of Fierce Kaiju, but VR has the potential to tackle bolder and braver subjects. Commenting on how many of todays game developers were inspired into games by games of the past, Washbrook and Colls suggested that by embracing new subjects, that people care about, it’ll inspire the next generation of developers.

The day was rounded off by a panel discussion featuring Dave Ranyard of Sony, Henrique Olifiers of Bossa Studios and Kevin Williams of The Stinger Report. The panel identified that the strengths of VR are found in the immersion of its ability to allow the user to interact with characters and the environment. As a storytelling medium the panel stressed the importance of making the user a part of the story and using the environment to tell a story. Kevin William’s highlighted that the reaction from traditional filmmakers towards VR as a sign of the medium’s storytelling potential, but stressed that making VR content readily available should be one of the industry’s key objectives. In time, the panel agreed, VR technology would need to create an industry standard for the potential health effects of using VR, and that developers should be prepared to encounter barriers.

VR is still a ‘stage one’ technology just beginning to bloom. The doors have been flung wide open and creativity is pouring in though, as many of the conference talks noted, creators and developers are still at the ‘play’ stage; eagerly learning how to create compelling experiences and stories. With each step being taken forward the industry is discovering new ways to create but also asking important questions that must be answered about health, artistic language and accessibility. Events such as SouthWest VR bring people together and, as Will Freeman surmises, ‘knowledge sharing benefits VR’. This year’s event felt tailored to exploring the potential of VR technology. In the twelve months between now and the next SouthWest VR event it’ll be fascinating to see how VR grows as a technology and an industry. With a number of different disciplines experimenting with VR it truly is an exciting time to be at the dawn of a new technological medium.

The SouthWest VR Experience!

Fri, 20 Feb 2015 11:26:37 +0000

For the first annual SouthWest VR Conference, we’re trying something pretty cool…

We’re planning to stream the whole conference on Riftmax, meaning you can don your DK1 or DK2 headset, meet up with the rest of our VR viewers and see the event for yourself!

Here are instructions for how to get involved with the SouthWest VR Experience on Riftmax.

Go to http://www.riftmax.com/ and press the download Riftmax button
Install Riftmax, ensure all your codecs are up to date too as this can cause issues!
a. If you need to update your codecs, you can use QuickTime, Flash or K-Lite.
Jump into Riftmax and join the theatre called SouthWest VR.
Put on your headset, wait for the event to start then prepare to be amazed…
a. If we start having technical difficulties, it should pop up on the screen.

If you have any issues, don’t fret! Tweet us @SouthWestVR

Dave Preston's Animex Blog, 2015

Tue, 17 Feb 2015 12:16:17 +0000

Last week I had the pleasure of attending the ever delicious Animex festival up in the frozen wastelands of the north i.e. Middlesbrough. My plane set off from Bristol airport on Sunday evening just as the shadows began to stretch super long across the landscape. Kinda like the demon’s evil shadow hands from the Night on Bald Mountain section in Fantasia, but without the naughty disco gremlins grooving all over the place. Instead, I had the Easy Jet staff trying to flog me their own line in perfumes. I figured I already smell like baggage check-in by the time I arrived so gave it a miss.

In previous years I'd stayed at the Metro Inn a few miles out of town as it was mega cheap. I remember asking the owner over a non-branded microwave lasagne why he'd built his hotel in the middle of an industrial estate, surrounded by car lots and a giant Happy Shopper warehouse? Apparently he hadn't. They'd built the whole thing around him afterwards. Now the only people who stayed there are long distance truck drivers and ghosts.

There was also an amusing moment when I returned to my room to find it completely empty and all my stuff missing. Then on closer inspection realised it wasn't my room at all! Apparently I'd been given the master key code by accident and had the ability to open any room I wished. The manager politely asked me to forget the combination as he had no way of changing it. I'd never felt more secure … OR powerful!

This year, being a grown up, I opted for the Travel Lodge actually in town. The room smelt really weird (I can't describe it as it bares no resemblance to any other smell I have ever smelt before, but if it were a member of Police Academy it would most likely be Zed) and shook when large vehicles passed, but was otherwise perfectly habitable.

Monday morning. Registration was straightforward and this year’s Animex souvenir goodie bag was a sweet satchel - or 'messenger bag' for the hipsters having this read to them. Much classier than the over the shoulder sailor bag I'd received previously that made me look like Uncle Albert from Only Fools and Horses.

Gabrielle Kent, Amimex Program Director, gave us her classic welcoming talk before handing the stage over to Ed Hooks, author of Acting for Animators. Ed's a bit of a staple at the festival for giving his Acting for Animators workshop but his first talk of the day was something pretty heavy: why Big Hero 6 is an hour and a half advert (for what?). Shame Disney didn’t arrive till Tuesday as I think things would’ve kicked off big time - an upper cut from Zach Parrish, Ed smashing a beer bottle over the closest student whilst defending his honour; shards of glass and manic eyes glinting under spectacular eyebrows. In all seriousness it was a good talk with Ed urging those who want to be in the industry to follow their artistic dreams over all else and not bend to 'The Man’. Personally, I enjoyed Big Hero 6 but certainly knew what he was getting at and would have liked a lot more narrative development for all the characters.

The afternoon was dedicated to Guardians of the Galaxy with Cumron Ashtiani of Atomhawk talking about the concept art for the Milano - a space ship I would very genuinely like to sleep with – and Greg Fisher, from MPC, discussing the animation of Groot. Now Groot’s a character I don't need to sleep with but would find acceptable as a neighbour; quiet, well-mannered and useful to have around for rescuing cats from trees. Or putting them there in the first place…

The arrival of the evening saw the arrival of booze. I forget the details but, come the morning, I had less business cards in my wallet so either I made new friends or used them to pay for something.

Tuesday featured talks from industry heavyweights such as Double Negative, Frame Store and Disney. We learnt the difficulties in applying post processing effects to stereoscopic films such as Exodus: Gods and Kings. Apparently they weren't allowed to show crocodiles eating people in the film, so there were plenty of crocodiles eating other crocodiles in a big grinding red mass of death, which was much less disturbing.

An insightful talk on Paddington revealed that the moment Judy's face is licked by the bear was actually created via a big'ol brush of wallpaper paste being smeared over her face. The brush itself was passed through a tiny noose to keep it on target

Zach Parrish took us through the animation process on Big Hero 6 - I had no idea only 800 people worked at Disney. It was interesting to hear how long it generally took an artist to finish key framing a scene (a very long time) so I no longer feel like an arthritic snail.

Laika were there with the Boxtrolls explaining the process of physically building one of their animatable characters. The film was a real labour of love; the amount of time required in stop-frame animation is colossal and you could quickly achieve the same effect digitally if you chose to, but these guys just go in and do it with their hands. I actually think they're insane, or maybe they’re Amish and not allowed to use computers? Either way, the end results are beautiful and always more impressive when you know about the blood, sweat, and tears (and 3D printers) that went into it.

The second evening brought the chance to check out the Student Abstract Animation Awards, though a better name for these might have been 'scribbly squares scratched into old film accompanied by an eclectic mix of progressive jazz toss'. I'm concerned I might have died that night in the cinema as I swallowed my own still-weeping eyes. A myriad of wonky colours danced back and forth across the dark screen like a cobra hypnotising me into a ketamine-style stupor only to end with an angry screen of blinding white. The world around me seems dull and lifeless now with its muted colours and distinct lack of jazz. I no longer sit at my desk; I haunt it. Riker was into jazz, who wants to be like Riker?

Wednesday offered a bag of choices including; various workshops, an indie devs day and a comic book day. I went for comics as drawing is totes sweet; the highlight being the informal interview between Jim Zubb and Tula Lotay. Tula's work is genuinely inspiring and her personality really came across in the relaxed setting. I can't imagne there’s anyone who wouldn't like to have a nice cup of tea with her. Except for those abstract film students, who clearly drink ink and nightmares whilst hating joy. She also run's Thought Bubble festival so I'll be checking that out next chance I get.

‘Creating Manga Shakesphere for Mature Female Readers’ by Harumo Sanazaki was a real treat, with the story of Romeo and Juliet being retold from Lady Capulet’s view point. My favourite quote being: “I know you now have the right to exploit me sexually...” There was more but I dropped my pencil at that point and missed it.

Michael Molcher gave a convincing argument on why 2000AD is in fact responsible for the high quality of story telling in all modern comics today. A sweeping statement I’ll admit but he had enough pictures of Judge Dredd looking persuasive plastered to the walls that I wasn't going to argue. He also plugged their Future Shock writing competition, so if you dream of working in that area I suggest you give it a go.

Wednesday evening brought a gaming social in which local games companies (and Gang Beasts creator Boneloaf) got a chance to exhibit their ongoing projects. Here I met up with Graham and Chantelle from RadiationBurn; a few months prior we'd interviewed a couple of their interns for our 3D junior vacancy so it was nice to know where they'd come from. Chantelle kinda looks like Thea Queen from Arrow whilst Graham's built like a brick shit house so it's entirely possible they do roam the streets of Starling City jamming pointy things into bad people when they’re not programming by day. Their dialogue was a damn sight better than that of Arrow and I didn't feel like I'd wasted an hour of my life after talking to them. If you get the chance be sure to check out their current project, Living Dungeon. I was pretty drunk at the time but I'm sure the game is still great fun sober.

Thursday featured Ken Wong talking about the art on Monument Valley (winner of ALL the awards), Facial animation from Cubic Motion (who've totally robbed our logo, somehow ahead of us even designing it), and Creative Assembly's Gary Napper on the design and AI of Alien: Isolation (excellent speaker, by the way). Nicole Stark gave a heart-felt presentation on the development of her game, Ninja Pizza Girl, which was inseparable from tales about her life and family. I liked her story about how the folks she used to work with removed a slutty nurse zombie from the cover of their game after realising it might be offensive to women. I especially liked that it was followed by Alessandro Taini of Ninja Theory who's art consisted mostly of Dante from DmC lounging around topless, naked angels pretty much deep throating his conspicuously placed gun.

The evening brought yet more boozing. A Miss Kitty Powers charity auction was the highlight of the night.

Friday was cut short by the necessity of catching a plane home but,. before I life, I managed to catch Andrew Walsh's talk on writing characters for Fable Legends. He's a shouty-sweary man - much like the pissed guy you're scarred is going to talk to you down the pub. He knows his stuff though and my favourite quote would have to be: “If you discriminate against people for their gender or race then you're a fuck wit.” He still, however, completely acknowledges the reality that all these things feed into the creation of a character.

Jennifer Clixby from Lionhead finished off my day with an overview of what a producer actually does. Apparently they're not just untalented, goose-stepping taskmasters telling me to do work and stop spinning around on my swivel chair. They are, in fact, core to the process of creating. Well, pretty much anything that's going to require more than a couple of people to work on. I think, in my hearts of heart, I always knew that.

When I attended Animex five years prior the girl staying in the room across from me, Leanne, was fresh out of uni and showing off her final year project piece about a security camera coming to life and beating the crap out of a bugler. I saw her again this year, however, this time she was on one of the panels talking about the creation of her game, Super Glyph Quest with Alex Trowers, and the creation of her baby, Super Willow Quest (also with Alex Trowers). To top it off she's on MVC's top 100 women in games.

A lot can change in 5 years. I'm no longer an unemployed bum but the head of my department at the sweetest company this side of London. I tried explaining to Leanne that much of her success must, undoubtedly, be down to meeting me but she wasn't buying it. Maybe we can both owe a little bit to the inspiration provided by Animex festival? That and the sustenance provided by the weird ass chicken-cheese mush Teeside exudes from its fine takeaways.

Further announcements for the upcoming SouthWest VR Conference – Sony and Bossa Studios join our group of incredible special speakers

Tue, 10 Feb 2015 11:28:58 +0000

We are pleased to announce that Dave Ranyard, Head of Sony Computer Entertainment, London and Henrique Olifiers, Games Designer and Co-Founder of BAFTA award-winning Bossa Studios will be joining our fantastic roster of speakers for the SouthWest VR Conference on the 24th of February.

Other guests include but are not limited to; Channel 4, Pinewood Studios, Aardman, The Imaginarium and The Yogscast.

The event will be used to launch several new VR products with the potential to totally shake up not just the gaming industry but many other non-gaming spheres.

Dave Ranyard of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe is already excited for the event: “I'm really looking forward to SouthWest VR - I think it’s going to be great to see different perspectives of people working in VR - and it really feels like a fantastic, grass roots event."

A special mention goes to recently signed up speakers; Duncan Burbidge from The Third Floor Inc, Mark Washbrook and Paul Colls, both from development studio Fierce Kaiju.

SouthWest VR will be hosted by the renowned games journalist Will Freeman and is supported by; Invest in Bristol&Bath, Creative Skillset, the Digital Cultures Research Centre, Webstart Bristol, the Centre for Digital Entertainment, the BMT Group and Unity 3D.

SouthWest VR will be fundraising for UK charity GamesAid, which will be running a GamesAid Tenner collection. Attendees are asked to bring £10 with them to donate to GamesAid.

Tickets are selling out fast and we’re running out of room! If you’re interested in attending, don’t miss out and buy your ticket today from the SouthWest VR Eventbrite page.

For more information, tickets and links to social media, visit www.southwestvr.com.

Leading lights gather to shine spotlight on how virtual reality is shaking up entertainment industry

Fri, 16 Jan 2015 11:05:08 +0000

Guests and Speakers

Big names including Oculus, Aardman, The Imaginarium, Unity 3D and Alchemy VR among line-up of speakers and guests

Oculus, the company behind the most talked-about virtual reality hardware, the Oculus Rift, is part of a stellar line-up due to gather for a new conference, set to become a major annual event in the industry calendar.

SouthWest VR Conference, organised by award-winning studio Opposable Games, will shine a spotlight on how virtual reality is shaking up the entertainment industry and transforming the way we interact with film, games, TV and animation.

Taking place at the At-Bristol Science Centre in Bristol on February 24, the conference has already attracted big-name official guests such as Oculus, the developer of the Oculus Rift virtual reality head-mounted display, Aardman, The Imaginarium and Yogscast, with talks by Atlantic Productions’ Alchemy VR, Unity 3D, nDreams and Innerspace lined up. Other high profile speakers will be announced in the coming weeks.

SouthWest VR, which is to be hosted by renowned games journalist Will Freeman, will also provide delegates with a chance to try out the latest in virtual reality technology including the Oculus Rift Development Kit 2 and Samsung’s Gear VR Innovator Edition, powered by Oculus along with a few special surprises.

With Facebook’s purchase of Oculus for $2bn, Samsung’s new virtual reality handset, and both Sony and Microsoft working on new handsets, virtual reality is expected to create the largest digital economy seen since mobile apps took off in 2009.

“Many of the smartphones coming onto the market in 2015 are powerful enough to deliver immersive virtual reality experiences to people. That’s brand new, and it’s not the incremental change we’ve been used to seeing each year since 2008. Virtual reality is a brand new medium, and a very powerful one, so for content creators that should be very exciting”, said Phil Harper, creative director at Alchemy VR, Atlantic Productions’ Virtual Reality content studio. The company is already underway on several projects including an immersive journey into the ancient oceans with renowned natural history broadcaster David Attenborough.

SouthWest VR is a one-day event with a focus on narrative and storytelling within virtual reality. The format will consist of quick-fire talks from significant industry-leading figures with plenty of time to network and try out the hardware, software and 360 degree movies on show. The conference is supported by Invest Bristol & Bath, Creative Skillset, the Digital Cultures Research Centre, Webstart Bristol, the Centre for Digital Entertainment, the BMT Group and Unity 3D.

David Maher Roberts, creative and digital media specialist at Invest Bristol & Bath, said: “The Bristol and Bath region has a long-established industry in TV, film and animation, coupled with a thriving games industry, meaning that it is well placed to host start-ups and established brands as they move into virtual reality. Current estimates indicate a worldwide market of $5.2bn, made up of games, film and TV, visualisation and experiential applications so this is a hugely exciting time for the region.”

SouthWest VR will be fundraising for UK charity GamesAid, who will be running a GamesAid Tenner collection. Attendees are asked to bring £10 with them to donate to GamesAid.

The line-up of speakers and guests at South-West VR includes: Callum Underwood, European developer relations manager at Oculus; Phil Harper, creative director at Atlantic Productions’ Alchemy VR; Patrick O’Luanaigh, CEO of virtual reality-focused games studio nDreams; and Nick Pittom, director of critically acclaimed VR studio Fire Panda.

For more information, tickets and links to our social media visit www.southwestvr.com.

For media enquiries, contact Suzan Uzel at Spirit Public Relations: +44 (0)117 944 1415 / ibb@spiritpublicrelations.co.uk

Opposable Games picks up two awards at The SPARKies

Wed, 05 Nov 2014 14:41:42 +0000

Thursday 30^th October 2014 saw the third annual SPARKies awards at Komedia in Bath, a prestigious show that took place amidst the Bath Digital Festival. The event, hosted by comedian Tom Craine, was set up to award the best tech in the West by “shining a light on the very best people, products and companies that make up the tech sector in Bristol, Bath and the broader West of England region”.

We are delighted to inform you that Opposable Games, in conjunction with Handaxe Ltd., picked up The “Good” award (for the best use of tech for doing good) for CBT computer game Pesky gNATs.

What the judges said: ‘Pesky gNats is a computer game that uses core elements of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. We love the extension of gaming into the therapeutic space, connecting with young people in their own world.’

Opposable Games Managing Director Ben Trewhella also picked up the Individual Contribution to Technology award, which is awarded for “use of philanthropic digital and tech skills in the region and time and effort put into using digital capabilities or technology for the good of others”.

What the judges said: ‘Ben is very engaged in the tech community and dedicated to making the Bristol region a focus for gaming in the UK. His reputation is incredibly strong, he has delivered real value to the area and is always looking to help other start-ups.’

We'd like to say a massive thanks to Handaxe, The SPARKies and everyone at Bath Digital Festival, we look forward to seeing you all next year. Head on over to the Opposable Games Facebook page for a selection of rather embarrassing photos (there a couple of nice ones too).

PRESS

Record field up for the region's tech Oscars, the SPARKies - Bristol Post

SPARKies tune into digital achievers by celebrating success stories - Bath Chronicle

Digital stars rewarded at local tech ‘Oscars’ event - Business Leader

Opposable Games featured in Wired Magazine

Tue, 21 Oct 2014 10:51:19 +0100

We're rather humbled to let you know that we've been featured in November's Wired Magazine! The double-page spread feature is an awesome tribute to Salvaged and the Opposable Games crew with visuals created by our Lead 3D Artist Dave Preston.

Set aboard a ship in the Savaged universe, the piece features the faces of the Opposable Games team 'shopped onto 3D models. Unfortunately it's unlikely you'll be seeing our faces in the game when it's out, this was purely for art my dears.

Here's the full feature more or less as it appeared across two pages; I've aligned the text to the right so you guys can see the full image (click to enlarge).

" If there's a new games technology trend – whether multiscreen or virtual reality – you can be that Bristol-based developers Opposable Games are on board. After three years working for clients including Channel 4 and the Wellcome Trust, the studio is now building its first major solo project using procedural generation, whereby a landscape, level or environment is generated randomly by the computer every time a player encounters it, ensuring that no two play sessions are ever the same.

Set in a sci-fi universe, the PC-based Salvaged has won awards for its dual-screen gameplay in which players use a tablet as a controller, powered by One Touch Connect technology, Opposable's proprietary connectivity software. “There are more and more devices out there and it's such a waste to have people play one game on a PC and not be able to translate that on to mobile,” says CEO and co-founder Ben Trewhella. “Multiscreen's time has finally come.” "

10 innovative ways companies are using virtual reality in marketing and beyond

Tue, 23 Sep 2014 17:34:26 +0100

In case you aren't aware just yet, we're pretty big on virtual reality here at Opposable Games, and while it's a technology that we know lends itself brilliantly to gaming, its uses are spreading way beyond that. Here, we take a look at some innovative uses across various sectors.

1. Taking hotel-goers on virtual “holidays”

The accommodation giant Marriott Hotels has taken virtual reality to the streets in an experiential marketing exercise that lets passers-by transport themselves to a range of locations around the world inside specially constructed pods outside its establishments.

To give this experience a level of immersion that goes beyond the visual, Marriott has added wind, heat and mist to stimulate users' other senses. It's a clever mix of real-world video and CG and is apparently very effective. Experiences are shareable using the hashtag #GetTeleported

2. Bringing architectural visualisation to the next level

There are a number of architectural visualisation companies out there taking advantage of VR, if you've got access to an Oculus Rift there's a demo up on Oculus Share right now from Viewport Studios.

Arch viz is a natural fit for the technology as it allows users to step into a space that doesn't yet exist, something companies have been trying to do for a matter of years. Modern and affordable VR tech achieves this goal in a way that was previously impossible.

Using VR to show off homes or commercial properties in their final design phase to potential investors is a fantastic use of the tech and will undoubtedly become the norm in the years to come. Think a little further though, and you begin to realise the potential of VR during the design process. Stepping into a building that's still being designed allows a perspective you couldn't previously had.

3. Creating incredibly immersive movie and television tie-ins

From the very off it was pretty obvious there'd be interest in virtual reality from film and television studios but the bigger questions revolve around just how they're going to use it. So far, the commitments we've seen publicly have largely been used by studios creating promotional experiences to take to conventions but going forwards we're expecting to see something way beyond tie-ins.

Warner Brothers created an experience to promote its movie Into the Storm that places people in a tunnel as they watch a tornado rip apart a town in front of them complete with 4D wind effects to enhance the experience.

Legendary Pictures created an experience that allowed people to experience being the pilot of a 250-foot Jaeger Combat Simulator at Comic-Con 2014.

Also at Comic-Con 2014 Fox created a scary experience to promote their show Sleepy Hollow.

At 2014's supercool convention SXSW HBO allowed attendees to ride the lift up the famous wall features in its incredibly popular fantasy show Game of Thrones.

Finally, to show you it's not just fantastical fiction that can benefit from VR experiences, NBC is currently touring an experience that puts you in the shoes of a coach on its hit show The Voice. This demo is available to download on the Oculus Share site and was created in collaboration with the incredible LA studio Kite & Lightning.

4. Showing people around virtual car showrooms

Car shows are great but if you've only got a 3D model of the vehicle you're wanting to show off, there's only so much you can do. Several car companies have employed studios to help implement their models into virtual reality showrooms, allowing people to try out their new cars before they even exist.

5. Providing relaxing meditative experiences

The Oculus Rift can provide a tranquil place to be for folks on their own, with many recounting relaxing experiences simply floating around star systems in some of the many space sims already available for the device. Beyond this though, companies such as nDreams have been creating experiences for those that wish to relax and take in a beautiful beach surrounding and even go through guided meditation.

http://www.ndreams.com/portfolio-view/perfect-beach/

6. Sending people off cliffs with product tie-ins

Red Bull is a company known for its forays into unusual marketing, so it came as no surprise to us when the company was one of the first to take a bunch of Oculus Rifts on the road and let people experience a VR version of its Cliff Diving event.

7. Taking people to the catwalk

The Topshop virtual reality experience, developed in conjunction with Inition, was a simple but effective way to bring the Rift to an industry you mightn't yet have associated with VR – fashion.

8. Demonstrating internet lag

In a very clever ad campaign, energy company Umeå Energi demonstrated just how irritating lag can be by attaching an Oculus Rift to people while they attempted to play ping pong. The front of the Rift had a camera attached to it that the players could see through but, and this is where the clever bit is, the video feed was a couple of seconds behind, making play just a wee bit difficult. They sell, of course, “one of the world’s fastest broadband connections”.

9. Changing perceptions of exactly what a magazine is

Tech mag Stuff Singapore has partnered with Oculus Rift to create a virtual reality magazine, details are currently pretty thin but it's a novel idea that might well be a glimpse at how we consume editorial a few years down the line.

http://www.stuff.tv/sg/oculus/stuff-partners-oculus-rift-present-worlds-first-magazine-virtual-reality/news

10. Allowing fans to “train” with the England rugby team

O2 got together with the England Rugby Team to create a “virtual reality sports experience” called Weat the Rose. It's not the kind of thing that'll get you fit any time soon (though that'll be coming once we're all using Omnis), instead being a cleverly-created fanservice video that used 9 Go-Pros to put you in the shoes of an England player as they train on the pitch.

BONUS VIDEO

Oculus Rift Roundtable: Commercial Applications for Virtual Reality

We went to the Untied Unity Conference, here's what we thought

Fri, 19 Sep 2014 15:36:08 +0100

I went to Untied a bit unsure what to expect! Untied was created because of the lack of an official Unite conference in the UK and Byron and Mitch did a fantastic job of organising a conference to fill in that void. Held in the very swanky UKIE offices in London, it was a bit of a trek for Dave and I, but definitely more than worth going.

I was given the exciting opportunity to speak at the conference as well! I had submitted a brief to Byron thinking that it would be overlooked, as my time in the industry has been vastly shorter than most, but to my surprise I was offered a ten minute slot! I felt very nervous when I stepped on stage but my talk largely went to plan and I really enjoyed it. It was a really great opportunity to introduce myself outside of the Bristol games development scene so thanks again to Byron for giving me the opportunity.

The other talks were also excellent. Helana Santos showed LA Cops and her programming tricks including how they made destructible objects. Andy Touch showed Unity 5 off practically leaving my mouth salivating. Louise James explained the process of submitting a package to the asset store and much more. And I also met lots of familiar and new faces so it was a great experience overall!

I would offer to share my presentation online except for the fact my slides are just images but if you want to hear anything about the presentation, tweet me!

Lukas Roper

@LukasRoper

What we learnt at VRTGO

Wed, 17 Sep 2014 16:12:03 +0100

Last week we took ourselves to Northern lands to visit VRTGO, a virtual reality-focused conference in Gateshead. That's a real life virtual reality conference, or VRIRL as nobody calls it.

It was good, very good; informative and at times quite fun. The event definitely felt like a very real and incredibly interesting glimpse into things to come. This wasn't a conference aimed at a consumer market, instead being much more focused on the future of VR; stories of how projects came to be and speculation as to how, why and where we, as developers, going forwards.

There were some great guests in attendance, with presence from Oculus, Facebook, nDreams, CCP, Cloud Imperium, Bossa and Sony amongst others. There were some recurring themes throughout the day – stuff about what works and what doesn't work and where VR is headed. Here's a tiny digest on three of those topics.

Social VR

If the Samsung/Oculus collaboration Gear VR is at least a little successful (and that is a big if at the moment), then we'll see multiple people owning matching, networked gaming devices, and you know what that means – multiplayer! Woop!

Multiplayer gaming is already a lot of fun in VR, with games like Team Fortress 2 and Couch Knights showing just the start of what can be done. But think a little further ahead from now and the implications of where VR is going in terms of communication are massive.

Skyping, if it's still to be called that, will be taken to another level when people start to communicate on a global scale with their VR devices. Couch Knights already delivers an impressive sense not just of your own presence in a virtual space, but of that of others. People are already delighting in the joys of this in its most basic form, simply seeing your opponent's body move around while they shift their heads is already pretty impressive.

The inevitable conversations on speaking to your grandma while sat on the moon came up throughout the day, but what was fantastic about seeing all these developers in one place was that these pie-in-the-sky ideas seemed ever so much more tangible than before. This will happen, we just need to actually get our collective rears in gear (no pun intended) and make it so.

Scale

If you're a fan of sci-fi, fantasy, action or even travel TV, you're probably pretty into seeing epic landscapes, huge monolithic structures or vast expanses in space. Everything, and I mean everything, you've previously seen on TV or at the cinema that's seemed a bit big, is unlikely to prepare you for what's ahead in terms of VR. Scale works well, massively well (pun fully intended).

If you haven't tried out Titans of Space on the DK2 then try to make the effort to do so. Pester a games developer with a dev kit, or if you're reading this before 29^th October then join us at the Watershed's Sci Fi: Fear and Wonder event in Bristol and take a look for yourself.

Titans of Space is a whistle-stop tour of our solar system and it's absolutely stunning – an eye-opener for what VR might do for education and beyond. There's something very special about seeing the size of Earth in comparison to our neighbouring planets and not-too-distant stars. Don't watch a demo of it on YouTube, whatever you do, experience it in its proper format and give it a go on a Rift. The. Sun. Looks. Massive.

But it's not just big stuff that looks so good – there's clearly a future creating tabletop games or titles akin to Lemmings where you'd be able to get right up close to tiny objects and characters.

So developers – have a little think about scale and how it can be played with, conveying your landscapes and characters at 1:1 ratio might make sense if you're going for a first person experience playing as a human in a real life world, but limiting yourselves to that stuff is pretty restrictive given the possibilities.

Diegetic interaction

WARNING: WHAT YOU'RE ABOUT TO READ IS PAINFULLY OBVIOUS, but we've become so accustomed to employing certain visual cues when creating computer games that we need to rethink our approach for VR. Now I've warned you...

Remember that we're always touching stuff in real life – keyboards, touchpads, each other, trees, ducks, whatever – the majority of us struggle to get by without doing so. And remember that we're also always looking at things to figure out what's going on. It's not just computer monitors we look at, it's read-outs from thermostats, watches, mobile phones, checkouts, biscuits, train times and, if you're a pilot or driver – quite a lot of dials.

What we don't generally have, unless you're a Google Glass type, is a permanent HUD attached to our faces. There's no constant read-out showing us our health and the contents of our (apparently Tardis-like) pockets. Think about how we interact and read objects in the real world and apply it to your VR experiences.

Now go forth and create.

Dr. Gary O’Reilly on Pesky Gnats, Mindfulness and Serious Games

Mon, 01 Sep 2014 10:55:56 +0100

We’ve been working on a serious game by the name of Pesky gNats, it’s a project we’re building for our longtime client Handaxe Limited. The aim of the game is to help children learn basic cognitive behavioural therapy techniques, but there’s a little room for some mindfulness too. We talked to Dr Gary O'Reilly BA MA MPsych Sc., PhD, about what mindfulness is, how popular it’s recently become, and how exactly it’s going to be used in the Pesky gNats mobile app.

Can you tell us a bit about yourself and background?

My name’s Gary O'Reilly, I work at University College, Dublin, and I’m an academic researcher on a clinical psychology training program and practicing clinical psychologist.

Can you tell us a little bit about mindfulness and how it can be applied to modern day life?

Mindfulness has become very popular in modern day life, and that comes largely from how helpful it can be when attempting to prevent adults with chronic depression from relapsing.

CBT, or cognitive behavioural therapy is a well-evidenced treatment for adults that have depression, but the difficulty is that while it was effective in the short term, a lot of people experienced relapse to depression post-successful intervention.

People looked at that problem, and they thought that what might help a person not relapse is to engage in mindfulness; to give a person a set of mindfulness skills to help them manage their stress, or just notice when they’re getting caught up in thoughts that might be difficult that might bring them back to depression.

“Mindfulness has become a popular skill that a lot of people are interested in to help manage stress”

People then thought, “maybe it has a broader application”, and I suppose it also has an appeal as they’re a set of skills that people can apply to everyday life to help them manage their stress.

Mindfulness isn’t exactly meant to make you a better person, but it does help you become more aware of yourself, and that leads to being able to better manage things that life throws at you. Mindfulness has become a popular skill that a lot of people are interested in to help manage stress..

Would you say mindfulness is good as a preventative measure?

I think, most people would say that sensibly, it probably is, but we don’t have the same amount of evidence to show that, especially when compared to the amount we have that shows mindfulness helps you not relapse if you’ve had CBT to treat depression.

That’s one of the things we’re interested in with the Pesky gNats game; we’re trying to extend the availability of mindfulness to children who’re experiencing mood difficulties with things like anxiety and low mood; we’re interested in building an evidence base behind that as well. We’re carefully studying how children respond to mindfulness and then our plan is, with the new material from the game, to keep testing to find out just how effective the product can be.

What are the advantages of learning to be mindful at an early age?

It’s a skill, and the better you get at it, the better you end up able to cope with everything life throws at you, I think if you get into that healthy range of skills, whether it’s mindfulness, or if it’s CBT, or whatever else it is, the earlier you get those skills, the more prepared you are.

What's the advantage of incorporating mindfulness into an interactive environment such as the gNats app?

Firstly, we're hoping that putting it into the app will hopefully ensure that a young person might practise mindfulness.

I think it’s more than just learning it at a session that you go to with a mental health professional, which will be helpful to a degree. To be really helpful a young person that goes to a clinic or to an appointment, they need to be practising that skill on a daily basis. We’re hoping the app will provide a really fun, easy-to-use, accessible, destigmatising tool that will allow a young person to put to practise mindfulness; to do it well you need to practise, the more you practise, the better you are at the skills.

Can you tell us a bit about the gNats app and how it integrates with the desktop game?

The app will allow young people to practise all the skills they’ve learned in the desktop game through reinforcement. The practicality of having the app on your phone and in your pocket will be of huge benefit, meaning there’ll be frequent chances to easily practise the skills with something that’s fun, rewarding and enjoyable.

“All of these ingredients, when cooked together, will make something that’s very appealing and fun to young people”

The main game is integrated very well in the app, with tasks between sections, each with fun games rewarding you for completing them. All of these ingredients, when cooked together, will make something that’s very appealing and fun to young people.

Will the mindfulness section be interactive itself? If not, could you envisage an interactive experience incorporating aspects of mindfulness?

Again, it’s practice, everything in the app is geared towards that. Sometimes it’s noticing sounds without judging them or noticing your thoughts without getting caught up in them, so you have to interact with the app in order to do that. So, even while you might be listening to the content or looking at an illustration, you are engaged with it. There are other tasks that do require some direct interaction with the app, so it’ll be a combination of those things.

How have you incorporated mindfulness into your work prior to gNats?

Mindfulness with young people is a relatively new departure for most people. I regularly use mindfulness exercises with the young people I work with, and they find it very helpful and engaging, and they’re easy to do.

Although the purpose of mindfulness isn’t to make you feel more relaxed, it can have a relaxing effect for some people so many people gain advantages from that. I think it just helps a person be a little calmer and more centred on what they’re currently experienced. I do regularly use it and young people seem to like it.

Are you aware of some of the work going into meditative experiences using virtual reality HMDs such as the Oculus Rift and does this interest you?

I didn’t know anything about them until the last time week spoke, but it sounds fascinating. What’s really curious about these experiences is that they raise questions of consciousness and what it is to be conscious, and your sense of self. Virtual worlds add dimensions to questions like “where am I now?”, “where am I located in space and time”. I’d love to know more.

Watch this space for more info on Pesky gNats and make sure you keep an eye on the Pesky gNats twitter.

SouthWest VR Meetup #1 Breakdown

Mon, 04 Aug 2014 14:15:00 +0100

Last week we had the pleasure of organising the inaugural SouthWest Virtual Reality Meetup. The event, planned to be the first of many, is a celebration of all things VR, a showcase for incredible content and hardware, and a chance for like-minded individuals to network and have a few beers.

Our special guests were:

Sam Watts of Tammeka Games, the creators of amazing future sci-fi racer Radial G
Dan Da Rocha, Jon Savery and Dave Hall of Toxic Games, who talked about their awesome VR-enabled puzzler Q.U.B.E. (pronounced cube, so they tell me ;) )
Liviu Berechet Antoni, creator of the brillant 3D-printed Android-powered VR HMD Altergaze
Nick Pittom of Fire Panda, creator of the lovely Studio Ghibli demos and the upcoming RedofPaw’s Big Crazy Stupid VR Adventure

The event was an overwhelming success by all accounts, with a total of 8 Oculus Rifts in the room; three DK2s and five DK1s, which is worth celebrating itself (and hopefully a sign of things to come).

We organised SouthWest VR because we’ve got strong feelings that this is the future. Facebook knows it, Oculus knows it, and we’re here to help make it happen.

Opposable Games is making two VR games right now; one of which I can’t yet talk about, the other being Salvaged: VR (working title). We’ll be bringing Salvaged: VR to the next event and announcing our secret project very soon so as always, do keep an eye on our social media channels.

Massive thanks to everyone that came down, it was amazing to see so many smiling faces and dropped jaws behind sweaty black boxes. An extra large thanks to those that lent us equipment. helped out and showed off their content and hardware. We really hope you all enjoyed yourselves.

Big thanks to Chris, Sam and Ben for helping tech the event and for loaning their equipment, Martin Blunden for taking such brilliant pictures, and Liz for making those awesome SWVR/Oculus cupcakes.

We’re already being inundated with requests for the date of the next event, we’ll announce it very soon, so keep an eye on @SouthWestVR, join the meetup group and follow us on Facebook. In the meantime, feast your eyes on this excellent gallery of pictures from the lovely Martin Blunden:

Games are dominating the app stores. But what does this mean for you?

Wed, 09 Jul 2014 16:41:50 +0100

A new report published by research firm Midia Research shows that games are completely dominating the app market. The report, named The Superstar App Economy: Dissecting the Global App Store Marketplace and commented on by the Guardian yesterday, shows games account for a whopping 84.9% of the top 700 grossing apps in the Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store.

The data was gathered from the top 50 grossing apps on Apple's App Store and Android's Google Play store in the US, UK, Canada, Germany, France, Spain and Italy, so there are duplicate entries, but still, these are figures not to be sniffed at. The remaining apps were largely social networking (4.1%), dating (3.9%), navigation and travel (2.3%).

While the dominance of games in the app sphere isn’t surprising if you’ve gone in and had a look at the basic metrics in the stores yourself, the report’s figures and analysis might still come as a bit of a wake-up call for those looking to monetise apps or games.

"The app economy is, for now at least, a games economy" say authors Mark Mulligan and Karol Severin, which we, as games developers, should be pretty happy about. The issue though at hand for smaller developers however, is muscling into a space dominated by very few companies; the aforementioned “superstars”, and doing so without a starting with a gigantic advertising budget.

Midia points out that 81% of the top grossing apps in the two stores are made by just 50 companies. The 350 top grossing apps on the Play Store were made by just 81 companies, while the App Store doesn’t fare much better at a total of 105 developers.

Clash of Clans creator Supercell, whose game frequently sits at the top grossing leaderboard, has a marketing spend reported to be at around $1 million a day, with a reported return of $5 million a day.

So what does this mean for game developers?

At a minimum, it’s about understanding your audience and the marketplace you’re in as a mobile games developer. Perhaps it’s about re-evaluation; is the shoe shop simulator you were hoping to sell for $3 going to be a safe return on investment or will you slip into the cracks like the majority of mobile game developers outside the free-to-play app space tend to do? Are you really going to get people to pay $20 for the gibbon costume in your new platformer? Perhaps not.

It’s worth considering your options in terms of free-to-play monetisation. You don’t have to make a game that’s unplayable or dull without spending cash. If it’s multiplayer it needn’t be pay-to-win. Team Fortress 2, World of Tanks and Planetside 2 are great examples of games you can play forever and have a great time with without spending a penny, but people certainly do.

Give it some thought; sit down and brainstorm different ways you might be able to monetise your game, and if you don’t want to, be careful with your spending and make sure you recognise the risk your company is taking.

People are becoming more and more accustomed to getting their games for free, and, sometimes, spending a little money once they come to like them. If making a free-to-play mobile game isn’t something you’re interested as a mobile games company, it’s very possible you’ll be facing an uphill struggle in the times ahead.

Like it or not, the mobile market has moved on and, to put it very lightly, full price titles are significantly lagging behind. Free-to-play developers are creating closed loops by growing their fanbases with revenue generated by smart monetisation, and only a colossal paradigm shift in the industry is likely to change this.

Dev Diaries: Alix Briskham talks 2D art and games industry tips

Fri, 04 Jul 2014 10:00:00 +0100

Hey Alix, how are you?

Aloha Dan, I'm spiffing, how are you?

Positively radiant thanks. Can you tell me a little bit about what you do?

I'm predominantly a 2D artist, which means I draw characters, creatures, environments, UI (User Interface) and any other aspect that needs to be visualized and rendered in a game.

This ranges from concepting/ sketching ideas, rendering them out as final polished versions, texturing 3D models and animating sprites. So quite a range of things!

What do you enjoy the most about working for Opposable Games?

That’s a tough question since I genuinely love all aspects about working for Opposable Games. Apart from the fact that I’m doing the job that I dreamt about doing when I was only ten, and the awesome projects that we work on, I think it’s the people that make me go to work with a smile on my face each day. We’re friends not just work colleagues and I feel like I work with my bosses, not for them.

What’s the most fiddly thing you do?

UI (user interface) tends to be quite fiddly. I’m a character artist at heart so having to draw things that are geometric buttons, shapes and interesting transitions can be challenging. It’s easy to make a character look interesting, it’s not easy to make a menu interesting. But without UI there is no way to navigate through a game. It’s an incredibly important part of games and a vital skill that I’m trying to improve on as much as I can. You know you’re doing well when things actually look fun to press or interact with. That’s what I’m constantly striving for.

What are you working on today?

Funnily enough Dan I’m working on UI. It’s for a game called “Pesky gNATs”, which, if you’ve read our project manager Ben’s Dev diary you’ll know all about.

The short description is it’s a therapy game for young people ranging from very young to early teens, who are dealing with N.A.Ts (Negative Automatic Thoughts). Essentially, bad thoughts that spring into their head as soon as something goes wrong or not how they expected, they may jump to the conclusion that it’s their fault. They’re thoughts that we all have once in a while but the role the game plays is to try and catch it early and help a young person deal with these thoughts so they don’t become a negative thinking adult later on. For most of these young people, it’s much easier to confront a problem through a game character than to talk to an adult face to face.

To tie in with the PC game we developed for this project there are some mini games to go with “Pesky gNATs”, I’m working on a match 3 game right now, which is almost completely User Interface design.

How did you get your job at Opposable Games?

I technically didn't get the job that I applied for at Opposable Games.
I applied for the Junior Artist position, went for the interview, and while I got on really well with the Art Director, I was told later that I didn't have enough experience.

However, she then asked me if I wanted to work for one month as a freelancer. So I leapt at this opportunity and began working for Opposable Games for 3 days a week doing, you guessed it, UI design!

I was working in a retail job for the other 2 days a week so you can imagine how busy I was, but I poured everything I had into that project and gradually one month turned into two, then three. By the end of the three months I was then told if I could learn adobe illustrator in one more month I would be offered a full time position and contract. So I did it, even though I was working at the studio and at my retail job I spent every evening and weekend learning it, and they created a position for me.

I’m still so grateful every day to my art director for taking a chance on me and pushing me into the deep end to see if I could float. Hard work gets you a long way, but there’s a bit of luck involved in everything, and for me, it was meeting her.

And man, if I thought learning illustrator in a month was tricky, I’ve since had to learn programs as complex as that in a week, sometimes a day!

Were you always aiming to work in games?

Since about age 10 yes. My Dad is into games, always has been, he used to make board games for training exercises when he was in the BBC and other pet projects. He never pressured me into liking games it just naturally happened. I remember playing racing games with him and one fateful day I beat him. He didn’t want to play with me again after that. I guess being beaten by a seven year old was too much.

I do distinctly remember I went from playing games to suddenly wondering about who made them. And if that was something I could do. It seemed like something so far off that it would never happen, but as I got older, the indie scene got bigger and bigger. And suddenly this far off dream was obtainable.

What’s your advice to those out there that are aiming to work in games themselves?

I’ve been asked this quite a few times, and not just for getting into the games industry. Obviously there are a lot of factors; but for me and others I know, it’s boiled down to four things: Contacts, Networking, Portfolio, Experience.

Contacts - Contacts is tricky because you might be lucky enough to know someone in the industry but that's not going to guarantee you a job. But if you do know anyone in either the games industry or one related, ask for advice via email very politely. Name drop if you can, because then it will remind them who you are. Advice is free and it’s quite flattering to be asked so people should respond.

However, if you are like most people and don't know anyone, contacts can be built up through networking. I keep a small book with every business card I've collected stuck into it with a note about who they are and who they know. So I have a whole catalogue of people that I could contact either for advice or work experience/ jobs.

Networking - Possibly one of the most important parts. I know of people who, through networking have got jobs. Go to events that are game-related, talk to people, be interested in their projects. Make business cards and make them look professional. Hand them out to people, they probably won't say no since everyone goes to those events to meet people. And be nice to everyone, you never know who might turn out to be an important person in the indie scene, we do tend to dress quite casually!

Portfolio - Make sure you have a digital one that you can link in emails and a physical one (if applicable). Don't overload it though, edit it down to your best work, people don't want to flick through endless examples. Put time into a range of work but edit it to what the job wants from you, so if it was for coding, examples of projects you’ve coded. Or maybe a 2D artist position, so show any 2D sketches/ concepts you've done etc. Cut out anything you know the employer isn't bothered about. It will say on most job descriptions about what they're looking for.

Experience - The hardest of all. To keep a business afloat no-one really wants to spend money they don't have, so you may find yourself working for free for a bit. Don't do longer than 2 months though, it's not worth your time and you'll come out resenting it. But it’s really good to get any work experience to start with. Go for low end jobs, be realistic, but it doesn't hurt to fire out a load of emails anyway - just make sure that you won't be out of your depth. Keep editing your CV to look as professional as possible. Even if you've done other jobs in between (maybe retail) put them in because it shows you haven't just done nothing. Having "Worked in Tesco" is better than "Did nothing for 4 months".

Finally, what’re you playing at the moment?

All the things!! I’ve got “Assassin’s creed 4:” lined up, “Baldur’s gate” 1 and 2. “Shadowrun Returns”, “The Witcher” 1 and 2, “Civilisation V” the list embarrassingly goes on and on…and on.

However, right now, I seem to have been sucked in by “XCOM: Enemy Unknown” once more, I love that game with a passion and thanks to its nifty saving system it’s easy to drop in and out of. Which is good for me since the irony of working in the games industry is now I don’t have any time to play them!

Dev Diaries - Joe Blakeston Talks Galaxy Balls

Mon, 23 Jun 2014 15:57:52 +0100

As I’m sure you can understand, we’re pretty excited about Joe Blakeston’s Galaxy Balls here at Opposable Games. So with that in mind, we took a couple of moments to try to find out exactly what he wants to do with them. Check out the video (or read the transcript below).

Part two coming soon. For more about Joe Blakeston's Galaxy Balls check out Galaxy Balls Concept Art and the Galaxy Balls Announcement Post.

Joe: Daniel

Dan: How you doin’?

Joe: Yeah yeah, I’m good man, how’re you?

Dan: I’m good

Joe: Taste

Dan: Can you, er, tell me about your balls?

Joe: I’d love to, erm, Galaxy ones first?

Dan: Yeah, please

Joe: Galaxy Balls is a delightful little game, it’s basically a pinball puzzle game essentially. It was birthed from the single sentence of “what if we did a pinball game and you move sh*t around there?”. And that’s it man, that’s where it came from. It’s a game based on simplicity. I’ve been with a few companies where the tendency is to overthink projects, and that is not my natural inclination. So I’ve decided to make a game based around simplicity. It is beautiful, it is chill.

Dan: And er, how do people play with your balls?

Joe: Violently and frequently Daniel. You play as two little guys named Phlyk and Hurl, and they have to collect various pieces of dark matter and machine parts to fix their spaceship. And they do this by arranging pinball mechanisms and firing themselves across the galaxy.

Dan: That all sounds great, but, how do you think they’ll hold up in the er, heat, y’know, of the crowded market?

Joe: It is, it is a crowded market Daniel, and I think if anyone’s balls can do it, it’s mine

Dan: So, basically, you’re hoping your balls will blow up, and a lotta people will play with them

Joe: Yeah, yeah, that’s it man. I mean, what we’re doing at the moment, we’re kind of er, we’re building a test to see if people actually enjoy playing with them, er, see how people like playing with them, if they can take it under the duress. And if it’s fun, we’re gonna push on, if it’s not, I’m not gonna force my balls on anyone.

Dan: That sounds fair

Joe: I think so

Dan: Can you tell me a bit about the history of your balls, and y’know, paint a picture for me

Joe: Well, as I said, it was birthed in a team meeting where I just got ‘em out, showed ‘em to everyone. Everyone seemed really y’know…

Dan: I’m looking for the story though. The story of your balls

Joe: You want...from conception?

Dan: …

Joe: Is that what you want? It’s basically just, it’s kinda, all of the elements have come from quick thought. It’s Galaxy Balls, because I’d just watched the Guardians of the Galaxy trailer, and I was like “yep, I definitely want in on that”. Er, pinball, because I was just thinking of simple mechanics, because like I said, you don’t wanna get bogged down, and it was basically that really. It was little brain spasms over a few weeks, I just stapled them all together..

Dan: And what did you name your balls again?

Joe: Phlyk and Hurl. Ideally that because - if you flick ‘em, you’ll hurl

Dan: Cool, cool. Have you got anything you can show me right now?

Joe: Yeah Dan, come and have a look. Let’s get ‘em out

Galaxy Balls Concept Art

Galaxy Balls Announcement Post

Dev Diaries - Galaxy Balls Concept Art

Fri, 20 Jun 2014 16:00:03 +0100

We recently revealed Joe Blakeston’s Galaxy Balls, a title coming to iOS and Android developed by us at Opposable Games. Today we’d like to show you a few of Joe’s original sketches and the beginnings of an origins comic. Hopefully we’ll provide an interesting insight into Joe’s peculiar mind and the backstory of his lovely Galaxy Balls, Phlyk and Hurl.

Original Phlyk and Hurl sketches

Evolution of the as-yet-unnamed "hard hat dude"

Origins comic layout thumbnail

Origins comic sketch pass

We'll be posting more dev diaries very soon, expect exclusive video interviews, screenshots, comics, game art and much, much more juicy info on Joe's lovely Galaxy Balls. If you want to know more, make sure you follow @opposablegames and read our Galaxy Balls Announcement Post.

Introducing...Galaxy Balls!

Wed, 18 Jun 2014 15:59:17 +0100

Galaxy Balls is our brand new title coming to a mobile platform near you at some time in the not-too-distant future!

Phlyk & Hurl, two buddies from planet Globro, are taken on a wild and amusing adventure after they crash land far away from home on the mysterious world of Constructron and attempt to get home safely.

As luck will have it, Constructron is inhabited by little dudes that love fixing things like spaceships or little round guys’ problems. With the help of Constructron's natives and the pinball pieces they've made for you, players must collect as much dark matter and ship parts from each level to progress to new worlds, meet new Globronies, and eventually get home.

Galaxy Balls is a humorous fast-paced puzzle game employing the much-adored mechanics of pinball with a twist that places creativity into the hands of the player.

At the start of each level, players are given a range of flippers, bumpers and pins to play with, along with a few surprises we'll be revealing later. These items, which you'll unlock more of as you go on, can be dragged and dropped anywhere in the playing space before you start the level.

Players will then take conrol of the items and try to keep their balls in the air for as long as possible. It's a race against gravity as you attempt to complete as many challenges as possible before your balls hit the floor!

Each stage presents three challenges ranging from the “Pachinko, Fire and Hope” collection challenges, to chain reaction puzzles inspired by Rube Goldberg machines.

We'll be releasing further information on Galaxy Balls over the next few days, with dev diaries, concept art and sketches outlining the design process. Don't touch that dial!