Half Life Alyx and Boneworks - The two VR games that dare to be different. Okay maybe just one, but still. AKA Floop’s shill thread.

[robobobo]

I bought an Index as a leap of faith, I'd been saving up for a real second-gen VR and that basically ticked all the checkboxes. Blessedly it turns out that I'm not susceptible to VR sickness and everything's been great, but it does fuck with some people pretty bad so if you do have the opportunity to try before you buy, it'd be wise.

The people doing Boneworks also did the really good Duck Season game, and the core mechanic of it is handling a pump-action shotgun. The game makes you load shells and rack the slide between shots, but it's actually pretty awesome, at least with the Index controllers, since you actually are making grabby motions to get fresh shells and moving your hands like you're handling a physical shotgun. I agree that games striving for 'realism' like 'Press V to get a magazine from your belt, then press K and R simultaneously to eject your old magazine, then do a minigame to insert the new magazine...' are obnoxious, but when the interface is using realistic motions and isn't hellishly bug-ridden, it's great fun. Looking at the trailer, being able to scrabble shit out of your way to snag bullets off a shelf is something I'm looking forward to. The only thing I'm wary about is that they didn't really show how she moves. I expect they've been competent enough to offer multiple control schemes for moving around, but if they slacked off and just did a teleport movement scheme, I'll be disappointed.

 

[Floop]

Looking at the trailer, being able to scrabble shit out of your way to snag bullets off a shelf is something I'm looking forward to.

Exactly. When I sent the trailer to my dad, he said that was the coolest part.

 

[millais]

>TFW you're Alyx and you can't fondle your own boobies in VR

View attachment 1018968

It will be a simple matter for the modders to port in the Cinematic Mod's infamous HD model of Alyx, complete with fully modeled and textured cervix and other orifices.

 

[BrunoMattei]

Had a thought: I don't like how movement works in VR games. It seems like you just teleport to wherever or it's done automatically. Does the Index have an analog stick you could use for movement? Might be a little awkward at first. The only other solution I can think of is creating a pedal-like thing that you could control movement with your foot.

 

[CreamyHerman’s]

Had a thought: I don't like how movement works in VR games. It seems like you just teleport to wherever or it's done automatically. Does the Index have an analog stick you could use for movement? Might be a little awkward at first. The only other solution I can think of is creating a pedal-like thing that you could control movement with your foot.

WMR does, but some games handle analog locomotion poorly.

 

[kūhaku]

Had a thought: I don't like how movement works in VR games. It seems like you just teleport to wherever or it's done automatically. Does the Index have an analog stick you could use for movement? Might be a little awkward at first. The only other solution I can think of is creating a pedal-like thing that you could control movement with your foot.

I've played a few VR games at a friends and it was done with an analog stick. Until treadmills can be put in place, people would much prefer to use their hands for fine movement control. I've never actually seen a VR game that teleports you or moves you automatically, that seems like removing half the purpose of it being VR.

 

[Sigma]

I bought an Index as a leap of faith, I'd been saving up for a real second-gen VR and that basically ticked all the checkboxes. Blessedly it turns out that I'm not susceptible to VR sickness and everything's been great, but it does fuck with some people pretty bad so if you do have the opportunity to try before you buy, it'd be wise.

The people doing Boneworks also did the really good Duck Season game, and the core mechanic of it is handling a pump-action shotgun. The game makes you load shells and rack the slide between shots, but it's actually pretty awesome, at least with the Index controllers, since you actually are making grabby motions to get fresh shells and moving your hands like you're handling a physical shotgun. I agree that games striving for 'realism' like 'Press V to get a magazine from your belt, then press K and R simultaneously to eject your old magazine, then do a minigame to insert the new magazine...' are obnoxious, but when the interface is using realistic motions and isn't hellishly bug-ridden, it's great fun. Looking at the trailer, being able to scrabble shit out of your way to snag bullets off a shelf is something I'm looking forward to. The only thing I'm wary about is that they didn't really show how she moves. I expect they've been competent enough to offer multiple control schemes for moving around, but if they slacked off and just did a teleport movement scheme, I'll be disappointed.

This page confirms that there are various control schemes. Namely teleportation, shifting like a rail shooter or moving manually

Half-Life: Alyx - VR

A VR Return to Half-Life. Set between Half-Life and Half-Life 2, Alyx Vance and her father Eli mount an early resistance to the Combine's brutal occupation of Earth.

half-life.com

 

[byuu]

Namely teleportation, shifting like a rail shooter or moving manually

That sounds like 3 different games. How is a game supposed to work just as well as a shooting gallery, as a rail shooter, or as an FPS?

 

[BrunoMattei]

I've played a few VR games at a friends and it was done with an analog stick. Until treadmills can be put in place, people would much prefer to use their hands for fine movement control. I've never actually seen a VR game that teleports you or moves you automatically, that seems like removing half the purpose of it being VR.

I've seen that with Fallout 4 VR and Doom VR. A couple of Playstation VR games did that too.

 

[Coolio55]

Y'know what, I appreciate that @Floop went overboard with the hype but after the trailer and seeing the website I'm pretty sold.
This is the future of fucking gaming right here.

This looks so cool I'd be willing to drag my tower downstairs into the seldom used living room of my house just to play this shit.
And hey! Even if it's complete crap they're releasing Source 2 so that'll be interesting.

Jesus Christ, a thousand big ones is a huge fucking investment though.

 

[BrunoMattei]

Y'know what, I appreciate that @Floop went overboard with the hype but after the trailer and seeing the website I'm pretty sold.
This is the future of fucking gaming right here.

This looks so cool I'd be willing to drag my tower downstairs into the seldom used living room of my house just to play this shit.
And hey! Even if it's complete crap they're releasing Source 2 so that'll be interesting.

Jesus Christ, a thousand big ones is a huge fucking investment though.

I might upgrade my machine for it but the big seller would be CS: GO VR or Asa Akira VR.

 

[CreamyHerman’s]

Y'know what, I appreciate that @Floop went overboard with the hype but after the trailer and seeing the website I'm pretty sold.
This is the future of fucking gaming right here.

This looks so cool I'd be willing to drag my tower downstairs into the seldom used living room of my house just to play this shit.
And hey! Even if it's complete crap they're releasing Source 2 so that'll be interesting.

Jesus Christ, a thousand big ones is a huge fucking investment though.

You can always look at WMR headsets, provided you know what you're getting into.

 

[Coolio55]

You can always look at WMR headsets, provided you know what you're getting into.

Yeah, but half the point is properly grabbing things and running around like a tit. Thanks for the suggestion tho.

 

[robobobo]

Almost all of the VR games I've seen support multiple methods of movement. The whole teleporting thing is for the severely barf-prone who can't handle the motion, with a few mid-steps like moving on rails or moving freely but only turning by fixed 'clicks' rather than rotating smoothly before you reach the complete freedom of movement level. Strafing messes with me in VR, I keep trying to lean against the non-existent motion and wind up feeling off-balance as a result, so I prefer to keep side to side motion minimal. It's a little less smooth than I'd be moving with keyboard and mouse since I'm happier rotating to the desired direction and moving straight forward, but it gets the job done.

 

[BrunoMattei]

Getting a little off topic, sorry, but was there ever an official patch to play Alien Isolation with VR?

Some big box electronics stores that stock them might let you try them out, otherwise you could either pester an IRL friend that has a headset already or see if you have a VR arcade nearby and either pay for time or see if you can work something out with them.

I was never able to play 3DS 3D, always fucked with my eyes something awful, but VR has been surprisingly alright, even in fairly intense games and with a slightly potato PC.

Next time I go to Manhattan I'll try to look for a store that does that.

 

[Token Weeaboo]

I'm not too thrilled about having to get a whole new VR setup to play this game. Though as it appears, I'm glad they put actual effort into making another Half-Life game- though I can't measure how good it'll be. Hopefully I'll be able to do my best Kurt Kobane and shoot myself in the jaw with a shotgun like I could do in Farpoint.
Might play Persistence in a bit too now.

 

[Floop]

after the trailer and seeing the website I'm pretty sold.

Yeah the website is really cool. I love this promotional image.

Everything about this image makes you go “Oh. They really care about this game.” Oh yeah, and that’s all hand drawn by the way. When I first saw this I thought it was rendered in SFM.

 

[TenMilesWide]

Getting a little off topic, sorry, but was there ever an official patch to play Alien Isolation with VR?

Not an official one, but there is a mod that looks pretty decent.

Yeah, but half the point is properly grabbing things and running around like a tit. Thanks for the suggestion tho.

Not sure whether to call it a plus side or not but both Oculus and WMR can be kludged to work with SteamVR controllers, including Index's knuckles. So if you did go WMR for the initial cost you could skip out a fair bit of the price and just get the Index controllers and base stations separately later on. Works out alright if you don't want/need any of the crazy features of the Index headset itself.

 

[millais]

I hope Crowbar Collective can finish full Xen release before HL VR comes out in March 2020. It's their last chance to beat Valve time!

 

[Dom Cruise]

Well, I'm shit out of luck, VR is way out of my price range, it's more expensive than I realized.

I'm very upset, we're back to 15 years ago when I wanted to play Half-Life 2 so badly, but couldn't

I'm happy at least that Half-Life is no longer dead though.