P.T.O VR

[HagarTheHorrible]

Should the expansion of the series, into the Pacific, make VR a focal point of this genres development ?

 

The Battle of the Kuban expansion is going to take the developers the rest of this year after which the development team are moving over to the Pacific theatre of operations. Because VR is still very new, implementation has been bolted on to the present game, if done rather well, it is still not a priority or major direction of travel.

 

When The next expansion comes out, in a couple of years time, things might be looking very different. New Headsets will probably be, or just about be, on the shelves also potentially releasing plenty of more affordable second hand first gen headsets to potential buyers. The computing muscle to drive them, even if still only first gen HMD's, will be more mainstream and affordable and the language of VR will be better understood.

 

While there will still need to be a drive to be open to as wide a customer base as possible, so making sure it is open to as many types of hardware and computer systems, should the developers seriously think about putting VR front and centre and building the next expansion with VR as a main goal, if not an exclusive goal, rather than treating it as an added feature, such as FFB ?

[Wolf8312]

I think and hope that missions will be designed with VR in mind meaning that they wont make missions that will be too taxing to the average VR system. I hope the second gen headsets wont come with second gen hardware demands but thats probably wishful thinking

[Nibbio]

IMO VR is here to stay, especially if the single player experience is fleshed out, and/or the VR player base expands enough that VR only servers become available.

 

I hope developers keep supporting and improving VR as a key feature.

[OrLoK]

I "guessing" the devs are considering VR as a viable way to play (obviously as it's been implemented ) but will wait to see the uptake in users etc etc before diving in headlong in future products.

 

They have already committed time and resources (which equates to $$$) and I don't think they did that to satisfy a couple of us in the short term.

 

The "prospective" future for VR in BoX seems quite rosey, but I bet that comes with a bunch of caveats from the devs.

 

We never know, future improvements (mirrors) and the like might break their current VR implementation, we simply just dont know.

 

However, the above is all conjecture and i have faith and confidence in the devs to do what's right for the series.

[=IL2AU=chappyj]

VR is probably the single biggest growth area for this genre. It is a sure fire way to increase sales and player population. Flight sims are perfectly situated to re-enter the mainstream of gaming, provided the devs enable people to do so. 

 

What more can the devs do to embrace it right now? well honestly theyre pretty well sorted in terms of the vanilla implementation of vr. they can clean up some functionality, menus etc and obviously continue to pursue performance improvements (performance is already very good but not perfect) Better cockpit movement would be great but it sounds like that is quite difficult (some of the limitations in say the JU88 as to where you can move your head are simply arbitrary and clearly based on some other limit built into the game long before. ) But at the end of the day, theyre still only going to appeal to the really hardcore of flight simmers. it's still a niche community. 

 

in the short to medium term I still think the real potential is in the multicrew of larger aircraft. They could develop a much more intuitive and involved method of tailgunning using the hand controllers available currently. And honestly they could sell it as a sub game to the BOX titles. for say $20 VR users could buy access to the online servers and be able to access the tailguns of larger aircraft. but not own any aircraft themselves. they could also implement actual bomb sights that can be looked down and manipulated in a realistic fashion. A tiny bit more development of the tanks already in game (maybe some more balanced options) and some refining of the interiors and they could be one of the first to offer a truly VR supported tank sim too. Sell that for another $20. hell i'd buy it. I'm already super impressed with the tank driver compartment in VR. if you haven't had a look, check it out.. . but i think in all of the above scenarios they simply don't have the manpower to devote to it with their current commitments to BOK. 

 

further in the future...? well definitely the above issues and features should be addressed by midway i would hope. They could add larger aircraft, lets say B17 as an example with a very highly detailed movement box enabling roomscalers to move through the fuselage of the aircraft and take up various crew stations. (im sure we all remember the old B17 games?) 

Crew stations on ships as AA gunners would also offer real potential. again adding to the BOX-gunners subtitle. buy the subtitle and access the AA gunner positions on various ships at midway. don't own any aircraft but can still be involved in online wars. The learning curve is much lower, it could be a really immersive and intense experience and introduce a lot more people to the title in a simplified way. 

 

If the devs of this title really wanted to, they could very easily increase sales and numbers involved in this game, come up with some very innovative and enjoyable content that is unique in the VR gamesphere currently and all the while stay true to their ethos on the flight sim. In fact it would only serve to increase the quality of what the existing gamers are experiencing. Imagine a Midway server with 150 people in it, 30-40 of which are actively manning AA guns on the Yorktown through the BOX-gunners subtitle. 

There is so much potential within this genre right now. it just takes a group of developers with the will to make it real.

Edited April 26, 2017 by =WFPK=chappyj

[dburne]

I have mentioned this elsewhere, but in addition to some of the above I think the devs could really help themselves even more in VR if they ever decide to support the Oculus Rift natively through the Oculus software/ Oculus Home.

 

There is a pretty large contingent of users of the Rift, that for whatever reason prefer to run it directly through the Oculus Software, and even some prefer to have the title show up in their Oculus Library to run from there.

If they could eventually do this and even offer the game through Oculus Home as they do Steam, I think it would help grow the interest in the sim with the Oculus VR crowd even more.

 

Now whether the rewards from putting in the effort is worth it to them, would be hard to say...

 

I do know Elite Dangerous, which does the above, has a very large following over on the Oculus forums. And a lot of MP activity is organized amongst Rift users there as well.

Edited April 27, 2017 by dburne

[sinned]

"If they could eventually do this and even offer the game through Oculus Home as they do Steam, I think it would help grow the interest in the sim with the Oculus VR crowd even more."

 

+1

 

IL2 would really stand out among the offered titles in oculus home.