It’s no secret that I’m a huge virtual reality fan, but that doesn’t translate into amassing converts. No matter how much I praise the different systems and talk about their entertainment and industry potential, people have a ‘meh’ response. Sure, they know that it’s around, and maybe they’ve even played with a Cardboard, but the idea of sticking something on your head just feels weird to them. That’s fair — it is weird to strap something to your head — but the immersive wonder of the experience generally makes up for that. But getting to that stage is a pain point and one which Serious Sam solves with their built-in mixed reality wizard.
Mixed reality wears many hats these days, from the concept of augmenting what you see on the outside world with an overlay – like the Hololens – or by transporting a gamer into the environment they’re in through video wizardry. I’ve discussed the rise of mixed reality influencers on YouTubebefore, and watched their videos enviously. This, I believe, is the best way to have someone actually understand what the whole fuss is about, and to provoke a — ‘please can I try that,’ response. But actually doing this at home is generally a complicated frustrated process; you need tech know how, peripherals, a green screen and more.
You still need a green screen to set this up, ideally with good lights (I used this screen and light kit, $110) but most of the other issues are gone. For example, no capture card? Use your laptop’s webcam. Open up the game and navigate to the options menu where you can select mixed reality wizard. Then, remove your headset and follow the onscreen instructions, clicking virtual targets around the room to line up with your computer screen. If this already is starting to sound complex, rest assured this is by far the easiest and simplest method out there. Now all you need to do is record your screen while you play and boom, great mixed reality videos.
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Serious Sam VR Gaming
The game follows the traditional wave approach, with four levels per world, and you can adjust the difficulty from tourist to extremely hard, depending on who is playing. Some of the levels are breathtaking — one involves being on a moving platform and shooting a dragon out of the sky, where you have to keep turning to keep it in the frame.
But now you can capture this, you go from being the weird kid in the living room to a fighter of dragons, conqueror of worlds and gun-toting hero. Grandma won’t feel left out anymore — in fact, she’ll have a go. Creating mixed reality videos (to record or to show as you play) is possible on a number of Unity games, but the setup process is nowhere near as streamlined or as simple as Serious Sam; meaning Croteam’s scored a huge win in getting new players into VR.
Source: Forbes