Hot off the heels of the Oculus Quest standalone VR headset reveal came a ton of other gaming announcements. One of the most exciting was the announcement of Dead and Buried Arena, a Gunfire Games creation, would be released on the Oculus Quest for arena-scale gameplay!
Dead and Buried Arena Gameplay
What does this mean for location-based businesses and arcades that use Virtual Reality technology? It means that businesses that use the new Oculus Quest and its games will get to host games in massive play areas.
To illustrate the switch, Dead and Buried started as a ghostly 1v1, 2v2, and 4 multiplayer and western shoot em’ up game. Then, it went from PC platform to a 5 player wireless arena-scale game. All in one announcement. What a mindblower. Impressively, Oculus reports that the game will support play spaces up to a whopping 80×60 feet!
Dead and Buried Arena is perfect for warehouses, massive open rooms, and garages. Unfortunately, Oculus Quest users will only be able to play it this way. Guests at OC5 were one of the first to demo the new game with the new headset in Mixed Reality.
Watch OC5 visitors demo Dead and Buried Arena!
Dead and Buried Arena and Mixed Reality
Blending VR with reality, or Mixed Reality (MR) is achieved with Oculus Quest’s inside-out tracking. The inside-out tracking, Guardian system, and controller tracking goes by the name of Oculus Insight. Using Mixed Reality no doubt helped keep guests from bumping into each other, which is especially helpful in location-based gaming.
In a blog post about Dead and Buried Arena, the gaming and headset manufacturer discusses Oculus Insight. They revealed that “This technology works by detecting thousands of points of interest in the environment to deliver a greater sense of immersion, presence, and mobility.” Then saying, “For the Dead and Buried Arena demo, we prototyped arena-scale technology on top of Oculus Insight, pushing inside-out tracking beyond current limitations.”
To dunk players into a sea of MR, Oculus intentionally placed real obstacles throughout the Dead and Buried Arena. They also put out carpets with various designs and hung clouds from the ceiling. They did this to prove that the new headset could handle tracking through various environments. Most importantly, they used Oculus Insight’s Mixed Reality tracking to reveal full body presence in VR.
Changing the Mobile and Tablet Game
Developers over at Oculus have been listening to players that want cross-connectivity between people playing VR and those watching it. Onlookers watching friends and family play the original Dead and Buried would typically watch VR from an outsider’s POV. At best, they viewed the action from a TV, laptop or computer screen. As a result, developers are making it easier for viewers to experience VR right along with them.
Oculus developed a prototype of their asymmetric co-location technology or VR mobile spectator. The viewing mode allows viewers to “grab [their] mobile device, walk around the play space, and see what [their] friends are doing in VR.” Co-location transports tablet and smartphone users into a VR live stream that’s set to the viewer’s perspective.
Mobile spectator mode is becoming the trend to watch. Particularly, developers who are looking to build games that break down the wall between VR gamers and their guests. For instance, the breakthrough technology is being used by Owlchemy Labs and has been implemented by the studio Trebuchet.
