Macross on Oculus Rift

[Tochiro]

As seen on Kotaku

http://kotaku.com/theres-a-macross-game-on-the-oculus-rift-958606454

[Benson13]

Looked like a lot of fun.

[Mommar]

What's with the floppiness in the knees in fighter mode?

[Vepariga]

What's with the floppiness in the knees in fighter mode?

I noticed that too.

Looks kinda cool though,I've tried out the Occulus and its an amazing peice of hardware. Abit surreal and jarring at times.You really feel like your in the game world.

[Aurel Tristen]

I happen to posses both an Oculus Rift, and a life long obsession with Macross. This was one of the first games I tried.

The knee issue seems to be because of how the author programmed the animation system. The legs must always be aligned with the direction of thrust, and they are IK chained to the body, which also kinda likes to do its own thing.

I really hope this guy keeps working on this demo though. It is simply awe inspiring to land on that flying carrier in Battroid mode and shoot down drones. Sadly, the game is filled with issues. For example, in fighter mode, you can nose down much faster than you can nose up, totally ruining the standard way of maneuvering a fighter jet, IE roll until it is above you, pull up. The controls are also really silly, with D-pad left and right switching from forward to backwards thrust in gerwalk, and upward or null thrust in battroid mode. It is also cool that your gunpod automatically lines up on your target (as I wouldn't expect a super advanced transforming robot to make you aim manually) but it too is on an IK chain and doesn't know where the body is, leading to the ol' gunpod in the cockpit issue.

If anyone has any questions about this game or the Oculus, I'd be happy to answer them.

[Aurel Tristen]

On a semi-related note, are any native Japanese speakers reading this? I'd like to get in contact with the guy who made this game and contribute sounds and or models to his next build, but even the message system on his website is beyond the help of Google Translate. Shoot me a PM if you can help!

[Claxus]

The game got updated recently. There's a new version for Windows and Oculus Rift, featuring a ground and a space scenario (they have different physics). Not sure how much is new from the Oculus Rift version (I only got to play the older ground and space demos for Windows), but it seems a lot more refined now. The animations seem much more smooth and fluent, the legs don't spaz out in any of the forms now, and only extend in fighter mode on sharp turning and brakes The battroid's gun also seems to be much more stable and won't clip through other body parts...

The overall physics have improved, but it can still be a little wonky. Mainly, the fighter mode. Seems to still have issues in control. Gerwalk also seems to have slight gravity and turning issues, but battroid works perfectly. Unfortunately, dodging missiles still appears to be kinda impossible aside from shooting them down (could really do with an afterburner or stronger propulsion/turning in general here), but the game's coming alone nicely. Oh, and if you fly low by the coast, there's a pretty decent city to fly over.

You can find it here:

http://solidm.blog89.fc2.com/

Edited November 23, 2013 by Claxus

[Tochiro]

Thanks for the update! Just found out theres an Occulus Rift at my office so I might give this a shot.

[Mr March]

Missed this topic the first time around. It looks pretty good for a proof-of-concept demo. A long way to go until it's a complete experience, but a great start. Thanks for sharing.

[Gerli]

R.I.P this project too... Facebook will never let a franchise with "problems" like Macross to be in the OR

http://kotaku.com/facebook-buys-oculus-rift-for-2-billion-1551487939

[Chronocidal]

Considering how development for games has been fairly open-source, I doubt they're going to stop people from adapting games to use it. Killing that kind of innovation would destroy the entire market they're hoping to cash in on.

And either way, OR is just the first. Sony's already making one to compete, and there will be others.

I did find this image incredibly amusing though.

[Claxus]

I don't see the problem. It's just an indie developer who's been working on a Macross sim

for free and as a hobby. Who owns the Oculus Rift company doesn't have much to do with it, unless the people at Facebook knock on SolidusM's website and get a Japanese speaker to tell them they have to stop their hobby.

It's only a problem if it was commercial and going to be sold... But as it is now, nothing can exactly be done against this project.

[Dexter]

I think the googles are too big for me to enjoy playing 8 hours a day on a game. Thoughts?

[happy_spike]

Well you don't need a rift, It's just the most immersive experience. I have a 1080p 3D laptop screen with the nVidia active glasses and it works wonderfully. Haven't had the chance to try this yet though will give it a bash. Is the developer on the MWF? I'm a professional games programmer myself so I might be able to offer some advice.

[Dexter]

It certainly looked like a lot of fun.