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2021.8 -- Brief analysis of the characteristics and development of VR games -- Dr. Qingpu Lee

2021-11-11

Abstract: The introduction of VR (virtual reality) has become an important direction of the development of modern game design, but also an inevitable requirement of the rapid development of the game market. Through the analysis of the basic characteristics of VR games, including strong immersion, high interaction, high fidelity, etc., this paper further demonstrates the development status and advantages of VR games, and discusses the opportunities and challenges VR games face.


Key words: VR game, basic characteristics, development


1. Basic features of VR games


Although traditional games have adventure, intelligence, leisure and other types for players to choose, and are reasonable in content production and level setting, the entertainment experience they can bring to users is getting worse and worse. And VR (virtual reality) technology is introduced into the traditional game content provides a rich visual effect and the performance of the space, the immersion and it has strong interactivity, high fidelity of the three characteristics, make the content of the VR games quality improved obviously, laid a solid foundation for the development of VR games, provides players with deeper entertainment experience.


1.1 Strong immersion


The original games, such as Dungeons and Warriors, Sky And Westward Journey, are collectively referred to as two-dimensional games. The characters created are relatively abstract, with relatively poor picture quality and low user experience, which have gradually been eliminated by the society. With the rapid development of high and new technology, 3D games have gradually occupied a dominant position in the market, such as League of Legends, Honor of Kings, fifth Personality and so on. The character image is more specific, the picture quality is better, and at the same time, the character sense is strong, which can fully mobilize the entertainment interest of users. But whether it's a 2d game or a 3D game, the user can't really experience the game from the screen. The emergence of VR games can not only provide users with a more realistic "first view", but also allow users to automatically switch the view in the game and get more perceptual effects, such as sight, hearing, touch, force and motion perception. Immersion in VR games allows the user to focus on the current game situation and not be easily distracted by the outside world. The user brings himself into the character of the game, which makes the game more exciting.


1.2 High interaction


In traditional games other than mobile games, users generally use keyboard keys to give various commands to characters in the game. This kind of operation is highly mechanical, in addition to the screen display and system judgment results, users do not know what the specific results of the operation is. VR game hardware applications include helmets, gamepads, etc. According to the virtual scene displayed in the helmet, the user can use the handle to simulate the relevant operations of the characters in the scene. The result is a better service experience for users. At the same time, virtual objects in VR games also have the autonomy to move in accordance with the laws of physics, and can interact with users. Not only do users control games, but games also influence the way users think and act. It makes the whole game experience more interesting and realistic.


1.3 Strong fidelity


Compared with the virtual scenes in traditional games, the virtual scenes in VR games have a very high degree of reality reduction. Buildings and characters are basically restored in proportion to real objects. In this way, users can truly enjoy the relevant content in the virtual environment in the process of experience. While the user is experiencing the environment, the game itself has a high refresh rate of 90 frames per second, which can convey the details of the user's experience almost in real time. In addition, in order to match the effect of the game, in the game with real-time transmission of sound. Under the influence of 3D surround sound, it can create an immersive feeling for users, so that users can truly feel the realistic environment content created by VR games.


2 development status of VR in the field of games


From nintendo FC in 1983 to Playstation in 1994, after the battle between SONY and Nintendo for game storage media, playstation was developed independently. In 2000, PS2, the most successful game console in history, was developed. In 2001, Microsoft entered the console game fray with Xbox, in 2005, Xbox360, and SONY PS3 in 2006. From Nintendo's original launch of the Wii to SONY's "fastest selling" PS4 in 2013, console games have gone through several generations on an average four to five year cycle. Domestic game market from the original 1995 Xianjian, to the legend of shanda agency in 2002, from the angry Birds in 2009, to the Legend of Dao Tower in 2012, the domestic game market has also experienced several cycles. There is every reason to believe that the next cycle of games will be VR games.


2.1 BREAKTHROUGH in VR technology bottleneck


VR technology is a set of optics, computer science, graphics, network communication and other fields of technology in one of the high-tech, these technologies have made breakthroughs. In terms of optics, the mainstream VR display devices in the market, such as SONY, HTC and Facebook's Oculus, have broken through the bottleneck of display technology, and can output a relatively clear 2K VR picture; In the field of communication, the 4G network achieved a transmission rate of more than 100Mb/s in 2014, which can basically meet the wireless transmission between VR display devices and hosts. In the 5G era, Internet transmission rates will increase by dozens of times, and users will be able to experience VR games through online caching. The software follows the movement of the human eye to cache the content of the scene in the current field of vision, so as to achieve a smoother game experience. There is no need to download it in advance, just as easy as watching a video on the website. The low latency of 5G also promotes the development of VR cloud gaming industry. VR games have performed very well in the game field, making many manufacturers invest more capital to research and develop professional equipment, but VR equipment is generally expensive and cannot be accepted by the public. According to statistics, 10 percent of users around the world choose not to play VR games because of the high cost of game hardware, and the birth of cloud games is just a solution to this reality. Cloud games run on cloud servers, and users only need basic electronic devices to play games. With the support of 5G technology, cloud gaming can overcome the biggest problem of delay and speed up the development process. At present, Guangdong Mobile has completed the technical support test of 5G cloud game and launched cloud game service. In the future of the game industry, the development of cloud games is undoubtedly the general trend.


2.2 Good market prospect


Throughout the history of the game is not hard to find, electronic game from the text to the 2 d game development meet the needs of graphics, video games and from 2 d game upgraded to 3 d games to meet the needs of the people on the game screen is higher, after differentiation out of body feeling game to break the traditional interactive way, while the emergence of VR games to bring people to a 3 d virtual world, The realization of man-machine real-time communication and interaction, so as to meet people's needs for pictures, music and touch, this is the development trend of games. What the user wants is where the game goes. VR game market competition is small, market growth space is high. Since 2014, the global game market has entered a period of rapid growth, with mobile games, mobile games and console games all showing spurt growth. The market is great, but the continued high growth has only resulted in increased competition and market saturation in VR games, while the traditional gaming sector remains a red sea. VR games have opened up a new game field, with a high growth space, and due to the high entry threshold of VR games, so further reduce the intensity of competition in the VR game market. All told, the future of the VR gaming market is promising.


2.3 VR games have many unique advantages over traditional games


From the perspective of all aspects of game development, VR games will be the final plan of game development. Compared with traditional games, VR games have two significant advantages: strong sense of game insertion and real-time human-machine interaction. Games have a strong sense of immersion because VR games use computer simulation to generate a THREE-DIMENSIONAL virtual world, providing users with the simulation of visual, auditory, tactile and other senses, so that users can feel the immersive experience. The real-time human-computer interaction can be realized because VR games can truly simulate the game world with people's vision, hearing and touch through various devices, so as to break the barrier between players and the game, so that players can realize real-time human-computer interaction with the game. The user can control the game, and the scene in the game will be given different changes according to the user's reaction, so as to truly immerse the user, unable to get away from the reality.


3 opportunities and challenges of VR


With the continuous development of high technology, the cost control of VR equipment will be better and better. VR games are likely to have a profound impact on terminal games, mobile games, console games, offline stores, etc.


3.1 PC game


The current charging mode of single-player games is paid download +IP cash. Soft star xianjian was popular, is a generation of memories. From the recent sale of Zhao Linger's hands, xianjian VR Demo swept the circle of friends, IP influence is still in. The piracy problem at that time has become less serious for today's game IP, and China is becoming a country of legitimate games. In addition, the younger generation will have their OWN IP, and with the increasingly mature game IP realization environment, greater opportunities are bound to lie in PC online games/competitive games. However, it is more difficult to develop, requires a higher level of user maturity, and has a more flexible pricing model, which is expected to explode later than console games. Since VR is a more natural form of interaction, but not quite equivalent to the real world, the need for social interaction and the simultaneous participation of other real people may increase dramatically in this case. In the future, there will definitely be an SAO type of game, perhaps a VR version of Warcraft (but definitely not a VR version of Minecraft). The best of these games will go down in history.


3.2 mobile game


At present, the development of mobile games depends on Daydream and Apple, whose charging model is more flexible. Most domestic manufacturers have plans to cooperate with Daydream. Although there is no specific date for IOS, its VR/AR route is clearly revealed by referring to Apple's acquisition route in recent years. However, mobile VR will certainly be the fastest path to AR in the future, and some innovative and interactive games may catch on. However, mobile VR is the best way to expand users, while mobile AR will connect the virtual world with the real world and gamify the virtual reality world.


3.3 Console Games


If we take into account the domestic PS4 + gray market, there are nearly 10 million PS4 users in China, and the number is still increasing rapidly. Microsoft entered the console game market in 2001, and with $1 billion a year to back it up, it is now one of the biggest players in console games. Tencent may be the next Microsoft (its Mini Station project is not yet clear). If Tencent enters the game, it will definitely be associated with the LISTING of CP (the logic is that console game development is too heavy, and it is impossible to completely rely on mature strong foreign CP, which will inevitably require the intervention of external capital). In addition, considering that PS4 is based on X86 architecture, the CP difference between console games and console games is no longer significant. In addition, with the opening of the domestic console market, VR of console games is also possible.

3.4 Offline store market


The essence of the rise of offline stores is the lack of idle commercial real estate and entertainment experience in urban commercial complexes. VR is very suitable for leasing in the short term, because of the high purchase cost and the need for manual guidance during the use. The main problem lies in that a large part of the customer group is children and early adopters (mainly young women), whose recognition of the game is not high. In addition, there is no industry standard for offline stores, and the ceiling of individual CP companies is still low.


4. Accelerate the development of VR games


According to Canalys, the global VR headsets market grew by 16% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2018, with shipments reaching 650,000 units. This shows that the winter that plagued VR games for a year has passed, and it will be the spring of development. So how can VR games extend this spring?


4.1 Improve the game experience of VR game players


The user experience is the most important thing in the game industry and determines the overall direction of game design. At present, the game experience of VR users is mainly affected by dizziness and vomiting caused by the disharmony between the game picture received by the brain and the body reaction. There are two ways to solve the dizziness and vomiting that users may experience in VR games. One is to reduce the picture quality of the game and try to stabilize the frame rate, but it is the worst way to sacrifice the original game experience of users. Another approach is to perfect real-time tracking technology that synchronizes what the brain is receiving from the game with what the body is responding to, essentially preventing adverse reactions without sacrificing the user's experience.


4.2 Build a rich VR game ecosystem


The healthy and sustainable development of VR games is inseparable from the construction of VR game ecology. To strengthen the construction of VR game ecology, it is necessary to apply both soft and hard. On the one hand, it is necessary for VR hardware manufacturers to strengthen technology research and development and provide a good operating environment for VR games. On the other hand, VR game manufacturers and VR hardware equipment manufacturers need to form a linkage, use all resources to invest in the development of high-quality VR games, attract users with high-quality game resources, and finally achieve the purpose of improving VR game ecology.


4.3 Reduce the game cost of VR players


At present, the mainstream VR equipment in the market alone costs more than 4000 yuan. The high game cost makes many potential users recoil, which is not conducive to the widespread popularity of VR games. In order to make VR games benefit the general public, VR hardware equipment manufacturers need to strengthen the RESEARCH and development of VR related technologies, make VR technology more mature, facilitate the mass production to form the agglomeration effect, achieve the purpose of reducing the price of VR hardware equipment, so as to reduce the game cost of VR game players and promote the large-scale application of VR games.


5 conclusion


The rapid development of VR games has recently ushered in the third spring, after this spring bath VR games are likely to mature into millions of homes. This will completely change the original game interaction mode. The original two-dimensional electronic game will be completely abandoned, and the game mode relying on keyboard or controller operation will become history, memory or feelings. Ordinary players will usher in the era of VR games with all-round game experience. In addition, the mature beneficiaries of VR games are not only games and players, but also VR technology itself and society as a whole. VR games constantly improve VR technology through commercial activities, so as to promote the overall progress of VR technology; Can also shorten the distance between players and the virtual game world, so that players have more real game experience, promote the development of the entire game industry; It can also bring huge economic benefits for social development. Of course, if VR games can survive this spring, and thrive in it, VR games will remain premium toys.




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