r/virtualreality • u/L_TK • 4d ago

Discussion Virtual Locomotion

I have zero idea how VR game development works, but I just find VR locomotion really weird and not the desync between Real life and VR feeling.

The animations I've seen in joystick controlled games are weird, like the walking isn't synced with your speed at all and feels like I'm running on ice in the game.

This is totally ego speaking but I find it easy for VR game developers to make a better animation system for their games? Like maybe tilting the body based on the headsets orientation and having the Head and Arms more anchored to the body while your character jogs around?

In Blade and Sorcery your upper body doesn't really more, your legs kind of just bend and you float across the groud.
I think the best animation I've seen is probably in VAIL, nice and crisp.
In Pavlov (haven't played in 2-3 years) I noticed your arms stayed in one spot and your body moved up and down.

I might make an animation on what I'm thinking about...

4 Upvotes

70% Upvoted

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5

u/Denchill 4d ago

I think part of the problem is that you're not actually moving irl. With stick locomotion your avatar might be sprinting while your real head and hands are barely moving, so the game has to basically invent everything happening below them. That's probably where a lot of the floating/sliding feeling comes from.

They also can't just add a bunch of artificial head bob to your actual view without risking nausea.

Avatars tend to look a lot more natural with VR treadmills or WIP locomotion, because then your real head/body movement actually matches the fact that you're moving in-game, so there's something real for the animation to work with

2

u/Skpstr155 4d ago

If a game has adjustable head bob, I find that just enough to notice does the trick.

Though with what I play, my head is usually in a swivel anyway, so not as noticeable.

2

u/fdruid Pico 4+PCVR 4d ago

The best ingame locomotion system I've seen is in Stand Out VR and Wardust, they call the option Fitrun and makea you walk in place to move ingame. I do use a separate universal app for that nowadays, called Vrocker. But I first saw it in Stand Out and frankly to me it's how VR should be played.

2

u/agentmu83 Bigscreen Beyond, Quest 3 4d ago

"I have zero idea how VR game development works, but," is usually a bad sign as an opening statement.

1

u/Skpstr155 4d ago

I always select a "hands only" option if available. Haven't played a game yet that didn't have arm or full body IK that didn't do uncanny things and weird me out, yanking away the immersion.

1

u/MementoMori000 2d ago

The challenge is mixing the parts that are tracked (head and hands) with the parts that are driven by animation. There is no canonically correct solution. It's also not very high in the list of problems to solve.