HTC Vive GDC Recap
03.26.16 Last week the Game Developers Conference (GDC) kicked off in San Francisco. According to GDC’s website “The GDC attracts over 26,000 attendees, and is the primary forum where programmers, artists, producers, game designers, audio professionals, business decision-makers and others involved in the development of interactive games gather to exchange ideas and shape the future of the industry.”
One of the major attractions of GDC this year was the vast array of new virtual reality experiences being shown on multiple platforms. A multitude of partners and developers were showing off unique experiences on the HTC Vive. Valve unveiled The Lab which Forbes reported “is a collection of mini-games developed to introduce players to the various mechanics VR brings to the table. Stuff like room-scale, projectile physics, locomotion, and interaction with the environment among others.” Everyone who tried The Lab walked away excited about the future of VR and the possibilities room-scale opens up to developers and consumers alike. Adam Smith of Rock Paper Shotgun wrote The Lab is “a show of safe hands, demonstrating not only that VR is ready to roll and full of potential, but that almost anyone can pick up and play. Whether it’s the comedic simplicity of Slingshot, the intensity of Xortex or the sedate beauty of Vesper Peak’s mountain landscape, there’s something that you’d be able to show to just about anyone.”
In addition to The Lab, Valve invited over 30 developers to showcase their experiences in the Valve booth. These experiences included Selfie Tennis, Adventure Time, Arizona Sunshine, Audioshield, The Brookhaven Experiment, Budget Cuts, Cloudlands Minigolf, Elite Dangerous, Fantastic Contraption, Final Approach, Giant Cop, Hover Junkers, Job Sim, John Wick, La Peri, Marble Mountain, Modbox, Pool Nation, Raw Data, Roadside, Space Pirate Trainer, The Gallery, The Wave, Thunderbird, Tilt Brush, Time Machine, Unseen Diplomacy, Vanishing Realms, Waltz of the Wizard and more.
Another experience that had the conference attendees talking was Black Shield from China-based developer V-Sensory. VR Focus reports, “created by a team of 20 over the course of a couple of months, Black Shield is an eight episode first-person shooter for the Vive.” Raw Data from Survios walked away from GDC with the award for The Best VR Game of GDC via Tom’s Guide. Finally, ILMxLab released their trailer for Trials on Tatooine which will allow everyone to live out their childhood fantasy of wielding a lightsaber against the Dark Side.
Overall, GDC was a great experience for both Valve and Vive and we are excited to continue to assist the development community in creating the fun, unique, and inspiring experiences that were showcased at this year’s event. We look forward to bringing you more in-depth coverage of these and other titles in the coming weeks as we head toward launch.
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