From a simple point of view, "virtual" and "reality" are two opposite words. So, a natural question is how they can mean something together. The phrase portrays an experience about an imaginary or real environment with a digital computing system.
Game environments are also imaginary or real time. However, the environments do not portray real time experience with touch, smell, sound, and sight. So, gaming has a new scope for exploration with the help of virtual reality (VR).
Let's explore the concept and scope for VR in Android games through the following topics:
- Understanding VR
- VR in games
- Future of Android in VR
- Game development for VR devices
- Introduction to the Cardboard SDK
- Basic guide to developing games with the Cardboard SDK
- VR game development through Google VR
- Android VR development best practices
- Challenges with the Android VR game market
- Expanded VR gaming concepts and development
In the digital computing world, VR means a real-time environment created by digital computing. It means that the environment does not exist on Earth, but can be experienced with digital computing. However, it is not always necessary that VR always replicates a real environment. It has the ability to replicate an imaginary world or environment, which can be displayed on a computer screen or a VR headset (head-mounted display) device (image source: https://lh3.ggpht.com/uv8mx61-jsrbcu-EPNw1wIi4BCXg7338alepVlr7xKbKJf7eZ9EXT2U3roA8SWx1RC8=h900-rw):
Actual screen display of the Shadowgun VR game
The VR concept seems to represent modern technology, but the fact is that the VR concept was introduced around the second quarter of the twentieth century. In 1935, Stanley G. Weinbaum wrote a short science fiction story Pygmalion's Spectacles in which a description of a goggle is found. The goggle described a holographic recording of fictional experience with touch and smell. Technically, it defined virtual reality.
In the mid-twentieth century, the concept was improvised with sight, smell, touch, and sound virtualization. Eventually, in 1968, Ivan Sutherland and his student Bob Sproull created the world's first VR head-mounted display device.
Modern day VR devices evolved after 1990. They were lighter, with better display and computing equipment. Sega developed Sega VR in 1991 for arcade games and consoles. This device was equipped with an LCD display, stereo headphones, and inertial sensors.
Later, after the year 2000, VR devices were improved in many ways. Many technical companies took a lot of interest in developing better VR systems. Nowadays, VR devices are commercially available in the market. VR is now integrated in the latest mobile devices with input controller systems.
There are many companies developing applications that run on VR devices for several purposes. Many more uses of VR technology are being introduced and improvised with each passing day.
VR is spreading each day in many sectors of the modern world. Let's have a quick look at the fields of VR usability:
- Video games
- Education and learning
- Architectural design
- Fine arts
- Urban design
- Motion picture
- Medical therapy
Video games are technically composed of display, sound, and various types of interaction systems. VR devices have proved to have all the necessary components for running a game application. Gamification of VR started in the late twentieth century. Since then, VR has been used in the gaming industry.
A game is basically an interactive entertainment system. VR is just an environment to support the video gaming system. The VR system can take the user inside the game world to interact with the elements.
We will look into the details of the role of VR in gaming later in this chapter.
Field trips and visualization of educational subjects have a great impact on the learning process. Many times, it is not possible to provide a practical lesson on each subject. VR helps create a virtual, practical, and visual impact on many educational topics. Many institutes and trainers use this method for better teaching.
Training is another major aspect of VR education. For example, VR is used to train pilots to fly fighter jets in developed countries. It reduces the chances of accidents, and trainee candidates can experience the real-time feel of flying a jet.
It is widely used in training medical students for various field treatments.
VR has been used widely in architectural design. It can navigate through a proposed design without implementing it in reality. Many architectural firms use VR to demonstrate a design.
There are many VR software that can build a VR application from a digital copy of the architectural design.
This is a lesser known and lesser explored use of VR. However, many fine artists have used VR to create a navigable virtual world of art. A few art museums can be visited virtually through VR technology.
In the modern world, urban design and planning use VR to simulate and validate a design. Urban design is also used to find loopholes and faults in a design. Urban design becomes easier with VR technology in the case of city/town rebuilding, transport planning, landscape design, and so on.
We can find some motion pictures that use the concept of VR technology. The motion picture Avatar is a great example of this. The whole concept lies within VR technology. The concept portrays a virtual life and activity with the help of technology so that the character can experience a virtual world without being present there in reality.
Motion pictures have gone multi-dimensional with the help of VR simulation. Today, spectator experience has been increased through VR.
Virtual reality therapy (VRT) is quite popular in medical science, especially in psychological treatment. It is recorded that the success rate of VRT is greater than 90% worldwide.
VRT is used mainly to treat people who fear height, flying, insects, motion, public talking, and so on, to create a controlled virtual environment.