What does the future of mecha simulation look like? How do we

>>13620154
VR goggles and a keyboard probably, if it exists at all. Perhaps an optional flight joystick.

VR goggles are definitely the future for the in-cockpit experience.

>>13620154
>we'll never be back in the age of companies making gimmicky controllers like this for a single game

>>13620168
I tried a demo for an Oculus Rift mecha game once at a convention. It was kinda meh, and everything was pretty blurry, although the feeling of movement was definitely there.

>>13620201
The resolution of the rift keeps increasing. Odds are you were using an older model with a low res LCD.

>>13620329
It was also pretty damn crappy as a game, but that's the developer's fault. For some reason, what I remember most was that they had bothered to create a model for the player's body, but the hands never moved when I clicked buttons and stuff. This felt really strange and kinda eerie, for some reason.

>What does the future of mecha simulation look like?
Bleak

>How do we advance the genre further?
Actually trying

>>13620373
I've been thinking a lot about how to capture hand/body motion inside the cockpit. I've actually used a VR demo that had motion trackers on your arms and that worked pretty well.

Maybe you could sell people on 'robot pilot gloves' that had full tracking arrays inside, and that you wore to capture hand motion? That way you'd 'see' your actions in-game.

Problem there is what if you shove your hand through the cockpit...

>>13622965
Oh yeah, the other issue is that maybe you won't buy it as much if you don't see fine hand motions, like individual fingers. That's where gloves come in, it would help for tracking those motions.

Considered stuff like LeapMotion, but it looks really inaccurate especially when your fingers are close together.

>>13620201
PGI is currently working on Oculus Rift support for 2016 deployment with MWO.

>>13622965
In the game I played, it shouldn't be that hard, since the pilot had their hands on a sort of keyboard already. So just make it press the fire button when I press the fire button, and the jump button what I do, etc. It was just laziness.

>>13624074
ah, I see.

I guess my issue is that, for me, the true mecha experience won't just be 'put your hands on a joystick all the time' but 'use the joysticks, now take one hand off to hit the 'sub weapon' switch, switch radio channel with this dial, solder on this piece of sheet metal to reinforce your hull, etc. I think we need more than just some state-based hands that tilt when the joystick tilts, or press when a button gets pressed, etc.

This is the leapmotion I mentioned earlier. Actually ordered one despite concerns that it won't work well. I want to see if I can do much with it in unity or something, maybe make a tech demo. On the positive, they're like 30 bucks on ebay right now, must be a mass dump of the hardware due to low sales or something.

https://www.leapmotion.com/product/vr

>>13624129
But that would have taken effort to make and animate, something that no Oculus Rift developers I've met are willing to do.

Pretty much every VR game I've ever tried is just "walk around aimlessly in a nearly empty landscape, looking for something".

>>13624129
>use the joysticks, now take one hand off to hit the 'sub weapon' switch, switch radio channel with this dial, solder on this piece of sheet metal to reinforce your hull, etc.

Wasn't there a Xbox Kinect game that was this, and which was unplayable garbage?

>>13624174
well yeah, but that was kinect.

the sad thing is that it was a sequel to the OP image game which had physical components to press.

What I suggest is a fusion, physical inputs for as many things as possible, and hand tracking to match your VR hands to your RL hands.

>>13624159
Would it go further if it were an open-source effort? I admit that I'm pretty lazy and crappy at coding, and would rather help with models and being ideaguy shit than with the code implementation.

The main reason that developers don't do hand capture is that it's not necessary. If you look at DCS, they just match the input commands from the player and translate that to manipulating the controls themselves in the cockpit. Hand capture is still a long time away, since even right now it's far more trouble than it's worth (how many people would have the hardware to support it anyways?). Far better to put that time into making the actual gameplay better.

>>13620168
>VR goggles are definitely the future for the in-cockpit experience.
where you can't even see any of the controls?

>>13622965
Just use a Kinect.

>>13620154
Hopefully not on land. Mecha simulation being on land instead of flying robots makes no sense. Okay, so you're tryna make it all realistic, right? But realistically when on the ground, tank treads>>>>legs every time making it pointless unless the mechas have floating//flight capabilities.

>>13624228
The problem with that Steel Batallion is that they didn't make the motions differentiated enough for the Kinect.

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>>13620182
I don't know...

Is this still worth getting?

>>13624645
They by far give more visibility of the vehicle than not. You could vastly improve the user experience with head-mounted displays. The trouble is finding controls, which at that point you either have a joystick which is easily located (this is the popular option right now, with various handheld joysticks being very popular in VR) or you could try for more complexity, at strong possibility of people not having the resources to render the setup themselves. I would think it could be both, the 'basic' setup for lower budgets and the 'advanced' setup for higher-end simulators.

>>13624676
this, motion feedback > vr gimmick.

and i didn't grow up with modern consoles enough to think mecha piloting would be done with analog gamepads.

>>13624737
Some people like the feeling of clunking around in a huge robot, and feel the sense of weight and step on cars. Has nothing to do with realism.
A flying mecha simulator might as well just be a spaceship or plane simulator, anyway.

>>13620154
too bad they made it xbox exclusive, it killed the game imo.

>>13625156
There isn't much like it as far as giant robot simulators go, especially outside of an arcade.
Actually hitting buttons, flipping switches, and pushing pedals is its own unique experience.

I wish there was a mecha arcade, where all the cabinets were cockpits, and they moved like simulators, and it was just a big multiplayer mecha brawl.

Are there any good mech games at all anymore? That aren't complete fps ripoffs with mech skins.

If you guys aren't playing mech games on PC with a flight stick, you're not doing it right.

>>13620154
There is no future as it is niche, japanese businesses are stubborn and avoid risk, and westerners don't care.

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>>13625861
So like Gundam: Senjou no Kizuna cabinets?

I'm not sure if they have motion though.

>>13625687
>A flying mecha simulator might as well just be a spaceship or plane simulator, anyway.
A ground mecha simulator might just as well be a tank simulator. See? I can do that, too.

https://youtu.be/DK9JRwF2aDs?t=1m49s
>Gyrozetter's transforming arcade cabinet
HNNNNNGGG

>>13626511
the only hard part for a consumer version of this is the half-sphere monitor screen, which we have the alternative in VR goggles now, which offers similar if not better experience with 3D and all that. the sticks and pedals setup are not hard to achieve with generic ones out there, and custom/pre-built racer seats are easy to get.

I played Rigs at PSX last week. That was pretty fun. Enjoyed it immensely

>>13626511
i want
that

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>>13620182
And they shouldn't, for a single game, that is. However, they should make gimmicky controllers usable with various games.

I mean, there's this detailed A-10 Warthog joystick and thrust control set.

What game peripheral companies should do is market modular controllers that allow you to go from a simple joystick with a few buttons to a complex controller that has more buttons and options than the Steel Battalion controller, and a standardized program that allows full configuration and programming of the modular controller for any game.

Kind of like a cross between the Raspberry Pi, Legos, USB plug-n-play, and premade modular bases with various optional preset face cover layouts.

>>13626602
We call those "keyboards."

>>13626511
Yes, something along those lines. I prefer the three-screen set up, but I'd be happy with anything.

Well, the game has to be good, too.

>>13626566
I don't see there being any kind of consumer version, just arcade machines.

>>13626518
That was the point, you dumb ape.

>>13626511
and all we get is a star wars rail shooter, because of guys like >>13624737

>>13626606
Have joysticks and ridiculous extras, keyboards do not. Maximum immersion within the constraints of reality, the goal is.

>>13626518
What's the point of mecha having legs and arms, in your Opinion?

>>13625759
this, it's a great 'falling into the cockpit' simulator, really a good simulation of being a mecha pilot, and very unique. Not to mention the controller is badass.

If you want to play a very interesting mecha sim then it's worth your while.

>>13627378
Punching and kicking, obviously.

>>13626602
Sounds like a job for the Makey Makey

http://www.makeymakey.com/

I too have considered such a device, how would it work? Sell people a box with different 'seats' (basically imagine an ice cube tray, but with electronic connection interfaces on the bottom surface of each cube holder), and then design modular parts for different needs? Ie. 'fightgames' (a six-button array, 2 rows of 3, for street fighter and its clones), or 'bobcat' (a set of two joysticks with a set of triggers/buttons on each), and then go for more advanced versions of each? Like, you can get the basic mecha trigger which is two buttons on a joystick, or you can upgrade to an analog stick, get a 4 button/buttons+hat/buttons+joystick/etc. and it just gets crazier/more expensive?

I almost wonder if you wouldn't then start selling individual parts for the pieces that go into your joystick at that point.

>>13626511

It's a shame the game itself is a watered down arcade shooter, completely nullifying all the care and detail that went into making a panoramic cockpit for the game.

>>13627436
The positive of a game like this being made for PC instead would mean that the playerbase could be expected to take it more seriously.

Me personally, I think a 'tech demo' game should be made to kickstart the genre, with the goal of making said game into a popular modding platform for mecha stuff. That way you buy one 'base' game and then download the mods that people create.

I wouldn't be surprised if Star Citizen ends up being a great game for that purpose. I could see that game being purchased more to play its mods than for the game itself.

>>13620154
I wish I had the screencap of the guy who thought you had to be on all fours to use this.

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>>13628072
Nevermind, found it. Google is really useful!

>>13625757
It had to be Xbox exclusive. The PS2 didn't have the processing power for it. The Gamecube didn't have the data storage for it. Japanese PCs are shit.

>>13622965
some of the spess games just model whatever you're doing with the HOTAS setup.

>>13627406
I'd say something like that. The starting base/container would be rectangular with either a flat-top facing, or an angled facing (the way the SB controller is slightly angled towards the player vs the A-10 controller).

On the sides would be a row of connectors kind of like a parallel port or stretched out USB port, to plug in another base into, or an angling unit kind of like the SB controller so you can angle any other attachable bases to the main base.

The basic base itself would have your icecube slots to slot in and bolt down your joystick(s), buttons, and switches, and so on, then the face cover, which is either preset or customized for your order (or your own make), then you just snap on the gap sealing parts over said switches, buttons, and joysticks.

Modular enough for interested gamers to create their own controller option, but retains a certain level of durability to be useful. Kind of like the Raspberry Pi, except someone already wrote the software and all that matters is programming the switches/buttons/sticks.

>>13622965
Easier way would be to just use specific fabric/coloring for hands and controls to be captured by an external camera on the headset and displayed within an overlay of sorts, think greenscreens.

>>13628083
How does one even think it would be controlled like that?

>>13628083
That was a good thread.
/v/irgins really need to learn how to take screenshots

>>13628083
anybody got the image used here of the guy holding a violin like it's a sax?

>>13628146
IIRC kinect works best with bright colors such as white, so I guess you get some skintight white gloves? even then I don't imagine the tracking would be fantastic.