The Brief
Create an experience for Digital Shoreditch Festival that showcased the power of the next generation of virtual reality experiences, powered by the amazing Oculus Rift.
Our Solution
We developed a virtual reality experience that challenged guests to walk across a plank of wood between two derelict skyscrapers.
Our production team created a bespoke environment which could be explored in the Oculus Rift head mounted display which offers a 110 degree field of view.
The user started their experience in a room complete with Digital Shoreditch Festival graffiti, comfy arm chair and log fire. As they approached the exit door, it suddenly opened up, revealing a sheer drop hundreds of feet…
A thin plank of wood separated them and the roof of the building on the other side and they were encouraged to walk across, remaining on the plank. For their return journey, an operator would manually send them falling to the ground.
Inition used a Microsoft Kinect for positional tracking and fans generated wind to enhance the sense of height.
The Results
The Virtual Vertigo experience attracted huge press coverage and overwhelming positive praise.
James Holloway from Gizmag called it “great fun” and “proper virtual reality”.
Liat Clark from Wired called it ‘stomach-churning stuff”.
Luke Westaway from CNET said he struggled to remember that he was not really perched above a high drop, and that within no time his adrenalin was pumping.
Oliver Wainwright from The Guardian reported it as part of an overall feature about Inition’s AR and VR technologies and experiences.
Open house visitors were full of positive feedback, amazed by how soon their brains forgot they were in the safety of a small room.
Some people found it impossible to even walk across the plank and many described a physical sensation when they were dropped to the ground.
It proved how engaging and powerful virtual reality is and generated a lot of discussion about what will be possible in the future.
You can read a DigitalSpy.co.uk interview with Andy Millns about how he expects VR will change gameplay here.