Yuan Jianbo, founder of Shengjian Games: How to make VR games?

In 2016, VR swept the domestic technology market like a powerful storm. With the investment of well-known foreign Internet companies, major domestic technology companies have also followed suit. However, as domestic VR technology becomes more mature, the content cannot keep up with the leap of hardware. After discovering this loophole, content manufacturers are also doing their best to make VR content. The adult industry entering the VR industry can be seen as a clue. There are also many young people who want to start a VR content business and want to catch up with this wave. Some people want to make VR movies, but they find that it is very expensive and VR has not been popularized to everyone. Although the adult industry is attractive, it is illegal. At this time, everyone's eyes are unanimously looking at VR games. However, there are still many unknowns about VR games, such as whether VR FPS (first-person shooter) games are better than other types of games? How will VR games develop? What is the bottleneck? For this reason, 51CTO's reporter specially interviewed Yuan Jianbo, the guest lecturer of the first VR/AR Technology Conference in China and the founder of Shengjian Games.

Yuan Jianbo, who has experience in game development at Renren and Leyou, believes that the combination of social interaction and VR will be more interesting. He once worked as the director of mobile web game platform at Cheetah Mobile, and is sensitive and radical about new areas and new carriers of games. This time, he can't stop for the more immersive VR. He is currently developing VR content, with VR social interaction as the main direction.

VR is more like a peripheral for a game console

VR's immersive feeling makes the game effect more realistic, and you can abandon the TV screen and experience the game scene in 360 degrees. Many gamers know that SONY's game consoles are very powerful. For example, PS4 (the fourth generation of PlayStation series game consoles) is not only powerful in hardware but also has many exclusive games. It is the best example of both internal and external excellence. However, SONY has also launched its own PSVR (PlayStation VR) product. Faced with such a powerful product like VR, will the PS series game consoles be replaced? In other words, will VR replace traditional game consoles in the near future?

Yuan Jianbo said that VR is not a new model, but more like a peripheral of a game console. PSVR is based on PS4 and PC consoles. As a peripheral, it is like playing games in a game hall with joysticks and buttons. With VR, you don't need to watch the TV screen, you can change directions with 360 degrees instead of using the joystick in your hand, and even interact with other peripherals. You can also see your own hands directly in VR and perform a series of actions with your own hands.

Different types of games are suitable for different platforms. For example, real-time strategy games are difficult to fully display and operate on mobile phones. Similarly, match-3 games are difficult to play on PCs. The sliding screen of mobile phones makes it easier to operate such games. Therefore, traditional game consoles have their classic features, and VR has its own strong advantages. It is not possible to replace the classics at present.

Virtual social networking is a major trend in VR

Although VR can be used for watching movies, providing education, viewing houses, experiencing travel, playing games, etc., the most attractive thing is that VR can make people experience the game scene as if they were in the scene. For entrepreneurs who want to make a big splash in the field of VR games, the user's taste is very important. As the saying goes, the right medicine for the right disease, but what kind of VR games do users prefer?

Yuan Jianbo has also conducted similar user surveys and analyses, and the results show that virtual social games are more popular.

Many people think that playing FPS games with VR will give a strong sense of impact, but the sense of reality is not much different from the experience on PC. Now there are many VR games, collectively called simulation games, such as roller coaster simulation and airplane flying. This kind of game borrows the dizziness and panoramic effect produced by VR to realize the wishes of many people who cannot fly airplanes or ride roller coasters. However, this experience is enough to bring a shock to players once. When the players' needs are met, they will not want to play again.

However, for virtual reality, users prefer to integrate real things into it, and social interaction is a great need of humans. Humans are social animals, so it is impossible to live without social interaction. There was a popular game called "Second Life" in Europe and the United States. Users in the game are called "residents" and can interact with each other through movable virtual avatars. Residents can walk around, meet other residents, socialize, participate in individual or group activities, and create and trade virtual property and services. Such games can use VR to bring users another experience. When users use VR to enter the game, they become another person in the virtual scene, and the experience is more real, not as simple as PC or mobile games.

Apart from the popular virtual social games, are other games ignored? When VR hardware matures and the dizziness is completely resolved, VR will definitely be the first choice for a better FPS experience.

VR can make social interaction possible

VR stimulates the player's optic nerve, deceives the player's brain, realizes the virtual reality scene, and gives the player a better experience. There is a case: there is a group of independent game developers. The initiator's niece has a heart disease and is about to die. She has a wish to sing and dance with the protagonist in her favorite anime. These game developers fulfilled this little girl's wish through VR technology. These are really virtual reality, which is the direction that games should develop, and it is also the way that games can be better combined with VR.

The Holy Sword game is based on VR social interaction, which can bring players a real, remote same-screen experience. For this purpose, the Holy Sword game has made some attempts, such as a KTV-themed scene simulation. After each player puts on VR, although they are in different places, they feel like they are together. This is the main research and development direction of the Holy Sword game.

at last

Games are a form of entertainment that can bring people happiness and joy, and many experiences that cannot be brought to people in real life. This is the essence of games. VR has a very broad application scenario, whether in tourism or even in medical treatment. For games, VR is more like a way to experience games.