[simpits-tech] Mobile VR Space sim

[Brian Sikkema]

Gents,

Long time no post! I guess that's what happens when you aren't building 
anything... lol.

Anyway, I had been kicking around an idea for quite some time, and in 
the last couple weeks I've actually started working on it a bit. I 
decided quite a while ago that my Mercury sim plans, while definitely 
not cancelled, will have to wait until I'm out of the military... Moving 
every few years just is not conducive to owning a full size simulator of 
any kind, not only for the hassle of moving it, but also for the 
subsequent restrictions it would place on any future homes I would need 
to purchase or rent.

But after getting a chance to play around with Gene's Oculus Rift, I 
became a strong believer in the future of VR and what it could hold for 
simulations. There will always be a place for real-world simulators, of 
course, but VR can do some really neat stuff.

I purchased a Gear VR a while back, which obviously is no Rift but is 
still surprisingly capable. And recently I decided I am going to try my 
hand at making a rudimentary VR simulator, using Unity and my Gear VR. I 
figure a sim that fits in a shoebox should be a little more workable for 
the time being! ;)

I have played with Unity some before on doing some Augmented Reality 
work, and let me tell you, it makes things pretty darn easy. I generally 
have exactly enough coding ability to take something that someone else 
has made, and break it irreparably. ;) But using Unity, I have, starting 
absolutely from scratch, in 3 working days (Saturday and Sunday last 
weekend, and Sunday this weekend) created a basic spacecraft simulator 
in VR. Right now it has the spacecraft orbiting the earth, a basic 
cockpit, and you can pitch, roll, yaw, and adjust time acceleration. 
Obviously a long ways to go, but considering I had to do absolutely 
everything, including making the starfield skybox, creating the earth 
model, etc, I'm pretty happy with my progress. Heck, a huge chunk of my 
time last weekend was spent teaching myself Blender again so I could 
create that earth model!

I'll try to grab some in-game video when I have a chance, but I'm also 
wondering if anyone else would be interested in playing around with it 
as I get it more advanced? I'm currently building only for Android with 
the Gear VR, but I'm planning on adding Google Cardboard support soon to 
make it more accessible. The only other requirement is a controller with 
a joystick axis and at least 4 buttons. I realize the that narrows the 
target market a bit, but there's really no way to do even a basic sim 
using just gaze controls and a single button. Not one that would be fun 
to play, anyway. And good bluetooth gamepad controllers can be had for 
less than $20. Ultimately, though, the real driver is that I'm building 
this sim for myself. ;) If it ends up being good enough that I am 
willing to put the effort into trying to get it published on the Google 
Play and Gear VR stores, then great, but I'm not terribly worried about 
that right now.

Anyway, if you meet the requirements (Android device, Gear VR or Google 
Cardboard viewer, and controller) and want to try it out, let me know 
and as I get something more presentable I'll get in touch with you! :) 
While of course my goal is ultimately working towards a Mercury sim, the 
basic framework I'm building here should be good for any semi-realistic 
Earth-orbit based space sim. So let me know! And I will try to get some 
video captured and posted soon.

Brian