143 - Prescence

[matt]

In this diary I talk about what developers can do to create a feeling of presence - that you are in the game - beyond just VR. I also talk about how much I'd love Neverending Nightmares to have smell-o-vision (even though I don't think technology exists).

[RightClickSaveAs]

You're very right in saying that smell is the sense most connected to memory. It seems like an idea that hasn't been explored very much yet.

One downside I can think of is the possibility that really bad smells could create a negative association with the game and make people have unpleasant memories associated with it. I'm flashing back to all the sewer levels in games I've played before, yikes!

[matt]

It is funny how memory works. I listened to µ-ziq's album Bilious Paths pretty much nonstop when reading Neuromancer. While it is regarded as a cyberpunk classic, I didn't really like the book, and now I enjoy Bilious Paths less because it always reminds me of how I disliked Neuromancer. hahaha

I guess assuming technology existed, you could always turn it off if you didn't like the association. I would hate mandatory smell-o-vision. hahah

[ranger_lennier]

These are interesting ideas, but also bring up the question of how much immersion we actually want. These are games, after all, not an attempt to simulate reality as closely as possible. I think it would be cool to hear noises behind you in Neverending Nightmares, but I don't think I want to play it shivering from the cold and with the stench of dried blood burning my nostrils. Though in a different kind of game, you could probably talk me into a cool summer breeze and the scent of wildflowers. Technologically, it wouldn't be that hard to deliver an electric shock to a player whenever they took damage, but how many people would actually want that? But I suppose everyone will have their own preferences about what enhances their game experience and what is just plain unpleasant.

P.S. You're not fat, Matt.

[gagaplex]

For me? Well, I never really experienced the new VR technology.
But to me, the most important part of "presence" is sound. I keep bringing up System Shock 2. The graphics are hilariously awful today, but they were already bad even at the time of release! Mechanical things looked kind of alright, but everything else? Urgh.
And yet you felt like you were there because of the amazing sound design and ambient music. Especially the way they had enemies reveal their nearness through muttering, chittering and various other sounds they would make would draw you in and remind you of the danger that lurked around the next corner.
Seeing your own body like in Arx Fatalis is nice, but not really that important. Speaking of Arx Fatalis, its sound design was amazing, also. Hell, one level's ambient sounds are just like the staircase's ventilation sounds at a place I used to work: For some reason, the air really howls through there. Every time I went there in real life... well... I was reminded of being down in those virtual depths of Arx Fatalis.
Anyway: As I said, sound is incredibly important to me, way more important than the visual aspects of immersion. Which is also why NN succeeds very well to me: The music and/or ambient sounds are extremely well done and keep you on the edge of your seat.
Yet NN is using a cartoony style and isn't even first person! Clearly, I'm not the person in the situation and yet I feel drawn in. Just another demonstration that you don't need to be "in the place" of the avatar nor need to have the VR tricks to feel immersed, to feel present.
I'm sure VR can be of great use for immersion, but when I think back to the games I felt immersed in before its advent, sound design was always at the forefront of what drew me in. Graphics are secondary and even the viewpoint is not as relevant to me, as NN itself demonstrates.
I always wear headphones (cordless) so I can walk around my apartment while listening to music or clips (including your DDs sometimes, matt). I didn't really try NN without headphones, but with them, the sound design works very well, yes. I'm not gonna play in the cold, though. I forget about my surroundings when I'm really engrossed, so if I play for a long time, I might catch a cold.
Dried blood? But the blood in the game is fresh! It's red and shiny, not brown and dull. But it's interesting that you mention memory association considered how I felt about the sounds in that staircase/Arx Fatalis. A problem with smells - just like with everything else - is that you don't really know what people will associate with them. "Clinical smells" are pretty common around where I work, so they'd probably just remind me of my daily routine.
So it's a bit of a lottery what effect you're going to achieve with smells. But then so is everything else, I suppose, including the auditory and visual methods of trying to affect the player...

[matt]

Hmmm... It seems like most people don't want to play with my theoretical smell-o-vision. Fair enough!

I do think audio is EXTREMELY important, which is why we have headphones mode, which uses binaural audio in order to make you feel like you are "there". I am really happy with it.

Seeing your own body like in Arx Fatalis is nice, but not really that important.

While I agree that in general, it's not too important, apparently for VR, it's super important. I've only used an occulus once myself and briefly, but it's something Palmer Luckey mentioned in his VR talk at Steam dev day.

I do wish more games would at least attempt to do the Trespasser arm thing. I feel like with modern technology, we could probably come up with a decent animated arm with IK and all that.

At the very least, I recommend playing with a fan causing a cool breeze. I find the game is better with that, but it is up to you how much "immersion" you want.

[Grabthehoopka]

For a moment, I thought you'd misspelled "prescience", and you made a dev diary talking about the difficulties associated with making games for people with psychic foreknowledge of the future.

But anyways, as glad as I am that more and more first-person games feature your legs now, one thing I'm shocked more games aren't doing is giving the player a shadow. I believe FEAR did it first (I think; my memory is a little fuzzy), but the first time I encountered it was in Condemned, and once you've seen it once, you immediately become painfully aware of how absent it is in everything else.

[matt]

Doing a player character is a lot of work with all the animations and whatnot, so I suspect that's why most first person games don't bother showing the body/legs/arms.

I suspect if you just saw only the legs, they only modeled/animated the legs, so they don't have enough to cast a convincing shadow.

[ranger_lennier]

For a moment, I thought you'd misspelled "prescience", and you made a dev diary talking about the difficulties associated with making games for people with psychic foreknowledge of the future.

Prescience is great for winning the lottery and such, but it would suck when playing games, watching movies, etc. because you'd always be giving yourself spoilers.