These 6 Apps Represent 2016's Best VR Software, According To The Proto Awards

The Virtual Reality Foundation, founded in 2014, is a non-profit organization created in Los Angeles and merges the city’s thriving entertainment industry with the growing VR market via their semi-annual VRLA expo. The expo is home to emerging technology, new immersive experiences, and the tools to build such things. The foundation also created the first ever virtual reality award show, the Proto Awards.

The award show’s Board of Governors narrows down from submissions and what remains are considered “honorees.” In particular, their Best Overall category serves as a guide to the best of the best in the VR arena. The Virtual Reality Foundation unveiled its 2016 honorees for the prestigious award, along with the full list of nominations at the 2016 Proto Awards.

Best Overall

Tilt Brush – Google
Raw Data – Survios
Space Pirate Trainer – I-Illusions
Bullet Train – Epic Games
Modbox – Alientrap
The Lab – Valve

The 6 titles in the Best Overall category are not strangers to the Upload staff. Tilt Brush is the system seller the HTC Vive needs, Raw Data is a co-op VR dream come true, Space Pirate Trainer is a challenging wave fighter, Bullet Train is an Epic FPS shown for the Oculus touch, we built our own levels in Modbox, and The Lab was easily one of the most polished of the free Vive demos we’ve gotten our hands-on.

On Oct. 8th at the Avalon Hollywood in Los Angeles, California you’ll be able to see who takes the Best Overall award home and who wins in the Proto Award show’s 16 other categories, from Most Transportive Experience to Best Independent Experience. The show will be hosted by Ron Funches, known for his role in NBC’s Undateable as Shelly and will be appearing in the upcoming superhero comedy Powerless. All categories and nominees are listed below.

Most Transportive Experience

Give the sensation of having left physical space and having been transported into virtual reality to an extraordinary degree.

Apollo 11 VR – Immersive VR Education Ltd.
The Climb – Crytek
ADR1FT – Three One Zero
Old Friend – Tyler Hurd
theBlu: Season 1 – Wevr
Irrational Exuberance: Prologue – Ben Vance, Wevr

Best Game

Raw Data – Survios
The Gallery – Episode 1: Call of the Starseed – Cloudhead Games
Job Simulator – Owlchemy Labs
The Climb – Crytek
Space Pirate Trainer – I-Illusions
Bullet Train – Epic Games

Best Music Experience

Submissions use music as a key element.

Soundscape – SNAKE Productions
Old Friend – Tyler Hurd
Music From Every Angle – m ss ng p eces
Grace – MacInnes Scott
SoundStage – Logan Olson
Apex – Arjan van Meerten

Best Social Experience

Must include an element of interplay between two or more viewers locally or over a network.

Lecture VR (recently re-named Engage) – Immersive VR Education Ltd.
AltspaceVR – AltspaceVR
Rec Room – Against Gravity
Pool Nation VR – Perilous Orbit & Cherry Pop Games
New Retro Arcade: Neon – Digital Cybercherries Limited
Speech Center VR – Cerevrum Inc

Best Mobile Experience

The Night Cafe: A VR Tribute to Vincent Van Gogh – Borrowed Light Studios
Ctrl – Breaking Fourth
Zen Zone – Aaron Lemke
Pearl – Google Spotlight Studios
Tactera – E McNeill
Music From Every Angle – m ss ng p eces

Best Interaction Design

Showcase innovative mechanics for interaction with a VR experience.

Job Simulator – Owlchemy Labs
Waltz of the Wizard – Aldin Dynamics
SoundStage – Logan Olson
Tilt Brush – Google
Rec Room – Against Gravity
Fantastic Contraption – Northway Games & Radial Games

Most Innovative

Pixel Ripped 1989 – Pixel Ripped Inc
Tilt Brush – Google
Blocks – Leap Motion
VR Noir: A Day Before the Night – StartVR
The Lab – Valve
FIREBIRD: La Peri (Book 1) – Innerspace VR

Best Original Score

Zen Zone – Aaron Lemke
Pearl – Google Spotlight Stories
Pixel Ripped 1989 – Pixel Ripped Inc
Apollo 11 VR – Immersive VR Education Ltd.
Windlands – Psytec Games Ltd
The Rose And I – Penrose Studios

Best Live Action Experience

Works of video-based VR.

Music From Every Angle – m ss ng p eces
Hard World for Small Things – Wevr
Zoolander Infinity – David Rosenbaum, Jaunt
Waves – Wevr
The Presence – Pseudoscience Pictures
The Argo File – Argos VR

Best Sound Design

Employ inventive and well-executed sound design.

Zen Zone – Aaron Lemke
Space Pirate Trainer – I-Illusions
Trials on Tatooine: A Cinematic Star Wars Experiment – ILMxLAB
Chronos – Gunfire Games
Reeps One: Does Not Exist – Aurelia Soundworks
Land’s End – ustwo games

Best Educational Experience

Judged based on the originality and effectiveness with which information is imparted to the viewer.

Apollo 11 VR – Immersive VR Education Ltd.
Lecture VR – Immersive VR Education Ltd.
GravlLab – Gravitational Testing Facility & Observations – Mark Schramm
House of Languages VR – Fox3D
C O S M Worlds Within Worlds – Dynamoid
The Field Trip to Mars – Framestore VR Studio & McCann

Best Student Experience

Must be created by a student. Verified Elementary to Ph-D level satisfies the requirement.

We Are Alfred – Embodied Labs
Shining360 – Claire Hentschker
Lions & Deer – Lean House Media
Chapel – Dean Moro and Lauren Krikorian
Fruit Golf – Coal Car Studio
My real virtual body: Body Swapping in virtual reality – Alice Chirico

Best Narrative Experience

Must tell a passive and/or interactive story.

Waves – Wevr
Knives – Adam Cosco
The Gallery – Episode 1: Call of the Starseed – Cloudhead Games
Pearl – Google Spotlight Stories
The Martian VR Experience – Twentieth Century Fox, Fox Innovation Lab, RSA Films, The Virtual Reality Company
Kiya – Emblematic Group