Iron Man VR was one of the nicest surprises at Sony’s PSVR event last week. True, we already knew about the game, but many agree the reveal trailer didn’t do it much justice. When we actually played the game, though, we found something with a surprising degree of freedom, including 360 degree gameplay. Yes, on PSVR.
How on earth does that work?
As you probably know, PSVR is tracked by a single camera. This allows you 180 degrees of play space when using two Move controllers. Turn around, though, and the camera will lose sight on the Moves. But in Iron Man VR the player can spin around and fire off repulsor blasts seemingly free of concern. Camouflaj Studio Head Ryan Payton explained to GamesBeat how it pulled this off.
“We have some absolute wizards working at Camouflaj and our development partners at Dark Wind in New York,” Payton said. “They weren’t intimidated by the challenge of having only the single PlayStation VR camera. We designed the game so players can move around 360, uninhibited, and not have to worry about where they’re looking and whether they’re facing the camera. There’s a bunch of tricks underneath the hood, a dozen or so unique things we’re doing that are predictive, that use the gyroscope in the Move controllers.
He added that the prediction algorithm the team had created as ‘very’ accurate. Lots of VR hardware companies rely on predictive tech to deliver more immersive experiences, but this is the first time we’ve heard of a game developer utilizing such a system.
Of course, we’ll need to get some longer time with Iron Man VR to test the limits of those predictions. For now, though, it seems like the developers have a small miracle on their hands. We’ll find out more as Iron Man VR races towards its 2019 release window.
