The Force Of VR: Star Wars: Trials On Tattoine
In a GDC far away
Imagine what GDC looks like this year: hundreds of grown-ups living out their childhood VR dreams, feeling all cool and special on the inside, and looking extremely silly on the outside. And what better way to fulfill those dreams and forget how silly this all is, than with a Star Wars game?
Star Wars: Trials on Tatooine is a small VR experience that should hopefully lead to an actual game in the future. For now it's little more than a proof of concept; but what a concept it is, to wield a lightsaber and reflect lasers and not care about what it actually looks like in Real Reality.
There's a short trailer, but despite using high-sounding words like "Cinematic Virtual Reality Experiment" it doesn't look any different from a regular trailer. So I thought you might rather enjoy this video from the folks at Polygon playing it on an HTC Vive.
If I may, I suggest you watch this a bit like a tennis game, moving your eyes periodically from the silly human on the left to the game on the right. "I'd be ashamed to have someone walk in and find me like this - but look, it's so awesome, it's what I always wanted, it's what games always tried to sell me, except it's real now - and what happens if I need to raise my sword all of a sudden and end up breaking something or slapping someone - being a Jedi and saving the world can't wait just because of the furniture!". By the end you should have appropriately mixed feelings about this whole VR thing.
I know, deep down inside, that I want to be silly like them. But until I get to try it, I have all the rights to keep making fun of them, with those ugly headcrabs hugging their faces, right?