Virtual Reality Storytelling Whitepaper on MirroringRUN

MirroringRUN(镜像酷跑 in Chinese) is a Parkour Virtual Reality game developed by Mirrovr-a new company that engages in developing VR games and videos in China. MirroringRUN is developed in November, 2015 and was finished in three weeks. The writer interviewed the main developer, Xusong Yang for the details of developing this game.

The Game that Gets Away from Cybersickness

MirroringRUN is developed on the platform of Oculus Rift DK2. It also supports other VR helmets in the market. The game is set in the dark night of a sci-fi world. The player, in a first person view, is driving a fashion vehicle on a highway. The logic of the game is quite simple: the player needs to get as many coins as possible while constantly hiding from the approaching obstacles. He or she controls his directions by slightly shaking his head. As the number of collected coins’ increases, the player’s vehicle accelerates, thus gradually increases the degree of difficulty of the game.

A screenshot of MirroringRUN

Currently, many VR games face the problem of causing motion sickness. Yet, Yang is confident that MirroringRUN would not cause any discomfort for the players. He explained this in detail. Firstly, the game is developed based on a highly sensitive Gyro-sensor. It can detect even the smallest movement of the player’s head. According to Yang, the player only needs to shake his head within 15° in both sides to control the movement of the vehicle. As a result, the game does not easily cause fatigue. Secondly, because the first person view moves forward “actively”, the player would not feel the common VR sickness, as there’s no sense of disorientation. Yang got the inspiration while his team was developing a shooting game in VR. They found that in this “active moving forward view” the player won’t feel any dizziness. Yang got the idea that they can develop any type of games in VR that can get rid of cybersickness if they adopt this method. After the demonstration of MirroringRUN came out, Yang’s team invited several game reviewers to test it. The result is that no one feels dizziness or any discomfort after playing the game for more than 15 minutes, which confirmed Yang’s theory.

The Future: More Interactive Design

Yang is quite satisfied with the demonstration of MirroringRUN. Yet, he also sees its disadvantages. The most important one is that the game is too simple without any storytelling elements. After the first feeling of novelty, the players might easily get bored. One solution to this problem is to add more scenes and props into the game. For instance, they will add more locations such as dessert and abyssal sea for the players to choose from. More importantly, they are making an online version of MirroringRUN. Friends can play together and enjoy the fun of competition. They are considering adding game props such as bombs and boost motors in it. When gamers are playing in the same scene, they can use these props to slow down other players, or even steal someone else’s coins.

Yang also said that MirrorRUN would not be restricted on the platform of Oculus. In fact, any devices with a sensitive Gyro-sensor are able to play it. For now, such head-mounted displays are quite expensive and few people can afford them. However, new products keep coming out. Yang mentioned SONY‘s PSVR, which will be on sale in October, 2016 and costs only $399. He believes that newer and cheaper product will improve the situation. Yang’s team always acquires new head-mounted displays once they are on sale. They test their new games and videos on various devices to see if there are any display differences.

Mirrovr: Standing on the frontier of Chinese VR Industry

Mirrovr was established in June 2015. All five team members are college classmates. Three of them majored in Industrial Design, one in Computer Science, and one in Software Engineering. Holding the belief that virtual reality will become the future of entertainment business, they became self-employed. In the beginning Mirrovr produced 360 videos for real estate business and exhibitions. After spending time on accumulating experiences and receiving funding, Mirrovr started to produce experimental VR films and games.

The work division in Yang’s team is clear. One person is in charge of major programming, one in art design, one in visual effect and texture, one in animation and sound effect, and one in model building and team management. The only exception is game planning, to which every team member contributes in the stage of brainstorming. Yang is planning to recruit more people-maybe 4-5, because in his opinion a five-person team is too limited for high-level game/video production.

The main software they use to create the virtual world is Unreal Engine 4. They also used Unity, but Yang thinks that Unity isn’t good enough to create the world they dreamed for. Interestingly, Yang’s team receives investment from the former chairman of Unity in China, who now also devoted himself in the VR business.

Movie produced by Mirrovr

Yang admitted that so far the virtual reality industry is just at a beginning stage. There aren’t many gamers who possess an oculus helmet. Especially in China, the gaming industry is fairly undeveloped comparing to the US and Japan. Many people play games on their smartphones, but few knows about VR or Oculus. It could be expected that Yang’s team will face a dark era-too many pay out, too little return. Nevertheless, Yang believes that this is a tough battle but they will definitely win in the end. Once VR reaches its peak worldwide, Mirrovr, standing on the frontier of Chinese VR industry, will be memorized in the Chinese gaming history.