OCULUS QUEST ARENA: COLOCATION

OCULUS CONNECT 5 · SEPTEMBER 2018 · OCULUS QUEST

Six players walk into the same real room and play in the same virtual world. There are no cameras on the walls and no base stations. Each headset works out where it is, and every player sees everyone else exactly where they physically stand.

The arena was taped out like a game level. The crates players ducked behind in Dead and Buried were real crates they could touch. Mixed reality let players see their own bodies and each other, so they could move quickly without running into anyone.

EVENT: Oculus Connect 5
PLAYERS: 6 at once
PLAY AREA: About 4,000 sq ft
TRACKING: Oculus Insight, inside-out
GAME: Dead and Buried Arena

WHAT HAD TO WORK

An interface that kept up. Menus, hit feedback and game information had to stay readable while players moved around a large room.
Headsets in sync. Every unit located itself on one shared map of the room, so each player’s frame of reference lined up with everyone else’s.
Real movement, virtual result. Where a player walked, ducked or reached in the room is where their character did in the game.
One map, shared over the network. The room was mapped once and shared with every device in it, with real obstacles matched to their in-game counterparts.
Beyond headsets. A tablet could join the same map, so someone without a headset could walk the room and watch the action from their own position.

WHY IT MATTERS

The co-location approach is covered by a patent and is used by multiple VR experiences today.

IMAGES

A player aims at an opponent from behind a crate.

Crates doubled as cover and carried game art.

The team at the Dead and Buried Arena booth.

Diagram: hands tracked by another user’s system in a shared space.

VIDEOS

Oculus Quest Arena ‘Colocation’ With Dead And Buried

Oculus Quest WILL BLOW YOUR MIND! | Arena Size Gameplay

Event details from Oculus: Oculus: Playing with the Future (Meta developers) and Oculus Insight powers beyond room-scale VR gaming.