Why should we do things that have already been done?
One of the biggest questions of the modern day world.
Whilst away on placement for Code Wizards Ltd, I began choosing my final year project options out of a specialised list that Aston had come up with. I was planning on choosing my own project, but after consulting a few people and seeing that an option known as ‘A 3D game within Unity / Unreal Engine,’ I decided that this had enough scope to choose.
I’ve always wanted to build a mobile game, but after my initial FYP meeting and it not going so well, I had to rethink. Although it’s upsetting to hear my initial idea may not have enough to it, I can understand why.
I have a final year project that can be in the form of any sort of game, no matter what the constraints are; it just has to work. Within Aston University I have access to a number of resources including Xbox Kinects (PC dev versions, not the shitty Xbox versions), HTC Vive’s, Microsoft HoloLens’ and so on.
So then I began to think…
… and then it hit me.
I have access to all of this VR tech. I want to build a mobile game. Unity can bridge the gap between building a mobile game and a VR game pretty simply, so why not go the full way? Enter my idea: The Bridge (patent pending). Similar to Play Anywhere by Xbox which allows you to play an Xbox game on PC, I plan on building an API that can easily sync progress and, essentially, DRM between a mobile game and a high end VR system like an Oculus Rift.
Imagine if you can be playing a mobile game anywhere, put that game down, pick up a high end VR system and all of your progress that you had just made on your phone was there, waiting in the high end game on the Computer system? No logins*, no hassle, just pick up and play on. This is the game / system I hope to build during my final year, and I believe it’s possible with a clever database management system. Stay tuned to see how I do I guess!
* A login will be required on mobile, but not on the VR system. No usernames and passwords necessary to sync game progress.