New idea: MiniScript VR

jstrout

OK, after pondering the MiniScript MMO idea for a few days, and not really coming up with a compelling value proposition over other social MMOs, here's a better idea. 🙂

A VR development environment based on MiniScript, and designed to make life as easy as possible for someone wanting to get into VR programming.

I have both an Oculus Go (cheap) and an Oculus Quest (amazing). I'm no fan of Oculus (or Facebook) as a company, but these devices are incredibly fun, and generally very well designed. But coding for them is a pretty high hurdle just to get started — I've seen so many questions about it in the Unity forum, that even I have stopped answering most days (and you all know how much I love to help newbies!).

So, this would be an app you download to your headset, and then start hacking around in MiniScript. You could do that either in VR, perhaps using a Bluetooth keyboard (I can't imagine anybody really wants to poke out code letter by letter on a virtual keyboard, though I guess that should be an option). Or, you could write scripts on your desktop/laptop computer, and drag them onto the device through a procedure like this. You'd install custom models, textures, and sounds for use in your programs the same way.

At this point, tablet users (g'day Russell!) will object that they want to hack code on their tablet while curled up on the couch. I suppose I might also let you hook it up to something like Google Drive or DropBox, which lets you edit your files using whatever apps are compatible with those. Then you put the headset on, poke the "Reload" button, and it pulls down the latest versions from the web. Test and repeat.

If this sounds intriguing to anybody, reply to this thread and let me know what you're thinking. It'll be a couple months before Mini Micro is finished, and I won't start on this until then, but it's good to let these ideas bake for a good long time before digging in.

jstrout

Geez, rereading the above, I see I forgot to mention the most important bit, which is what all this hacking around in MiniScript can actually do.

So the idea is that you would be able to create and animate objects in the VR space, and move around yourself and interact with them. That would include setting/animating the models that represent your hand or hands, providing a few standard means of moving around, and hit/collision testing. Possibly it could even include physics; I'm not a huge fan of the physics engine in general, but it's probably worthwhile in this case.

So your programs would be able to access, as inputs:

the position/orientation of the user's head, and one or two hand controllers
the state of all the controller buttons/triggers/joysticks
text entry via virtual or Bluetooth keyboard
mouse-style (but in 3D) interaction via a standard controller ray

And be able to control, as outputs:

the set of objects in the world, and the shape/position/orientation/scale/color of each (similar to sprites in Mini Micro, but in 3D)
sounds (just like Mini Micro)
background skybox, and probably a handful of other things I'm not thinking of

This would allow you to create VR games or simulations, mostly limited only by your imagination. Possibly I could also provide some easy way to publish these to the web, giving you a tiny URL you can hand out so that others can pull it down and play.

purplemikey

That is a very good idea. One that I will use for sure! I am already thinking about what kind of game I will be making.

jstrout

If you could have anything you wish... how would you prefer to edit your code and type commands? Use a BlueTooth keyboard connected to your Go or Quest? Use a PC in some way as a remote keyboard/mouse? Or just use your PC without the headset on, then install the files on your headset (directly or via the web)?

SynapticBytes

Sounds ambitious. I have no VR devices, so that sort of rules me out of the conversation. If I did, programming in VR seems tricky, unless you were lego scripting by plugging coding blocks into one another. Traditional coding with injection into the world seems best to me.

if you’re planning a sandbox VR environment,I don’t see how you can do it without physics. Hmm, a virtual TRON world could be interesting. Miniscript is simple enough that you could almost have a toolbox of commands and grab them and Assemble into code like building blocks, directly with language syntax for each block, if you constrained the variable environment to avoid lots of name typing.

Russell.

jstrout

I actually started last year on a drag-and-drop (Scratch-like) programming environment for VR. But I'm afraid I rather lost interest. MiniScript is just so much more powerful and fun to use (to me, at least).

So I think we have to assume a keyboard is involved (and there are multiple ways to do that, even in VR).

You should consider getting yourself a Go or a Quest headset. They're pretty amazing, and not outrageously priced. 🙂

SynapticBytes

I’d have to save for five months to afford a Quest, with the discretionary funds I have available, but my bigger problem as I mentioned elsewhere is motion sickness from first person games. Also, my son has a Rift that I have tried, and they really don’t work well for people who wear glasses. While the feeling of being immersed in a VR world is amazing, VR still has a long way to go to become mainstream.

iheartblocks

This is actually, almost verbatim, the game that I'm using Miniscript for!

jstrout

Even better! I love great ideas that I don't have to develop myself! 😆

When can we get a sneak peek of your game?

jstrout

@iheartblocks Any update on your game? I'd love to hear more about it!