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I sometimes have some thoughts about VR which I want to share, but which are a bit too random to warrant a separate thread. So this thread is meant not only for tech, but also to provide a space where you can share your random notions, visions and dreams!

TIP: CREATE A VR TEMPLATE
Having a basic template file is just as fundamental as an artist having access to blank sheets of paper. So create a project with only the most barebone VR implementation. Only add a floor and maybe a pair of hands. Name the folder "VR TEMPLATE". The next time you want to try out a new VR idea, just duplicate the template folder and give it a suiting name.

MY CURRENT STATUS
I'm trying to design a writers cave VR! The internet always gets me sidetracked, so I feel it would be nice to have a simple space where I could do my writing without any distractions. Currently I have a simple monitor in VR space which I can write to with the keyboard. I will need to hardcode all kinds of basic features, like saving the file and navigating the text. A problem is that when I run it, SteamVR pops up in front of my game window, which then no longer can detect the keyboard. (I can just click that window to bring it back into the forground, but it's annoying nonetheless.)

SHORT STORY RECOMMENDATION: PYGMALION’S SPECTACLES
The first science fiction story by Stanley Grauman Weinbaum was the highly acclaimed A MARTIAN ODYSSEY. His writing career was cut short when he died of lung cancer the following year. In 1935, the year of his death, he wrote PYGMALION’S SPECTACLES, an early scifi story about VR. While the term VR was coined much later, in 1987, even if the word didn’t exist when this story was published, the vision of VR is still what is presented here.
The story’s VR technology takes its inspiration from already existing technology at that time: movies and stereoviews which let you see images with depth. The experience is made more immersive by crude trickery and a bit of self-hypnosis. The book has a practical approach to VR, seriously considering how it might be archived. This is in stark contrast to the magic solutions of later scifi stories, where people just strap on a helmet that does whatever to the brain and then they are in VR. The story’s practical approach proved correct: The current VR tech are all based on watching stereoview images through specially designed ”spectacles”, the so-called Head-Mounted Displays (HMD).
Scifi typically envisioned VR as an overwhelmingly successful consumer product. In reality, there has been numerous failed VR products, like the Sensorama or Nintendo Virtual Boy. Even today, consumers largely ignore VR. Oculus Rifts has too low resolution. It’s too expensive. This was foreseen in PYGMALION’S SPECTACLES, where the VR is describes as glorious but deeply fringe with only a single prototype in existence. The inventor rants bitterly: “Fools! I bring it here to sell to Westman, the camera people, and what do they say? ‘It isn’t clear. Only one person can use it at a time. It’s too expensive.’ Fools! Fools!”
The VR experience in the story is as basic as it gets: A simple but vivid utopian world and three actors, the viewer himself included. Curiously, this just happen to be how the best VR experiences are designed, by focusing on one, single thing, perfectly implemented. Like THEBLU where the user simply watches an deep water seascape.
The most prophetic moment in the story is when the protagonist experiences the offputting sensation of staring down the lush vegetation on the ground, while sensing the solid floor of the real world with his feets. This queer experience of being in two conflicting realities is exactly what VR feels like. Something which the perfect VR in later scifi stories missed.
On with the story! Here’s the original PYGMALION’S SPECTACLES, reprinted from a copy found in Fantastic Story Magazine. Step out of time, out into the grand futuristic visions of yesteryear!

The short story can be found on Gutenberg.net.au: Pygmalion’s Spectacles

That's a pretty awesome premise for a short story from 1935! ( Btw your link don't quite work: Pygmalion's Spectacles )


I also kind of enjoyed reading about his "technical" (but obviously rather impossible) explanation of how his spectacles worked, with the electrolysis (that had to be activated), and that "every drop have the hole story" (a bit like a hologram). But the practical approach as you say is right on compared to todays HMD's.

This short story also reminded me of some other early 3D photography I read about some time ago. From googling it has be the 1960s Sensorama. Which is basically a VR movie:

With some features we don't yet have in our HMD's ( but I'm not sure I'd like to say refill scent cartridges for example )
But I've seen there are some gloves in the works, that will allow you to feel force feedback / touch to some degree ( https://www.vrgluv.com/ ), probably others too.

Btw one thing I'd like to see added to VR HMD's, is Galvanic Vestibular stimulation (if it's safe, ofc). I saw a rather hilarious video on youtube years ago but couldn't find it again atm. But here's another equally fun one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1S7FO2Qd6Zc
Though one could possibly develop balance problems if used excessively? Or at least fall easily in VR (if standing), since the perceived off-balance doesn't really exist (just guessing, I've never tried GVS).
A motion platform would be better, but also more expensive.


As for your writers cave, have you seen Dry Erase: Infinite VR Whiteboard? Not quite the same, but I just thought I'd mention it anyway (I haven't tried this yet).

Thanks for spotting the broken link - corrected!

I been experiencing with light electric shocks using an electronic fly swatter. Can be used for more potent haptic feedback in VR, simulating insect bites or electric shocks. The problem, of course, is how to make the game communicate with the fly swatter.

But for some reason, I had never heard of Galvanic Vesibular Stimulation before now. Sounds absolutely amazing! Still, I won't try it on myself without intensive research. Searching the web a bit, I discovered that it has been used to help people suffering from Camptocormia due to Parkinson's Disease: Galvanic Vestibular Stimulation for Camptocormia in Parkinson's Disease: A Case Report
Actually, an acquaintance of mine has an extreme case of that. But it seems GVS is still in the development stage here.

Dry Erase: Infinite VR Whiteboard sounds really promising! I'll wait for a sale, though. I'm kind of overwhelmed by all the posibilities I already has in VR.

I rigged and animated a character in Blender. This is a huge step forward for me! However, when Importing it into AGK2, the thing was crazy oversized. I have no clue what went wrong. Maybe it was because I used a figure created in Oculus Medium. I got to give this another go.

I have made a crude hack which make position objects a bit easier. It let you move a tiny sphere with your right Touch controller. Pressing the 'B' button will record the spheres XYZ position to a text file located in this directory:
C:\Users\[USERNAME]\AppData\Local\AGKApps\[GAMETITLE]\media\positionSaveFile.txt
The content in the text file is something like this:

SetObjectPosition ( YOUROBJECT, -0.092283, 1.489935, 0.297176 )

To use, simply copypaste this code into your game:




And also this code, which should be placed in your games do loop:



This works, but is way crude. Optionally, I should pick up the stuff I want to move, and also be able to change its rotation. And automatically update the code with the new position and rotation.