Meant to be Seen

New Ecco the dolphin game kickstarter: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ann ... nture-game

Original Ecco dev team, using Unity, could be great in first "person" view.

Might get a bit disorienting if they allow for full 360 movement, but i will keep my eyes on this game regardless : )

3rd person might be better, in this case.

I am a huge Ecco fan. Like, HUGE Ecco fan. Definitely backing this.

Thanks for the heads-up, and thanks Palmer for the endorsement. I just backed it...

I played ecco defender of the future for dreamcast. It was great.
That kickstarter definitely is ambitious (pricewise), we'll see if the developers have enough clout to pull that off.

PalmerTech wrote:3rd person might be better, in this case.

I am a huge Ecco fan. Like, HUGE Ecco fan. Definitely backing this.

I still have the music on a Megadrive mix-tape somewhere, that Yamaha sound chip rocked! I was thinking a first person view could really simplify the control scheme, and might be ok for seated play? Like a flying game (Descent style), where you look you go, as dolphins can't swim sideways / backwards anyway. They have relatively inflexible necks compared to humans, so maybe they could use a boundary-box system for looking then turning, and at least we don't have to worry about limb tracking for this one! The funding goal does seem a bit on the high side given the time limit, Rift support might just give them the boost they need, maybe you should talk to them after GDC?

no jellyfish are scarey . i rather not lol. "hides".

I've wondered a bit about how to do VR games where your character is not human. Dolphins have an eye on each side of their head, so their vision should be quite different to ours. I don't know how the human brain would cope if we actually used the dolphin's real eye positions as the camera position for each eye. And I don't think they have the same range of head motion. And there's not really anything you could map the Razer Hydra movements to.

The fins? : p

I never played Ecco, but I really liked Endless Ocean on the Wii. I'll keep an eye on this one too.

I have been scuba diving for about 20 years and I think it would make an excellent setting for a VR world/game. The scuba mask would map very well to the Rift's FOV. And if the game calibrated "VR horizontal" to "RL up 45 degrees" then it would be very close to the feeling you get while diving. Now hold 2 hydra controllers and swim with your hands. Combine that with really good underwater sound effects and it would be very compelling.

PalmerTech wrote:3rd person might be better, in this case.

I am a huge Ecco fan. Like, HUGE Ecco fan. Definitely backing this.

Seriously, you guys wouldn't believe how huge fans Palmer and I are. I backed it the second I saw it; this NEEDS to get funded. However, it's got a rather lofty goal and not a whole lot of attention, unfortunately, so I'm a bit fearful... But can you imagine an expansive oceanic world to explore as you please? It would be fantastic for the Rift.

I wrote to the Big Blue people. Here's their reply!

"Ed Annunziata
Wednesday Apr 3 2013, 8:20pm EDT
Yes, the Big Blue is a natural for Oculus Rift. I just signed up as a developer and ordered our unit.

I'll do an update about this later.

Thanks for the note!"

Zoide wrote:I wrote to the Big Blue people. Here's their reply!

"Ed Annunziata
Wednesday Apr 3 2013, 8:20pm EDT
Yes, the Big Blue is a natural for Oculus Rift. I just signed up as a developer and ordered our unit.

I'll do an update about this later.

Thanks for the note!"

Sweetness.

I'm looking forward to reading this Rift update. If they announce Rift support, I'll pledge. Otherwise, I'm going to pass on this one. It just doesn't look like something I would enjoy on a monitor and certainly not on a cell phone.

Zoide wrote:I wrote to the Big Blue people. Here's their reply!

"Ed Annunziata
Wednesday Apr 3 2013, 8:20pm EDT
Yes, the Big Blue is a natural for Oculus Rift. I just signed up as a developer and ordered our unit.

I'll do an update about this later.

Thanks for the note!"

Sadly, the Big Blue kickstarter only has four days left, and is only 8-percent of the way to their $665,000 goal:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ann ... nture-game

Even a half-million dollar backer can't push them over their goal unless they get a lot more additional support.

Loved Ecco and played it back in the days on my Mega Drive I think. But that Kickstarter just asks for too much money and makes claims I very much doubt:
"We have the best game programmers and 3D artists in the world." ... not some of, but THE!!! yeah sure ... that's why the screenshots look like Win95 screensaver screenshots. Sorry, but I can do better than that and I am on the other end of the artists/programmers spectrum.

I would love a VR Ecco, but please let it come from a talented indie developer and not some yesterday hit-makers that see it as an easy cash-grab (that I am rather happy it failed).