Night Bike - Motorbike demo

[Caine]

Motorbike ride at night - http://goo.gl/vVXn8

I've been having fun with this and thought I would share so I've put together this demo of the 'on vehicle' portion of a larger project I'm working on, but with its own larger terrain map with much more road to drive.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_lhCdY0cuE

V1.2 - as of Jul 7-13

For those with hydras: start game with hydras docked - this is critical, put left hydra under rift strap on top of head (or however you prefer) and press 'start' on left hydra to enable head position tracking; right hydra works with included motion creator profile - open the profile in your motion creator program editor to see details of those controls.

[lmimmfn]

that looks great, cant try it tonight but on the top of my list for tomorrow night

[Jose]

The video looks cool. This is from your horror game right? Are there any random pop-up scares in this demo? I want to play this but I don't want to be randomly scared.

[Caine]

The video looks cool. This is from your horror game right? Are there any random pop-up scares in this demo? I want to play this but I don't want to be randomly scared.

Yep, that's right; No, there aren't any pop-up scares, also if you don't press the 't' key the ghosts won't spawn either.

[android78]

Looks cool, but seems a bit weird having the wheel changing direction without the handlebars.

[Ziggurat]

This would be a perfect match for the Razer Hydra
*Puppy eyes*

[Caine]

This would be a perfect match for the Razer Hydra
*Puppy eyes*

You are in luck, left hydra takes care of head pos tracking, and right for controls The video shows the positional tracking in action.

[Ziggurat]

This would be a perfect match for the Razer Hydra
*Puppy eyes*

You are in luck, left hydra takes care of head pos tracking, and right for controls The video shows the positional tracking in action.

What about having an alternate mode where you old the handlebars using the hydras?. I do not know if this would work well or not. Also I guess that in a seated position like this positional tracking of your head is not that important? Am I wrong? Gonna pick up my rift on the way home from work (counting down 6.5 hours). So I will try your cool demo/game

[Caine]

This would be a perfect match for the Razer Hydra
*Puppy eyes*

You are in luck, left hydra takes care of head pos tracking, and right for controls The video shows the positional tracking in action.

What about having an alternate mode where you old the handlebars using the hydras?. I do not know if this would work well or not. Also I guess that in a seated position like this positional tracking of your head is not that important? Am I wrong? Gonna pick up my rift on the way home from work (counting down 6.5 hours). So I will try your cool demo/game

Again, you are in luck - Have a look at the included motion creator profile in your motion creator editor, I have attempted exactly that set up for the right hydra - it doesn't work 100% how I want but you can hold the right hydra like it's a handlebar and rotate your wrist just you like you would the throttle. I'm trying to figure out how to incorporate that directly into Unity as well as to do motion for turns (for time being you can turn with the right hydra joystick (up & down, the controls are rotated 90 degrees when you hold it like a handlebar). Also, make sure you download a fresh copy of the demo from the link in the first post to make sure you have the most current version (I've made a couple cosmetic and framerate improvements since I first posted it).

I find the positional head tracking is huge - being seated for this type of game makes most sense, and I find it very neat to be able to lean to the sides of the motorbike, and to lean in over the handlebars to get an up close view of the front tire. The positional head tracking personally helps me avoid any VR sickness.

Let me know if you have any issues getting it running, and look forward to your feedback.

[Ziggurat]

Again, you are in luck - Have a look at the included motion creator profile in your motion creator editor, I have attempted exactly that set up for the right hydra - it doesn't work 100% how I want but you can hold the right hydra like it's a handlebar and rotate your wrist just you like you would the throttle. I'm trying to figure out how to incorporate that directly into Unity as well as to do motion for turns (for time being you can turn with the right hydra joystick (up & down, the controls are rotated 90 degrees when you hold it like a handlebar). Also, make sure you download a fresh copy of the demo from the link in the first post to make sure you have the most current version (I've made a couple cosmetic and framerate improvements since I first posted it).

I find the positional head tracking is huge - being seated for this type of game makes most sense, and I find it very neat to be able to lean to the sides of the motorbike, and to lean in over the handlebars to get an up close view of the front tire. The positional head tracking personally helps me avoid any VR sickness.

Let me know if you have any issues getting it running, and look forward to your feedback.

I will try this today (picking up my rift on my way home from work, and since I live in Europe, my work day is soon over).
Maybe it would be feasible to have the left hydra under the strap and the right hydra attached to a rod to be able to simulate two handlebars. (I'm guessing this is one of your modes).

Maybe I should ask to loan a bike

[Caine]

I will try this today (picking up my rift on my way home from work, and since I live in Europe, my work day is soon over).
Maybe it would be feasible to have the left hydra under the strap and the right hydra attached to a rod to be able to simulate two handlebars. (I'm guessing this is one of your modes).

Maybe I should ask to loan a bike

Stat holiday in Canada today so no work for me

That would probably work - it does feel funny to just be holding one side of the virtual handlebars. Eventually that left hydra will be freed up when positional head tracking is incorporated into the rift.

If I did loan you a bike hopefully its 'turning animation' works more realistically than it does in the demo

[Ziggurat]

I will try this today (picking up my rift on my way home from work, and since I live in Europe, my work day is soon over).
Maybe it would be feasible to have the left hydra under the strap and the right hydra attached to a rod to be able to simulate two handlebars. (I'm guessing this is one of your modes).

Maybe I should ask to loan a bike

Stat holiday in Canada today so no work for me

That would probably work - it does feel funny to just be holding one side of the virtual handlebars. Eventually that left hydra will be freed up when positional head tracking is incorporated into the rift.

If I did loan you a bike hopefully its 'turning animation' works more realistically than it does in the demo

Yes while at work I called Canada, and of course the woman apologized for not being in the office

[Ziggurat]

I could not get the Hydra to work, the joystick does, but its not analog so you cant steer and throttle at the same time.

The audio worked half of the times

Game crashes on exit.

Cool never the less

[Caine]

I could not get the Hydra to work, the joystick does, but its not analog so you cant steer and throttle at the same time.

The audio worked half of the times

Game crashes on exit.

Cool never the less

Hmm, for hydra it is very important that the game is started with the hydras docked - left hydra positional tracking is only enabled by pushing the 'start' button on the hydra (if you 'reset' or die, you will have to push the 'start' button on the hydra again to re-enable it). For the right hydra the joystick only controls turning, not throttle, throttle is controlled by motion by twisting the hydra like a throttle (full details can be seen in the motion creator profile) - it might actually work better if you use the hydra for head tracking and just use 'w','a','s','d' and 'space' for movement.

Not sure about the crash on exit or music issues, as I'm not having those on my end (troubleshooting is so tough with these things!) - hopefully those notes on the hydra help, let me know!

[Ziggurat]

I could not get the Hydra to work, the joystick does, but its not analog so you cant steer and throttle at the same time.

The audio worked half of the times

Game crashes on exit.

Cool never the less

Hmm, for hydra it is very important that the game is started with the hydras docked - left hydra positional tracking is only enabled by pushing the 'start' button on the hydra (if you 'reset' or die, you will have to push the 'start' button on the hydra again to re-enable it). For the right hydra the joystick only controls turning, not throttle, throttle is controlled by motion by twisting the hydra like a throttle (full details can be seen in the motion creator profile) - it might actually work better if you use the hydra for head tracking and just use 'w','a','s','d' and 'space' for movement.

Not sure about the crash on exit or music issues, as I'm not having those on my end (troubleshooting is so tough with these things!) - hopefully those notes on the hydra help, let me know!

The music i found was that my computer thinks the Oculus is a speaker as well :/
I will try with the hydra later
The crash on exit might be because im on Windows 8 64bit

EDIT MARKED IN RED

[Caine]

The music i found was that my computer thinks the hydra is a speaker as well :/
I will try with the hydra later
The crash on exit might be because im on Windows 8 64bit

Cool, thanks - really appreciate your help, I want this to work the same for everyone as it does for me!

[WiredEarp]

I liked the Hydra movement, and the music and atmosphere.

I found the game itself too hard to stay on the track and the headlamp doesn't light up the road far enough ahead to predict the corners. Maybe its realistic but it wasn't so enjoyable in that aspect. I do think it has good potential.

[Caine]

I liked the Hydra movement, and the music and atmosphere.

I found the game itself too hard to stay on the track and the headlamp doesn't light up the road far enough ahead to predict the corners. Maybe its realistic but it wasn't so enjoyable in that aspect. I do think it has good potential.

Very good point re the headlamp - I've extended the range and it helps with control quite a bit, I've also modified the motorbike turning values and added some traffic cones to some of the more treacherous corners. If you have a chance, re-download and let me know what you think about the headlamp and control now

[WiredEarp]

Great, I'll give it another go tonight! I do love the ability to move around on top of the bike using the Hydra.
Perhaps later on, you might want to consider adding weight based steering, so you'd have to lean to get the best line through corners, or something like that? Also, a daylight bike riding level would be great, especially with some jumps etc.

I mention these, as I actually think motorbike riding is a perfect fit for the Rift, and could transfer very well to an arcade setting, perhaps with a 'lean bike' like used in those older bike racing arcade games, or a proper motion platform. Racing/riding sims have the advantage of familiarity of controls, great visibility (an important consideration with the Rift), no issues with the user turning, etc, and more people seem interested in racing than are interested in flying games.

[Evenios]

intereseting a bit dark though.

[WiredEarp]

Now it just turns left continuously (previously, it would go backwards, but i just used 'w' to make it go forwards). Is there a way to pop up the key configuration or something? I suspect its picking up one of my other joysticks or pedals or something like that.

Regarding the crash:

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: NightBike.exe
Application Version: 4.1.5.1944
Application Timestamp: 51b0ce73
Fault Module Name: NightBike.exe
Fault Module Version: 4.1.5.1944
Fault Module Timestamp: 51b0ce73
Exception Code: c0000005
Exception Offset: 001758c0
OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.256.1

I've seen similar crashes on other Unity programs on quit. If I had to guess based on the error code, I'd check that there isn't something you haven't cleaned up on quit. I've noticed if I quit immediately on the bike appearing, you don't get the crash.

[rrrobot!]

Looks awesome, but the front wheel turning is strange. Been on a bike? There is a very low speed threshold at which you stop turning your handlebars, and begin to counter-steer (to lean your bike into a turn). Keep the front wheel straight when leaning at speeds greater than like 15km/h.

[Caine]

intereseting a bit dark though.

It's a tough balance - I want things to be dark like on a moonless night, but at the same time not so dark that you can't appreciate what is going on outside of the bike's headlamp - it's not shown in the video, but I've updated the build to give a much further headlamp distance which helps out a ton

[Caine]

Now it just turns left continuously (previously, it would go backwards, but i just used 'w' to make it go forwards). Is there a way to pop up the key configuration or something? I suspect its picking up one of my other joysticks or pedals or something like that.

Regarding the crash:

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: NightBike.exe
Application Version: 4.1.5.1944
Application Timestamp: 51b0ce73
Fault Module Name: NightBike.exe
Fault Module Version: 4.1.5.1944
Fault Module Timestamp: 51b0ce73
Exception Code: c0000005
Exception Offset: 001758c0
OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.256.1

I've seen similar crashes on other Unity programs on quit. If I had to guess based on the error code, I'd check that there isn't something you haven't cleaned up on quit. I've noticed if I quit immediately on the bike appearing, you don't get the crash.

Hmmm, I'll look into that, not sure what is causing the constant turning as I hadn't made any tweaks on that kind of level since the last version you would have tried. Re the crash on exit, maybe this would work better if I destroy some additional game objects before it closes the program.... I'll give that a shot, thanks for pointing that out, as it seems to close fine on my end.

[Caine]

Looks awesome, but the front wheel turning is strange. Been on a bike? There is a very low speed threshold at which you stop turning your handlebars, and begin to counter-steer (to lean your bike into a turn). Keep the front wheel straight when leaning at speeds greater than like 15km/h.

The front wheel turn is definitely strange - I'm working on making that more realistic but suspect at my skill level there is going to be some element of un-realism

[WiredEarp]

I suspect its just a misconfiguration of the Unity key setup causing my turning issue. I've had similar problems with almost all Unity applications, I usually have to go through and reset the axis to a specific device. I think not being able to change the config is the only reason I can't fix the problem.

I didn't manage to get far with the turning issue, but the extended headlight range looks much better to me.

The 'counter steer' bit could probably be easily done with the way you have already set up the Hydra. Unfortunately I don't know enough about bikes to be able to say how it should work :0

The app crash isn't really a major issue as it only happens on exit. I get similar crashes on several other Unity apps as well...

[Caine]

V1.1 uploaded, see main post for link

[WiredEarp]

Definite improvement in terms of handling. Bike feels a little light still (comes off road down hills etc). The turning issue is somehow Hydra related, I fixed it by disabling all my other input devices. The positional movement is cool but its annoying that it makes you recalibrate your Hydra every time you reset the game. Extended range on the headlights is good. I do find I dont tend to move my head much to see though, since theres not much off to the sides to see due to the darkness - which does I think kind of take away some of the point of the head tracking...
A daylight version, perhaps with a turbo button and some jumps, would be cool.

The crash on exit is still there.

[Caine]

Definite improvement in terms of handling. Bike feels a little light still (comes off road down hills etc). The turning issue is somehow Hydra related, I fixed it by disabling all my other input devices. The positional movement is cool but its annoying that it makes you recalibrate your Hydra every time you reset the game. Extended range on the headlights is good. I do find I dont tend to move my head much to see though, since theres not much off to the sides to see due to the darkness - which does I think kind of take away some of the point of the head tracking...
A daylight version, perhaps with a turbo button and some jumps, would be cool.

The crash on exit is still there.

Just uploaded v1.2 with more handling improvements, and re the darkness added a toggle-able moon for additional ambient light should the player want it. I'm pretty sure I fixed the crash on exit, let me know if you still get it

V1.2 Changelog
- Tweaks to motorbike handling/physics;
- Added Toggle-able Moon for additional light;
- Added 'playground' on top of mountain;
- Added safety colliders so it won't be so easy to slip through the mountain;
- Added surprise feature - let me know what you think when you see it!

[Caine]

v1.2 Gameplay video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6G5WuzTHU0