Other Notable Experiences
In addition to the main VRLA tent, the Oculus trailer, and the Leap Motion booth, there were many more demos that were embedded into IndieCade scene.
Private Eye
As their website states, “Private Eye is a cinema, psychological thriller for the Oculus Rift, where voyeurism meets mystery, played out against a 1950’s New York city backdrop.” The opening starts out by fading in from black with the player is sitting down in a wheelchair with a bottle of Jack Daniels on the table after losing memory from a drastic accident. The gamer must find clues that trigger memories and flashbacks to explore. The demo was located in the IndieCade Firehouse along with a whole bunch of other games. Private Eye was originally an entrant in Oculus’ 2013 ‘VR Jam’ and has evolved quite a bit since then.
Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes
Another VR experience that was in the IndieCade Firehouse was an interesting co-operative bomb dismantling game called Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes. One person wears the DK2 and a friend nearby flips through a bomb manual in an effort to help stop an impending explosion. The catch is that each individual has no idea what the other one is seeing, which makes the simulation very tricky. Communication is key to dismantle the bomb in time.
Use of Force – An Immersive Journalism Experience
Most of the virtual reality demonstrations at IndieCade used the Oculus Rift. There were the occasional Samsung Gear VR demos that were seen in the wild where local developers would stealthily show off what they had been working on. There was one additional project that stood out way beyond the rest that utilized their own custom made virtual reality system. The experience was called Use of Force and was created by a group of hard working people led by Nonny de la Peña, CEO of Emblematic Group.
The virtual reality experience is an expansive re-creation of a moment in history that shook the journalism world in 2010. It was a moment of police brutality that occurred along the border of Mexico and the United States. As reported by the New York Times, a man named Anastasio Hernandez was beaten viciously with batons and tasered by several officers. Video footage of the incident was recorded on cellphone cameras by those watching nearby. Hernandez died shortly after the event due to the injuries sustained by the beating.
The footage captured was digitally re-created for virtual reality using special headsets, custom code, and lots of motion capture cameras. It was unlike any VR demo that was at IndieCade in that it offered a standing experience that was based on a real event. This experience depicted an actual event that occurred allowing people to step inside and see what it was like from the perspective of the person that saw it happen. It evokes emotion, it produces empathy, and it does this all while allowing the individual wearing the headset to walk around.
Use of Force received IndieCade’s ‘Impact Award’ during the Thursday night ceremonies.
