VRTGO is the UK’s first dedicated VR Conference and is set to highlight the UK’s importance in both the gaming industry at large and the fledgling industry of virtual reality. The one day event comes to the Baltic Centre in Gateshead on September 11th, Road to VR will be there.
UK Gaming Industry Comes Together to Talk VR
In just the last 2 years, virtual reality has been reanimated from it’s long dorment state. In those 2 years we’ve seen Oculus VR lead the charge with it’s Rift series of headsets and more recently, heavyweight Sony Computer Entertainment joined the fray with it’s Project Morpheus VR headset. Elsewhere the excitement awakened in developers and technologists around the world, all captivated by the idea of creating and occupying virtual worlds has resulted in a swell of interest in both the gaming and entertainment industry at large. VR is finally ready for prime time at last it seems.
Excitable hyperbole aside, despite the VR industry’s early stages of gestation, the community meet-ups that have sprung up around the globe, kicked off by early events such as SVVR prove there is a need for events for VR enthusiasts, developer, investors etc. to come to together to share ideas. VRTGO, organised by Secret Sauce, hosted by Digital Union and Game Kettle and headline sponsored by Zero Light aims to offer an event where they can do just that.
You can still purchase tickets to VRTGO right here.
VRTGO Talks
The one day event comprises a series of talks covering various aspects of virtual reality, culminating in an evening party to celebrate. Here’s a rundown:
- CCP Games will be there discussing the evolution of made-for-VR space combat game EVE Valkyrie.
- Design and UI specialists AtomHawk share their ideas on how to design and build a great VR user interface.
- Doug Wollf of Zero Light, sponsors of VRTGO and 3D visualisation specialists will speak on the benefits and challenges for non-gaming VR applications.
- Star Citizen creators RSI are represented by Designer, Jon Dadley who’ll be discussing options and approaches for games that have opted to add support for VR rather than building support from the ground up.
- Henrique Olifiers of Bossa Studios, organisers of various successful VR Meetups and the developers behind Surgeon Simulator.
- Dave Corless from nDreams, the company behind titles for the Oculus Rift, Project Morpheus AND Samsung Gear VR headsets, talk about developing titles across multiple VR platforms.
- Jed Ashforth, Senior Game Designer for Project Morpheus at Sony SCEE will discuss the need to redefine development approaches to game design for this new medium.
- There are also some quick-fire presentations from Hammerhead Games (behind the excellent Undercurrent for Oculus Rift) and Vector 76 (AR and VR Development house), themed of course around VR.
VRTGO Exhibitors
- Zerolight @ZeroLight
- Fujitsu @fujitsu_uk
- NDreams @nDreamers
- Bossa Studios @bossastudios
- Virtalis @virtalis
- Spearhead Interactive @sprearhead_int
- Sunderland Uni @sunderlanduni
- Hammerhead Interactive @HH_Int
- Ana Ribeiro – Pixel Rift
- Blu Sky Tax @bluskytax
- Vector 76 @shaunallan
- Ward Hadaway
Also, attendees will have their chance to get their hands on the latest VR technology, including the Oculus Rift and Project Morpheus. And of course, there’ll be plenty of opportunity to network and gossip during breaks and the after-show party, held at the Riverside bar within the Baltic centre.
Road to VR are proud media sponsors of the conference and will be covering the event as it unfolds on September 11th. We hope to see you there.
