Oculus Launchpad Experience 0.1

Introduction

I was extremely fortunate to be accepted into the Oculus Launchpad “Boot Camp” for this year. It is the 3rd iteration of this fascinating dive into creating greater diversity in VR by Oculus – and I feel it is worthy of applause as there are few VR companies that are putting money and resources into making diversity in this compelling and immersive technology of the future a focus.

The general highlights of this program are as follows:

  • Oculus flies out 100 participants to Facebook headquarters for two days of workshops, presentations, and most importantly networking and idea-sharing.
  • All participants are supported into creating a VR prototype over 3 months to pitch for final project funding from Oculus.
  • Support takes the form of weekly lectures, and direct access to Oculus developers, and the formation of relationships with Launchpad colleagues.
  • There have been amazing and diverse projects funded by this program, such as last years:
  • Not every project will get funded so it is a bit of a competition, though we are encouraged to form teams internally with other launchpad participants and/or externally.

Overall, this journey has been fascinating. We have heard inspiring talks from Jason Rubin, Laura Fryer, Turtle Rock Studios, Robin Hunicke, and many others from Oculus. I have also met some truly talented and inspirational fellow participants – seriously their CVs are intimidating! Ebony Peay Ramirez and the Oculus Launchpad team putting this endeavour together truly care – and it is quite evident in how they have improved things, from participant feedback, over the past two years.

Part of the journey through this program also details that participants write a weekly blogpost detailing their adventures. In the past I might have found this to be busywork, but now as someone who uses this kind self-reflective exercise in the classes I teach I am looking forward to sharing and contemplating what I have found, and hopefully helping and/or connecting with others through it.

Diversity, WebVR, Social Experiences, Education …

This past couple of weeks since meeting everyone at Menlo Park have been full of contemplation, insecurity, and optimism. We are all coming to terms with the idea that we must submit something worthwhile in three months, and that we will probably need others to help us. This has been an interesting point for myself as I feel I have a relatively clear idea – I want to explore how we can do education better in VR – but in the past I usually just figure things on my own. I am fortunate that I am both a Professor at a Canadian College and currently pursuing a PhD exploring what education might look like in VR and AR, so pursuing an educational application seems quite reasonable as I am already quite familiar with what is and isn’t out there.

Three months is not a great deal of time, but the monetary/developer support and validation of Oculus is a true motivator. Because of this it will be crucial to find others passionate enough to work together on this project; but how do we do that when everyone has their own strong ideas of direction is something I am still trying to figure out …

Taking all the above thoughts into consideration, here are my musings for the first leg of this journey.

  • I truly believe in WebVR and the A-Frame toolset to move this project along. The openness and accessibility of the web is huge; and I have enjoyed the sensible developer choices and helpful communities of WebVR/A-Frame.
  • I have experimented with testing social WebVR in the past so I have some ideas on how to proceed; but now the pressure is on to create something more concrete and fully formed for this prototype pitch.
  • I need to form a small team to help with development and content creation.
  • For this prototype build my team will likely be small and consisting of those I have worked with in the past as I am not sure I have time to build that team trust with new members currently. If I can get funded I would like to expand this team to include some really interesting people I haven’t worked with before, as it is easier to recruit when you have money to pay 🙂
  • I also acknowledge that I am a white cis-gender male included in a diversity program, and that likely my described desire to create a way for others to share their experiences in my application to this program is the reason why. I have two daughters and one son, and I want to do my part to help define a future where they feel their voices are heard equally, and that they also know how to listen to others. Diversity of perspective should also be reflected in my team.
  • Sounds like there will be very few developing in WebVR this Launchpad cohort; but for those of us that are Oculus is making sure we have access to those that make WebVR support happen at Oculus (I am already bugging Justin Rogers with WebRTC and Fixed-Foveated Rendering OculusGO Questions ha). We WebVR devs are fortunate this year, and I will continue reach out the very helpful Aframe and WebVR communities.

Now while I try to build a competent and diverse team of complementary skillsets I also need to figure out my WebRTC problems, figure out if I should host on AWS, and start seriously prototyping how socialVR interactions could help us learn.

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