VR Coaster
Experience a stunning Mobile VR roller coaster ride!
After more than a year of experimenting with the Oculus Rift on real roller coasters, we now focus on mobile VR.
Note: This VR ride app can be fully experienced without the real roller coaster.
In the Demo app, tap the touchpad to start the ride, press the back button to reset during ride.
This VR experience will feature a technically and visually stunning mobile VR roller coaster ride that can be experienced at home as well as when riding the real roller coaster on-site. There, the passenger simply takes a seat, puts on the Gear VR headset and enjoys a perfectly wirelessly synchronized virtual coaster ride while feeling all the g-forces of the real ride.
We're receiving strong support by renowned roller coaster manufacturer Mack Rides and Europa-Park, Germany, who help us realize these incredible ride experiences.
As we are working on a "mine train" roller coaster, our VR ride will narrate a story that expands on the specific cave theming. The passenger will accompany a team of virtual heroes who set out to rescue one of their friends from a dangerous, abyssal underworld. Therefore, the ride will not only feature huge and complex environments, but also many detailed animated characters simultaneously - thus making it technically very challenging.
Each of the characters features a complex skinned mesh with as many as up to 60 bones for body and face motion. In addition, elements like falling rocks, moving lava pools or a swinging chain bridge add up to the dynamic experience. This app often brought us to the limits of the Galaxy Note 4, but with a lot of work and optimization, we finally managed to sustain a constant 60 fps.
The ride starts with a draisine pulling the passenger's car. As the visible track always gives a hint on where the ride will turn, this makes for a comfortable start into the experience. But then the cars will derail, leading to a wild, adrenalin-filled glissade through the caverns. All through the entire ride, the characters interact with each other, climbing, holding on to one another or just sliding along the track.
Edit: Please note that the download URL here on the submission page did not update to the correct URL. The download URL for the APK is: http://www.vrcoaster.com/downloads/VRJam_VR_Coaster_Ride.apk
Also check out www.vrcoaster.com for more.
4 comments
Marc Hansen • over 7 years ago
Wow the characters; animations and camera work really look incredible. Amazing work Thomas!
Thomas Wagner • over 7 years ago
Thanks a lot Marc! :-) Yes, especially the animation was a lot of work...
Gerald Terveen • over 7 years ago
I really wanna try this on the actual roller coaster! Looks awesome, great work with the animations (poor goat though!).
And the optimization must be really good if this runs well on the Gear!
How have you solved the issue with the roller coaster turns affecting the Gear?
Thomas Wagner • over 7 years ago
Thank you Gerald! Well, on the coaster, we are using absolute tracking, not relative as with normal desktop demos. So, when the coaster car turns left in reality, the virtual car also turns left in VR. And with absolute tracking, you get a perfectly synced viewing angle.
Also, the additional g-forces of a coaster are no problem at all, same as with the Oculus Rift DK1 and DK2.