Schlagwort: 2 Bears Studio

  •  VIVE Sync announced to mainstream enterprise VR collaboration

     VIVE Sync announced to mainstream enterprise VR collaboration

    Reading Time: 3 minutes

    Developed By Internal 2 Bears Studio, VIVE Sync is to Pilot in December

    At a press event in San Francisco yesterday, HTC VIVE announced VIVE Sync, a virtual reality (VR) collaboration and meeting application built specifically for the enterprise. The easy to access and secure Vive Sync has been built for the entire Vive ecosystem, compatible with the Vive, Vive Pro and Vive Focus. By developing this enterprise collaboration tool, HTC Vive is continuing its commitment to bringing premium VR hardware and software solutions to businesses of all sizes. 2 Bears Studio, HTC Vive’s internal development team, will begin selecting pilot partners to integrate Vive Sync into their businesses in December.

    Vive Sync is an intuitive VR collaboration tool where internal teams can meet in a virtual shared space, improving communication and productivity amongst organizations. Supporting up to 20 employees simultaneously, teams separated across the globe can meet to share materials, hold discussions, and make real-time collaborative decisions. With dynamic and customizable avatars, individuals will be able to have immersive and realistic interactions with their colleagues no matter where they are in the world. Through Vive Sync, participants are able to easily share materials directly from their server such as standalone videos, presentations, and 2D & 3D assets. In addition, Vive Sync’s 3D drawing capabilities allows users to mark-up and interact with these materials while the ability to easily take screenshots, video recordings and voice to text support promotes continued collaboration outside of the virtual meeting space.

    “With our offices located halfway across the world from each other, we built Vive Sync as an internal solution to the many pain points of remote work and collaboration,” said David Sapienza, Executive Director of 2 Bears Studio. “What was most important to us and what separates Vive Sync from other solutions is the persistent emphasis on security and ease of use throughout the application.”

    Vive Sync integrates seamlessly into a company’s own infrastructure, ensuring a custom and secure platform. With organizations able to exercise full control over their security, employees can share confidential and sensitive materials freely with their colleagues. In addition, setting up secure meetings in Vive Sync is a simple and intuitive process. Through Outlook Office 365 integration, users can easily set up meetings in Vive Sync through their email while the QR code system capitalizes on the Vive’s front cameras to allow for a simple way to join meeting locations.  

    2 Bears Studio will begin accepting partners into its pilot program next month. Additional information on pricing will be released at a later date. For more on Vive for enterprise, please visit: https://enterprise.vive.com.

    Website: LINK

  • HTC Vive launches full suite of premium VR offerings for businesses of all sizes

    HTC Vive launches full suite of premium VR offerings for businesses of all sizes

    Reading Time: 5 minutes

    Today at a press event in San Francisco, HTC Vive announced a premium virtual reality experience for the enterprise market, including a new platform, new hardware, and new software available specifically for commercial use. This launch reinforces Vive’s increased commitment to bringing best-in-class design and software expertise—paired with the world’s best VR hardware—to businesses of all sizes. With this complete solution powered by Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 835 Mobile VR Platform the enterprise market can now create, collaborate, and engage in new and effective ways with employees and customers alike. Companies across the globe such as SimForHealth, and the Volkswagen Group are already implementing Vive for training, simulation, and product design purposes.

    Today, Vive is launching a portfolio of premium products in Western markets, including VIVE FOCUS™, a new standalone HMD for enterprise; VIVE WAVE™ VR SDK, the quintessential open VR platform for developers to create content for standalone devices; and VIVE Sync, a new enterprise collaboration tool.

    Vive Focus: The Most Powerful Standalone VR Experience

    Through Vive Focus, Vive offers the most complete and powerful standalone VR experience available for businesses on the market today. With this launch, Vive Focus will be available in 37 markets worldwide. Vive Focus is powered by the Vive Wave platform and content from VIVEPORT™, this innovative standalone headset is ideal for businesses that want a truly mobile VR experience. It offers a stunning combination of power and portability and the highest resolution graphics available on a standalone headset, with absolutely no PC needed.

    With Vive Focus, no external base stations or sensors are needed—enterprises can utilize instant standalone VR with dual 3K AMOLED screens, interactive tracking, and Snapdragon 835 Mobile VR Platform. With high-resolution 2880 x 1600 graphics on par with tethered, professional-grade VR system like the Vive Pro, Vive Focus features innovative world-scale tracking and a 110° field of view. Users will enjoy a freeing, intuitive experience with no wires to pull them back to reality, built-in speakers, and up to three hours of active use on a single charge.

    The Vive Focus can be paired with the Vive Enterprise Advantage professional services program, which offers two tiers (Advantage or Advantage+) of commercial licensing, dedicated support, and service utilities for Vive enterprise hardware. Each program offers purchase protection with tailored hardware warranties, limited downtime, dedicated support and advanced device management utilities such as a Kiosk mode and a batch configuration feature.

    VIVE WAVE: The Most Innovative Platform for Superior Standalone VR

    The new Vive Wave VR SDK offers an open interface, enabling interoperability between numerous mobile VR headsets and accessories, with Viveport as the universal distribution and storefront for all Vive Wave devices. This allows VR content developers to more efficiently develop, port and publish content while offering a much broader reach of potential customers across multiple VR headsets. Meanwhile, hardware partners are able to focus on true device innovation versus fundamental VR optimization, with access to much needed quality VR content through the Viveport platform.

    Vive Wave is a clear step forward in bringing together the highly fragmented mobile VR market and enables developers to create content for a common platform and storefront across multiple hardware vendors. Today, there are over 150 applications available, with more in development, and the platform is currently deployed on five stand-alone devices worldwide. Since launch, 15 total hardware partners have announced their support for Vive Wave and are planning the integration of Wave into their products.

    Shadow Creator joins the Vive Wave Platform

    Today, the Vive Wave platform is also welcoming Shadow Creator as the newest hardware partner to adopt the platform. Shadow Creator builds Shadow VR, an all-in-one VR HMD that supports 6DoF controllers, has innovative functionality and capabilities, and exceptional performance. The device will launch on November 11 worldwide.

    “Partnering with Vive and Wave benefits us two-fold,” said Jinxin Hu, COO of Shadow Creator. “It allows us to achieve more profit models through the open platform and also helps us connect with more global users, thus enhancing our company’s international reputation and brand influence.”

    Shadow VR all-in-one HMD is equipped with a Snapdragon 835 Mobile VR Platform and Fresnel ultra-thin optical lens, using a self-developed holographic 3D UI Blue Cat and 6 degrees of freedom (DoF) capabilities. A 2K (2560×1440) HD display brings users a clearer and more realistic picture experience and the stereo dual-speaker sound effect makes the experience more immersive. Shadow VR is equipped with self-developed 6DoF controllers, which uses a nine-axis high-precision gyroscope, ray tracing, and a button layout compatible with most VR controllers today.

    Vive Helps Enterprise Partners Work More Efficiently

    Today, Vive also introduced VIVE Sync, a new virtual reality collaboration and meeting application specifically for enterprise that is part of the Vive Enterprise suite of services. Vive Sync is an intuitive collaboration tool where internal teams can meet in a virtual shared space, improving communication and productivity amongst organizations.

    Additionally, at a media event in San Francisco today, Vive showcased Vive Sync, as well as a number of partners utilizing Vive Focus to demonstrate enterprise efforts:

    • Immersive Factory is a French start-up specializing in the design of virtual reality training who provide companies with a different way of addressing safety, health, and environmental issues with their teams.
    • Innoactive is a Munich-based start-up that develops virtual, augmented, and mixed reality enterprise software. The company serves clients in the automotive, retail, aerospace, pharmaceutical, and financial sectors. Innoactive’s software solutions streamline the content production and roll-out of VR collaborative planning, simulation, and training applications.
    • Modal is inspired by co-founder Nolan Bushnell’s success with Atari and Chuck E. Cheese’s, bringing social, fun, and active free-roam location-based VR entertainment to a mass audience.
    • Primitive is an Immersive Development Environment, a three-dimensional programming world where software developers can explore, interact, and debug their code in unlimited virtual space.
    • Qualcomm Technologies: A demonstrative experience for medical practitioners as a way to reinvent health care education and training, the Think F.A.S.T. demo immerses users in a medical VR environment where they can receive hands-on instructional content that simulates a real-world comprehensive stroke examination designed to assist in diagnosing strokes faster and in turn, reducing the long-term impact of the disease.
    • SimForHealth offers an immersive, interactive and collaborative approach to the training of health professionals, in line with the principle.

    For more on Vive for enterprise, please visit: https://enterprise.vive.com.

    Website: LINK

  • Super Puzzle Galaxy Blasts Off With its First DLC Pack

    Super Puzzle Galaxy Blasts Off With its First DLC Pack

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    Since early access to Super Puzzle Galaxy was launched in December, 2 Bears Studio has worked tirelessly to create additional content for the physics-based puzzle game. The Vive Studios title launched its first DLC Pack on Steam to keep your cosmic puzzle missions ever fresh and exciting. Never played Super Puzzle Galaxy before? Check out the Developer Diary below to get a glimpse at this galactic game.

    The new Boost Ball DLC Pack for Super Puzzle Galaxy comes with 24 new levels, two new objects and a brand-new environment. Now puzzlers can manipulate sand to create the perfect path to victory in a total of 56 levels while dodging moving obstacles, bouncing on spring objects and shattering through glass doors. Whether you have already mastered Super Puzzle Galaxy or are just starting your puzzle adventure in the cosmos, the new Boost Ball DLC Pack will add hours of excitement to your journey. Super Puzzle Galaxy’s first DLC pack includes the following:

    • New dynamic world
    • 16 new levels
    • 8 new challenge levels with new Boost Ball ability
    • 2 new obstacles
      • Glass Door – ensure you have enough momentum to breakthrough!
      • Spring – adjust the angle and use this new spring to bounce your ball to the goal
    • New updates to the in-game editor for Steam users looking to create their own levels to share with the community. New Boost Ball abilities are now added to the in-game editor so players can make their own Boost Ball levels in addition to Jump and Ghost balls already available.

    Super Puzzle Galaxy has proven to be a popular follow up to 2 Bears Studios’ Arcade Saga and has even found a big fan in PSVR Frank. Steam users can now try their luck at solving levels personally crafted by the YouTube influencer using the in-game editor. To find PSVR Frank’s levels take the following steps:

    1. Select “Explore” from the Main Menu

    2. Then highlight the 2 Bears logo to see the “Recommended Levels”

    Looking to create your own levels just like PSVR Frank? Make sure to catch the in-game tutorial that walks you through step by step on how to build your own puzzles that you can share with the SPG community.

    Super Puzzle Galaxy and the Boost Ball DLC Pack are now available on Steam. You can score the new DLC pack for $1.99 while Early Access is $9.99. Super Puzzle Galaxy Lite is on Viveport for $3.99 and in Viveport Subscription.

    Website: LINK

  • Super Puzzle Galaxy – Creating Levels

    Super Puzzle Galaxy – Creating Levels

    Reading Time: 5 minutes

    This is a guest blog post by J. Epps and the 2Bears Team.

    A blank page can be intimidating. For me, a blank page feels like a vast ocean that I can’t see the edges of; however, there is a trick that those of us who create for a living use to get past this problem. Just get started. Yep, it’s actually that simple. Once you get started creating, different ideas will come to you and drive the process forward. When creating, there are no bad ideas or wasted efforts; even if you abandon something you created, it still taught you what didn’t work. As in my ocean analogy, imagine your initial idea is like pouring a 1m by 1m cement column you can stand on. Once you have a place to stand, you can see land to build toward.

    Let’s break this down some more:

    1. The Level Gameplay Theme – How to come up with a cool level idea

    a. There are really two options:

    i. Item Driven – The way I start all my S.P.G. levels is to pick two different objects and think about interesting ways to use them or have them interact. Frequently, as you start constructing your level, you will uncover new interactions between objects. If this happens, see if you can harness it and build around that as the main gameplay theme for the level.

    ii. Idea-Driven – Sometimes an idea for a cool interaction may just occur to you such as creating a level with no rock, only sand. In the case of an idea-driven level, you use objects to create the idea you are thinking of. The important part is the idea you are driving at, not the objects to get you there.

    2. Create a Level – Let’s walk through creating a level.

    a. Place the Level End First – I place the End Goal object first to understand where I need to arrive. I then build backwards in steps.b. Divide into Sections – Usually there are 3 major interactions in a level, so divide into 3 sections.c. Make it Real – Let’s add some concrete ideas to these sections:

    i. Section 1 – Use sand manipulation to navigate around a 90-degree turn.

    ii. Section 2 – Aim the Catapult in the correct direction.

    iii. Section 3 – Place the Bent Tunnel to throw ball up and into the rock mound protecting the End Goal. [The sand ramp in section one is not present because the player will create this ramp themselves.]

    d. Solved – Here is what the level would look like once it is solved.

    1. Rules – Here are the simple rules the bears at 2Bears_Central use to create S.P.G. levels:

    a. Galaxy Gems – Our general rule is that it doesn’t have to be hard to win a level; however, getting all the Galaxy Gems should be challenging.

    i. Easy to Get 1, Hard to Get 3 – It can and should be pretty easy to win the level. This will make it so that if a player gets tired of figuring out the level they can win and come back to tackle getting three gems later. Getting one gem should be more difficult than just getting the ball into the end goal while getting all three should be super challenging.

    ii. Gems Can Show the Path – A good way to give player’s a starting place in your level is to use a Gem or two to show the intended path of the ball. This would be similar to coins that show a jump arc in a Mario game.

    b. Too Many Objects – While not an iron-clad rule, it is more elegant and thoughtful to design with fewer objects. For example, a level with 8 moveable Portal Doors all connected to different fixed Portal Doors will drive a player insane as she tries to figure out—through guess and check—which movable Portal Door links to which fixed Portal Door. It is fine to have one of each object as long as the end product is still fun.

    1. Creation Suggestions –

    a. Momentum – S.P.G. is a physics puzzle game so the speed of the ball is integral. You can use accelerator ramps, catapults, portal doors and of course sand to cause the ball to accelerate or decelerate. Don’t forget to experiment with making the player control the speed of the ball using hills and ramps. Consider starting the ball off on a rock ramp and then make them slow the ball down or even start the ball on an accelerator ramp and make players use a pit to channel the ball.

    b. Fun – Don’t forget, you are creating fun. Sometimes a level idea is great in the abstract but just isn’t fun in the game, or you just can’t make the mechanic work the way you envisioned it. I suggest you don’t beat your head against a level idea that isn’t working out and just move onto a different idea.

    c. Start Over – Don’t be afraid to start over if you don’t like the direction of the level. While it is counterintuitive, the reality is that deciding what to make is the hard part. Actually recreating a level is fast once you know exactly what you are building. You don’t have to start over from scratch, but sometimes it helps to get rid of what isn’t working so you can come up with a fresh approach.

    –J. “jammy” Epps & The 2Bears Team

    Early Access of Super Puzzle Galaxy is available today on Steam for a promotional price of $9.99 while a Lite Edition of Super Puzzle Galaxy will be on Viveport for $3.99. Viveport’s Lite Edition will also be available for Viveport subscribers to select as one of their monthly titles starting today. The Lite Edition features all 48 levels but does not include the option to create or explore user-generated content.

    Website: LINK