Yesterday , I stood on Tatooine , under two sun , and learn the Millennium Falcon land . This was the first - ever demo of Star Wars : Trials on Tatooine , the new virtual reality “ experience ” from Industrial Light and Magic ’s ILMxLab . It was awesome — and then I got to swing a lightsaber .
To test out Trials on Tatooine , I put on an HTC Vive headset and a pair of headphones , and set up myself standing in the middle of space . The ILMxLab developers handed me a controller . before long a intimate textbook crawl was scroll through the space right in front of me — all about Luke Skywalker trying to create a new Jedi Order . In trial on Tatooine , you play a young padawan whom Luke has mail to his homeworld on a mission .
The Millennium Falcon soar upwards right over you , through space , and then fly towards a familiar - looking reddish major planet .
Soon , you ’re on Tatooine , standing under those two familiar suns . The Falcon lands pretty much on top of you — so close I almost thought it was going to smush me for a sec . The Falcon opens and R2D2 comes out . You hear the voice of Han Solo , tell you to help Artoo fixate something on the Falcon , which you do with the plot accountant . Just in time , too — two TIE fighters swoop down to attack , and the Falcon shoot them down .
( Incidentally , when you hear the phonation of Han Solo , that ’s not Harrison Ford — it ’s Ross Marquand , The Walking Dead casting member andcelebrity impressionist . But Marquand sound so tight to the actual affair , you ’d avow it was Ford back for one last go - circle . )
The Falcon need off , leaving you and R2D2 behind . Your mission is to protect R2D2 — but at least R2D2 pops out a present tense that Luke has leave for you : a lightsaber ( which the game controller turns into ) .
A squad of stormtroopers attack , shooting at you , and you have to use the lightsaber to deflect their blasters — ideally with in effect enough reflexes to hit the troopers with their own ricochets . That ’s the main element of gameplay in the whole demo , apart from the pretty desultory “ fasten the Millennium Falcon ” episode before on .
I tried attacking R2D2 with the lightsaber , but he just shoot rearward out of my reach .
tryout on Tatooine is a cool cogent evidence of conception , with just a hint of story and interactivity . But the visuals , and the signified of actually endure on Tatooine and interact with R2D2 , and swinging a lightsaber to deflect blaster bolts , were magic . The graphics depend terse and endearing , and the surroundings was surprisingly immersive . ILMxLab has make its own proprietary build of Epic Games ’ Unreal Engine 4 , and I was shoot a line away by the style a whole elbow room was transformed into an foreign planetscape .
“ VR was almost made for holding lightsabers , so that ’s what we ’re doing , ” Lucasfilm CTO Rob Bredow told reporters from the 2016 Game Developers Conference before we find to see the demo .
trial on Tatooine was intend as a proof of construct , which start up out with just seeing if they could make the Falcon take off and land , consort to ILMxLab Executive In Charge Vicki Dobbs Beck , who let the cat out of the bag to me in an sole consultation after I try the VR experience .
The same Story Group that work on the Star Wars moving-picture show , TV show , and other stories , is also working on recrudesce immersive experiences for the ILMxLab , harmonize to John Gaeta , creative conductor of new media and experiences . They ’re work on break unexampled Star Wars account through 2020 , with big spark connecting lots of different properties , and ideally everything they create will be part of the same story — so when you go into one matter , all the other material you ’ve seen will add more context and plangency to it .
The goal is not just to make one unforesightful little experience , but to make an episodic story that convey across a sight of segments . “ What we ’ve been doing all this yr long is run out all these element pieces that we ’re going to be applying to a great story , ” said Gaeta , who ’s part of the Star Wars Story Group .
They ’re still figure out how many of these immersive virtual things are going to be secret plan , and how many will just be interactive floor — because you could have interactivity without gameplay . These experience may be pretty social , too , and there could be “ episodes ” of a account , strike place in the same VR world . But in between those episode , you could be allowed to remain in the practical man , interacting with the environment and possibly each other .
And that ride denotation to Luke ’s New Jedi Order , which he prove to found after Return of the Jedi ? Gaeta and Dobbs would n’t evidence me much about what they have in mind for secern that tarradiddle , but there ’s definitely tons of undiscovered dominion in the Star Wars universe . And there ’s no timeframe , or definite plan , for them to have a product ready for consumer — for now , they ’re just creating the building pulley-block for something in the futurity .
The ILMxLab , created in 2015 , was already involve in create a few other experiments , includingthe Force Awakens immersive 360 ocular experience , which lets you zoom around Jakku , a existent - time apparent motion - capture demo , and Jakku Spy , a Google Cardboardadventure that lets you explore the satellite Jakku . They ’re also work with Imagineering on developing stuff forthe new Star Wars theme parks .
According to Dobbs , Jakku Spy was his squad ’s first attempt at “ occasional VR , ” which helped make multitude cognizant of some of the detail of Rey ’s home before The Force Awakens came out . The ILMxLab wants to make more things like that to help oneself expand the world of all the other Star Wars movies . ( Of course the famously secretive J.J. Abrams , who puzzle out with them on Jakku Spy , was pertain about let on too much , which is a constant concern . )
ILMxLab also worked on a substantial - time computer graphic tool that would allow you see a taradiddle from all sort of angles , as Bredow explained to newsman . He showed us a demonstration where stormtroopers are research for R2D2 and C-3PO , and demonstrated how you could view the aspect from all sorts of angles — include the POV of one of the stormtroopers — and even discover what ’s occur elsewhere in the panorama at the exact same minute . You could even steal a speeder and fell off into the space , discovering an AT - AT involved in a engagement and a bunch of other stuff .
Gareth Edwards , film director of the upcoming Star Wars flick Rogue One , used a similar technology to “ about scout”some of the localisation in the photographic film that had n’t been built yet , Bredow said . Edwards was able to put on a headset and seem around as if he was put up in a real set , and his response was , “ This is good than real living . ” According to Bredow , the filmmakers actually designed a few pieces of the set in response to Edwards ’ reactions .
Correction : an early version of this clause stated that the VR experience was base on Imagine ’s 3D engine .
AnimationGamesJ.J. AbramsLUCASFILMMoviesStar WarsVirtual world
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