Time to step into a new world! When you strap on a virtual reality headset, it will feel like you have! Virtual reality gaming uses new technology to give players an unforgettable experience. In this engaging title, striving readers will learn about the history and development of virtual reality gaming, including the hardware used, popular games, and more. A visual timeline highlights the history of VR gaming, while other features list top-selling games, profile a popular VR game, and more. Readers will love stepping into a new world with this high-interest title!
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Now a major motion picture directed by Steven Spielberg. “Enchanting . . . Willy Wonka meets The Matrix.”—USA Today • “As one adventure leads expertly to the next, time simply evaporates.”—Entertainment Weekly A world at stake. A quest for the ultimate prize. Are you ready? In the year 2045, reality is an ugly place. The only time Wade Watts really feels alive is when he’s jacked into the OASIS, a vast virtual world where most of humanity spends their days. When the eccentric creator of the OASIS dies, he leaves behind a series of fiendish puzzles, based on his obsession with the pop culture of decades past. Whoever is first to solve them will inherit his vast fortune—and control of the OASIS itself. Then Wade cracks the first clue. Suddenly he’s beset by rivals who’ll kill to take this prize. The race is on—and the only way to survive is to win. NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY Entertainment Weekly • San Francisco Chronicle • Village Voice • Chicago Sun-Times • iO9 • The AV Club “Delightful . . . the grown-up’s Harry Potter.”—HuffPost “An addictive read . . . part intergalactic scavenger hunt, part romance, and all heart.”—CNN “A most excellent ride . . . Cline stuffs his novel with a cornucopia of pop culture, as if to wink to the reader.”—Boston Globe “Ridiculously fun and large-hearted . . . Cline is that rare writer who can translate his own dorky enthusiasms into prose that’s both hilarious and compassionate.”—NPR “[A] fantastic page-turner . . . starts out like a simple bit of fun and winds up feeling like a rich and plausible picture of future friendships in a world not too distant from our own.”—iO9
Create your own augmented reality games from scratch with Unity 5 About This Book Create your own augmented reality game from scratch and join the virtual reality gaming revolution Use the latest Unity 5 VR SDK to create pro-level AR games like Pokemon Go Innovate and explore the latest and most promising trend of AR gaming in the mobile gaming industry Who This Book Is For This book is for those who have a basic knowledge of game development techniques, but no previous knowledge of Unity is required. Some basic programming knowledge would be desirable, but the book is an introduction to the topic. The book is also suitable for experienced developers new to GIS or GPS development. What You Will Learn Build a location-based augmented reality game called Foodie Go Animate a player's avatar on a map Use the mobile device's camera as a game background Implement database persistence with SQLLite4Unity3D to carry inventory items across game sessions Create basic UI elements for the game, inventory, menu, and settings Perform location and content searches against the Google Places API Enhance the game's mood by adding visual shader effects Extend the game by adding multiplayer networking and other enhancements In Detail The heyday of location-based augmented reality games is upon us. They have been around for a few years, but the release of Pokemon Go was a gamechanger that catalyzed the market and led to a massive surge in demand. Now is the time for novice and experienced developers alike to turn their good ideas into augmented reality (AR) mobile games and meet this demand! If you are keen to develop virtual reality games with the latest Unity 5 toolkit, then this is the book for you. The genre of location-based AR games introduces a new platform and technical challenges, but this book will help simplify those challenges and show how to maximize your game audience. This book will take you on a journey through building a location-based AR game that addresses the core technical concepts: GIS fundamentals, mobile device GPS, mapping, map textures in Unity, mobile device camera, camera textures in Unity, accessing location-based services, and other useful Unity tips. The technical material also discusses what is necessary for further development to create a multiplayer version of the game. At the end, you will be presented with troubleshooting techniques in case you get into trouble and need a little help. Style and approach This book shows you how to create every step of the game and gives practical examples.
During her time working on genre-defining games like The Sims, Rock Band, and Ultima Online, Amy Jo learned that customers stick with products that help them get better at something they care about, like playing an instrument or leading a team. Amy Jo has used her insights from gaming to help hundreds of companies like Netflix, Disney, The New York Times, Ubisoft and Happify innovate faster and smarter, and drive long-term engagement.
This is the eBook of the printed book and may not include any media, website access codes, or print supplements that may come packaged with the bound book. “With his YouTube channel, Mitch’s VR Lab, Mitch has helped thousands of people understand the foundations of locomotion and interaction mechanics with clear and concise UE4 videos. I’m thrilled that he has taken the time to bring all his knowledge and experience in working with Unreal Engine and Virtual Reality to the Unreal® Engine VR Cookbook.... Mitch is uniquely qualified to share this book with the world.” —Luis Cataldi, Unreal Engine Education, Epic Games, Inc. For game developers and visualization specialists, VR is the next amazing frontier to conquer—and Unreal Engine 4 is the ideal platform to conquer it with. Unreal ® Engine VR Cookbook is your complete, authoritative guide to building stunning experiences on any Unreal Engine 4-compatible VR hardware. Renowned VR developer and instructor Mitch McCaffrey brings together best practices, common interaction paradigms, specific guidance on implementing these paradigms in Unreal Engine, and practical guidance on choosing the right approaches for your project. McCaffrey’s tested “recipes” contain step-by-step instructions, while empowering you with concise explanations of the underlying theory and math. Whether you’re creating first-person shooters or relaxation simulators, the techniques McCaffrey explains help you get immediate results, as you gain “big picture” knowledge and master nuances that will help you succeed with any genre or project. Understand basic VR concepts and terminology Implement VR logic with Blueprint visual scripting Create basic VR projects with Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Gear VR, Google VR, PSVR, and other environments Recognize and manage differences between seated and standing VR experiences Set up trace interactions and teleportation Work with UMG and 2D UIs Implement character inverse kinematics (IK) for head and hands Define effective motion controller interaction Help users avoid motion sickness Optimize VR applications Explore the VR editor, community resources, and more If you’re ready to master VR on Unreal Engine 4, this is the practical resource you’ve been searching for! Register your product at informit.com/register for convenient access to downloads, updates, and corrections as they become available.
Book Features: • Ages 8-14, Grades 3-8 • 32 pages, 7 inches x 9 inches • Simple, easy-to-read pages with full-color pictures • Includes pre- and post-reading activities • Reading/teaching tips and glossary included Gaming and eSports: In Warp Zone: The Future of Gaming, 3rd—8th graders discover the latest advancements in one of children's favorite past-times: gaming! Learn about new video game technology, virtual reality, eSports, and so much more! Paving The Way: Young readers learn about new gaming technology, augmented reality, adaptive gaming, and advancements in the eSports industry that will make gaming in the future even more exciting. Build Reading Skills: This engaging 32-page children’s book will help your child improve comprehension and build confidence with guided pre- and post-reading questions and fun activities. Leveled Books: Part of the Gaming and Esports series, the lower reading level text and full-color pictures make this children’s book an engaging read with fun and interesting facts about the future of gaming. Why Rourke Educational Media: Since 1980, Rourke Publishing Company has specialized in publishing engaging and diverse non-fiction and fiction books for children in a wide range of subjects that support reading success on a level that has no limits.
Virtual reality is quickly becoming the next medium to communicate your ideas. Once siloed in make-believe world of science fiction, virtual reality can now touch any aspect of your life. This book shows you how to create original virtual reality content using the Unity game engine and the Virtual Reality Tool Kit. By the end of the book you'll be creating your own virtual reality experience using the fundamental building blocks within. You'll start by reviewing spatial computing, an emerging field that encompasses self-driving cars to space exploration. You'll also create your own virtual reality environments for use on headsets such as those from Oculus and HTC. Using the Unity3D game engine and the Virtual Reality Toolkit on a computer or laptop, you will walk through the fundamentals of virtual reality with as little code as possible. That is the beauty of Unity and the Virtual Reality Toolkit. You will discover how to use buttons in a virtual space, gaze-tracking for user input, and physics for enabling interaction between a human and a virtual space. From game design to education to healthcare to human resources, virtual reality offers new and creative ways to engage users, students, patients, customers, and more. Not a coding book, Virtual Reality with VRTK4 shows that you don't need to be a computer or graphics whiz to begin creating your own virtual reality experiences. What You'll Learn Grasp Virtual Reality Toolkit and its interaction with Unity3DExplore the fundamental science of virtual realityReview the inner workings of Unity3D and its integration with VRTKUnderstand the big picture of C# coding in Unity3DIncorporate head and hand movement into virtual experiences Who This Book Is For Creative professionals or students who are familiar with computer design programs and want to begin prototyping their own original virtual reality work as quickly as possible.
Sci-fi luminary Stanley G. Weinbaum first broke through with the hugely influential story "A Martian Odyssey," one of the first to depict an alien being in a somewhat sympathetic light. Written in 1935, the short tale "Pygmalion's Spectacles" is no less innovative: it centers around the implications of a technology that's surprisingly close to what we now call virtual reality.
A groundbreaking Virtual Reality textbook is now even better Virtual reality is a very powerful and compelling computer application by which humans can interface and interact with computer-generated environments in a way that mimics real life and engages all the senses. Although its most widely known application is in the entertainment industry, the real promise of virtual reality lies in such fields as medicine, engineering, oil exploration and the military, to name just a few. Through virtual reality scientists can triple the rate of oil discovery, pilots can dogfight numerically-superior "bandits," and surgeons can improve their skills on virtual (rather than real) patients. This Second Edition of the first comprehensive technical book on the subject of virtual reality provides updated and expanded coverage of the technology--where it originated, how it has evolved, and where it is going. The authors cover all of the latest innovations and applications that are making virtual reality more important than ever before, including: * Coverage on input and output interfaces including touch and force feedback * Computing architecture (with emphasis on the rendering pipeline and task distribution) * Object modeling (including physical and behavioral aspects) * Programming for virtual reality * An in-depth look at human factors issues, user performance, and * sensorial conflict aspects of VR * Traditional and emerging VR applications The new edition of Virtual Reality Technology is specifically designed for use as a textbook. Thus it includes definitions, review questions, and a Laboratory Manual with homework and programming assignments. The accompanying CD-ROM also contains video clips that reinforce the topics covered in the textbook. The Second Edition will serve as a state-of-the-art resource for both graduate and undergraduate students in engineering, computer science, and other disciplines. GRIGORE C. BURDEA is a professor at Rutgers-the State University of New Jersey, and author of the book Force and Touch Feedback for Virtual Reality, also published by Wiley. PHILIPPE COIFFET is a Director of Research at CNRS (French National Scientific Research Center) and Member of the National Academy of Technologies of France. He authored 20 books on Robotics and VR translated into several languages.
