Why VR Isn’t Dead
And why ya’ll might wanna jump in
Okay, I swear this isn’t a series… but in the vein of my “Why the Metaverse Isn’t Dead” post[1] let’s dig into VR a bit. Why now? Because my cinematic branching narrative VR piece The Werewolf Experience just signed its distribution deal with the largest VR arcade distributor, SynthesisVR, and we’re angling for an October release, and, frankly, some incredibly exciting things are going on[2].
I won’t bury the lead here, a lot of folkx feel that the “promise” of VR is actually based on the form-factor. This simply means how can we get as close to eyesight/vision without the bulky tech/headset. And THAT simply means when can we get VR into/onto glasses like the ones we already wear[3]? It’s umm… happening now(ish).
FIRST
Smartglasses
Meta… yes, yes, I know, and I agree, but we can’t talk about this stuff without them, okay?
Ahem.
Meta’s RayBan partnership is doing swimmingly.
For those that don’t know the “smart-glasses” competition is heating up.
As of February 2025, Meta sold over 2 million Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses, and they are ramping up to be able to sell 10 million. And now Oakley is getting into the game as well. Now these are AI enhanced glasses, but it’s the first shot across the bow and it’s getting the public used to the idea of talking to your own face and receiving info this close to your eyes… in public. These magic devices can answer questions about things you focus on, set reminders for you, and, best of all translate as well as enhance thus becoming some of the most intuitive and powerful accessibility tools out there.
SECOND
Wider Field of Vision
Bigscreen Beyond 2: A recent release with 116° field of view, wider than the Quest 3 and Valve Index. It uses advanced pancake optics (instead of Fresnel lens which reduces the thickness by 40%!) And even crazier it weighs just 107 g[4]!
Meta’s Boba 3 Prototype: Delivers has an enormous 180° horizontal × 120° vertical FOV, nearing full human visual coverage. While this may seem like a small step, I assure it you is not. Fulfilling another “promise” of VR is to conform as closely to our perception as possible so the tech becomes more and more invisible[5]. Of course, this is still experimental but it’s looking good[6].
THIRD
Displays are going holographic
Stanford engineers[7] in conjunction with Meta unveiled credit-card thin VR glasses capable of projecting lifelike holographic visuals, likely via light field projection techniques. These are
ultra-thin (3 mm!!!!) XR display prototype using holography—integrating waveguides and laser-based projection to render 3D images in mixed reality.
Here’s a pic:
Obviously, these are first, first, baby-baby steps, and they can produce laughably small images. But, man, even I didn’t think we’d get to a wearable prototype this early. And, I’m sorry, it’s fuckin’ RAD that we are getting a blending of VR tech and Holography[8]!
Okay, okay, I know, that’s an all tech update/post for a storytelling Substack… so I’ll dive into Werewolf for ya’ll.
Fall: 1851: Fool’s Errand, California
At dusk, you wake from your drunken stupor. Why did you drink yourself into oblivion? What have you done? What are you hiding from yourself? You are flat on your back in a dirty alleyway, in a dirty, too-dumb-to-know-its-dying, gold rush town.
The clouds part revealing the full moon and you can’t help yourself you let out a HOWL and your horrifying transformation begins. Running through the forest you hunt the glorious white stag for it is said that eating the stag will rid you of your curse. As you hunt you HOWL into the night. But your blood-curdling cries have not gone unnoticed. You are a werewolf …and the townspeople are coming for you.
Inside The Werewolf Experience the audience IS the werewolf. They experience themselves transform, run, jump, and hunt as a werewolf as the entire event unfolds from the werewolf’s POV.
The Werewolf Experience is a unique event as it is a controller-less blending of cinematic branching narrative, gaming, fully immersive 3-D rendered VR from a 1st person perspective. It has a truly original interactive element: the player must use their own voice to HOWL to trigger the branches throughout the story.
IMHO, one of the other great promises of VR is to give us new fully embodied experiences. With TWE we were attempting to put you into the body of a werewolf. Therefore, you start from the height and perspective of a man, change into a bi-pedal werewolf, and, on occasion, go onto all-fours[9].
This is the time to say that we are not a free-roam experience. I call it limited 6DoF (Degrees of Freedom). In a true 6DoF you are in control of your entire body, including your feet/where and when you move. In TWE you only control your head and your upper body, we are in control of your feet and when you “move” through the story… in our case that “move” is literal[10].
I also happen to believe that using controllers in VR automatically breaks the immersion. You are forced to be in two places (or, worse, two bodies) at once. When we lose the controllers, the players are fully present in the fictional space[11].
Another embodied mechanic is, obviously, the use of your voice to interact with the tale. We have multiple redundancies in the piece to deal with either introverts or people unable/unwilling to howl: the choice points are binary… you either howl or you stay silent. Either choice leads to a different outcome. The redundancy lies in the fact that the choice points are simple 15 second waiting loops… if no howl is detected then the “silent” choice is chosen. This is organic and needs no explanation to the player. The other redundancy lies in the tutorial.
In the tutorial we simply ask the player to say their name, then say it a bit louder. (We claim it is to “warm up your voice.”[12]) We use these inputs to “regulate” the input of the microphone and set a threshold to detect that particular player’s howl/voice. It is a wonderful way to give even the most quiet/introverted/hesitant players the choice of actually howling.
The last bit of embodiment is a bit of biofeedback. When you howl, we amplify that sound and feed that back to the player, layering in actual wolf howls with their voices. This serves to not only ground the player in the world/their body but is a wonderful way to reinforce that they actually effect the world of the game. They hear themselves as the character[13].
I believe we’ve solved a lot of the “issues” with VR storytelling… we got stuck with plenty more. I’ve seen VR still have a huge impact on storytelling when it’s focused on the player’s body and a solid narrative. I’m proud to have sourced all of this feedback from, literally, around the (Northern, First) World… having played Europe, Asia, and the US.
Yeah, VR a’int dead, nor will it ever be, it’ll change forms, sure… but watch this mutha-fuckin’ space, ya’ll more good shite is on the way!
[1] Maybe I will start a series, next up will be “Why Typewriters Aren’t Dead!”
[2] I’ll talk all about TWE at the end of the article if you wanna hear about what its all about.
[3][3] OR for some… even onto contact lenses and even that seems to be coming as this company just secured a boatload o’cash to keep working on just that: Xpanceo, a Dubai-based deep-tech startup, has successfully raised a $250 million Series A funding round—elevating its valuation to approximately $1.35 billion, thereby achieving unicorn status for douches that care about such things. Source.
[5] Or as some are calling the dream… a Disappearing Interface.
[7] Oooh… ahhh… Stanford…
[8] Hey, I was alive for Sega's Time Traveler and I wanted mooooorrrrreeee…
[9] The character, not the player.
[10] Yeah, it’s a bit awkward, but this allows us a lot of narrative control while still giving the player a new body they are mostly in control of… it’s a lot better than 3DoF or 3rd fixed person perspective as it splits the difference between agency and authorial control over moments of narrative.
[11] Especially VR virgins or newbies as they don’t have to fumble learning the controllers, or worse, peak under or lift the headset to look at their freakin’ hands.
[12] Which is true on two fronts: it does limber up the vocal chords AND it limbers you up psychologically to do this slightly unusual action (and highly unusual action in public).
[13] This was also important because there is really only one moment where they can see themselves as the werewolf as we are in first person the entire time in, mostly, a forest setting. (And water is expensive to code!)