VR support 'not at launch' for Odyssey

[Arioch]

Latest snippet of info from an interview article:


One question from the community is the status of VR for Odyssey. When will that be available?

Luke Betterton: Elite is obviously a very nice VR game. You sit in the cockpit, and you're in front of the stars. It lends itself perfectly to VR. I'm really glad that we did add VR support because it's pretty awesome, it is quite an experience. Being able to run around on foot, though, is very much a different experience. We're still looking at the way that we would tackle that if we need to. Or if we decide that we think we can get a good way of doing it. And sure, like, that's something that we'll tackle, but for the moment, we have to focus on the actual main experience and getting that working the way that we really want it to feel. So on day one, there won't be any VR support. But we're not saying never, it's just we need to focus our efforts elsewhere right now.

(Dooguk posted the full article link in the news section: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threa...sey-part-1-one-giant-leap.552892/post-8674099)

 

[Dagwit]

CMDR Thrust from Bradford is correct. VR will indeed be available by the time Odyssey launches in Q1 2021.

For FS 2020.

 

[VR SenseiMatty]

CMDR Thrust from Bradford is correct. VR will indeed be available by the time Odyssey launches in Q1 2021.

For FS 2020.

And I will need another mortgage to update my pc specs but I'll do it for sure!

 

[VR Dextrovix]

I know from sarcasm, but the issue I have with the VR removal is that they supported it even before it was niche*, when it was only hardcore supporters of Palmer Luckey and his vision.
Probably before the bottom line was all that mattered. They say you can tell when the money men finally take over the company...

Wherefore art thou - Mr Brabens enthusiam?

And yes, I do know what niche means but I'm making a pointed point

I agree, they did have VR whilst we were all using DK1's, and DK2's were shipping that year, and I'm resenting the fact they appear to have used VR for promotion purposes only in the early days. They got their own area for the 15-odd launch titles for VR with HTC Vive at EGX one year I recall...

Now they've diversified and are crapping out titles from Frontier Foundry like Struggling for the future which I got a promo email about today, it demonstrates they don't need us original backers and supporters anymore.

They could have kept the VR cockpit side of things and ensure VR worked for that at a minimum, so we could enjoy playing with other Odyssey users, but I guess they thought us VR users wouldn't mind if it was casually dropped without even raising the discussion on this very forum first. Shows how out of touch they are with us all, and how they're now chasing the money.

 

[thistle]

... but I guess they thought us VR users wouldn't mind if it was casually dropped without even raising the discussion on this very forum first. Shows how out of touch they are with us all, and how they're now chasing the money.

VR is the only thing fdev have addressed after the initial reveal. I'm not sure how much earlier they could have done it.

 

[VR Mr Teatime]

VR is the only thing fdev have addressed after the initial reveal. I'm not sure how much earlier they could have done it.

Probably in 2018 when they found they didn't have the talent in house to code for it...

 

[jojon]

Curved screen! Curved screen!
Even Bethesda managed to do that with with Fallouts opening video - unlike Elite Dangerous' apparently impossible to change flat market screen (one of the screens in the station menu) where all the other screens were curved.

Ok... Am-I-the-only-one(TM), really, who detest the curved screen trend?

In VR, it was argueably necessary with the first devices, because of their their resolution being just that bit too low for legibility, but with current ones, I'd not only rather have the flatness of the market screen returned to all the other ones as well, but would appreciate shrinking them a bit, too; We have enough resolution, now, to reduce the watching-a-tennis-match experience of reading these screens, at least a little bit.

 

[VR SenseiMatty]

Probably in 2018 when they found they didn't have the talent in house to code for it...

This is how it happened actually:

D. Braben: are you ready to show Odyssey trailer?
FDEV: yes, we just need to finalize a couple of details and the expansion is done... EVERYONE will be happy!

FDEV releases the trailer
PLAYERS: Wait there's no VR in Odyssey... Really?

D.Braben: what do they want? why they're not happy?
FDEV1: they want something called VR...
D.Braben: What is VR?
FDEV2: VelociRaptors... apparently our players want to interact with Velociraptors in Odyssey
D.Braben: oh no... tell them that we're not ready to share the Jurassic World Evolution platform with Elite Dangerous.
FDEV3: ... no it's not Velociraptors... Damn... I knew that we were forgetting something important... They are asking for Virtual Reality!
D.Braben: Virtual Reality? Show them a huge gun and everyone will be happy, end of the story!

1st Dev Diary:

 

[VR Jay Le Chardon]

Taken from:

Elite Dangerous: Odyssey Interview - From the Darkness of Space to the Light of Uncharted Planets

We've recently interviewed developers from Frontier to discuss the upcoming on-foot expansion for Elite Dangerous, called Odyssey.

wccftech.com

(And TBH I'm not sure how I feel about the answer)

One question from the community is the status of VR for Odyssey. When will that be available?

Luke Betterton:

Elite is obviously a very nice VR game. You sit in the cockpit, and you're in front of the stars. It lends itself perfectly to VR. I'm really glad that we did add VR support because it's pretty awesome, it is quite an experience. Being able to run around on foot, though, is very much a different experience. We're still looking at the way that we would tackle that if we need to. Or if we decide that we think we can get a good way of doing it. And sure, like, that's something that we'll tackle, but for the moment, we have to focus on the actual main experience and getting that working the way that we really want it to feel. So on day one, there won't be any VR support. But we're not saying never, it's just we need to focus our efforts elsewhere right now.

Granted it's not a flat refusal "not gonna happen - move on VR nerds!" comment from Game Designer Luke Butterton, so maybe there's hope, but I honestly think the comments "We're still looking at the way that we would tackle that if we need to. Or if we decide that we think we can get a good way of doing it. " and "we're not saying never" is not a good omen...

It strikes me that this is paving the way for "we can't do it" which will doubtlessly be rehashed into more PR friendly prose like "we feel the game would benefit more from allocating development resources in a different area at this time". This in turn would be a nice prelude to a subsequent statement after that "different area" has been developed, announcing that "the game has gone from strength to strength without VR and we want to keep the momentum rolling for our players, as such we won't be back tracking to VR".

 

[Enderby]

VR's over guys
socially awkard guys wearing headsets in their spare bedrooms is so not the future
adapt

 

[Deleted member 121570]

VR's over guys
socially awkard guys wearing headsets in their spare bedrooms is so not the future
adapt

I know, right!?
Right up there with stupid stereotypes and sad trolls as having jumped the shark
Adaptation's fun.

 

[VR Jay Le Chardon]

Why won't they grow a pair, make a firm statement and put us out of our misery?

Any of the following statements would end our lingering death purgatorial misery:
1. "We're not doing any more VR, hope you've had fun, and you are more than welcome to join us on the future of elite on flatscreen - or move on!"
2. "OK - we goofed, we genuinely didn't appreciate how much VR meant to such a large amount of players, there's no way we are going to compromise Odyssey launch schedule to put VR in at launch, but we WILL add it in 4.1 after we've got past the initial wave of post launch bugs. That is to say once we are clear of Amethyst Python's and vermillion 'Conda's, not to mention a few edge case Orange sidewinder's, We're doing VR!"
3. "Sure it ain't gonna be 'Elite:Alyx' but if all you really want is VR headlook on foot and you are willing to tolerate a less than perfect implementation, and work with us bug fixing it, why not? - PS have you seen the preorder offer?"
4. "Calm down, we'll switch it back on before beta"

 

[VR Jay Le Chardon]

VR's over guys
socially awkard guys wearing headsets in their spare bedrooms is so not the future
adapt

Like Duh! Coz obviously any peripheral that gives you total immersion is totally inferior to peering at a game on a 27" screen. probably in the same spare bedroom is like obvz much better fur de moar soachally adept gamurz!

Spoiler: Linguistics

There was a deliberate and choreographed decreasing literacy in the comments above whereby satirically the more I supported the flatscreen troll, the less intelligent I appeared to be, even though it was done to rip the mick, the grammar- in me is cringing at what I just typed.

May the lords of lexicography forgive me.

 

[Enderby]

YOU GUYS

 

[Enderby]

it's ok if youre a 40 something oddjob
but really
wearing a silly headset
lol
i know it is cool in VR
but you aren't cool in VR

 

[VR Jay Le Chardon]

YOU GUYS

In this COVID era, you ought to be able to identify with this, you know that feeling when you alcohol gel your hands and the alcohol gel finds a silly little cut in your now sterilised hands, one that you weren't aware of until the alcohol gel hit it, and sent a seventy volt signal to your pain receptors? Jibes from those relishing our misery at the demise of VR in Elite sting just a little bit more than that...

 

[Enderby]

good, good

 

[VR Jay Le Chardon]

it's ok if youre a 40 something oddjob
but really
wearing a silly headset
lol
i know it is cool in VR
but you aren't cool in VR

It might have been dorky as frack when the guys were "rocking" DK1's with stupid low resolution, but modern kit, more than UHD resolution, 360° head tracking, plus movement? Tell me that's not cool. And tell me that anyone leaning in at a 17-27" "Gaming monitor" is any cooler looking than a VR player.

Apart from which, we pwn gamerz on framerates as FPS rulez! And we tankz dem on hardwayr!

 

[Enderby]

VR's dead
do yourselves all a favour,
and admit it

 

[VR Jay Le Chardon]

Picking up on your "good good", what the frack man - are you really getting off on our disappointment? Bet you masticate, no that's chewing food, something that sounds like that, to kittens drowning?