The game engine this is built on (Cobra), as well as the developer (Frontier Developments) have experience with VR, via their other big project (Elite Dangerous). That game had alpha VR support since 2013 and OR DK1. In other words, Planet Coaster can have VR support, from a coding point of view.
For getting VR in Planet Coaster, there are two big hurdles to surpass though.
1. Performance - The experience in VR games is very sensitive to how well the game performs. It is not a simple matter of playability either, since subpar framerates reduce the presence VR gives and can also give you motion sickness.
For proper gameplay , you need 75+ sustained FPS (preferably 90) with no drops. Both big sets (OR, Vive) have a resolution of 2160 x 1200 (1080x1200 x2). So the game has to render 2.6M pixels @90 FPS for a respectable experience. I think this is doable with proper multi-GPU support, which the game does not have at this point in time.
2. UI/interface - Giving your game VR support is one thing, but making your games' controls and UI compatible with it is something a lot more involved and difficult to accomplish. VR is well suited for driving or flight games, since the player is essentially sitting in a chair and using a gamepad, a driving wheel or a HOTAS to control his car/spaceship/plane.This gives a good sense of presence (since the player in the VR world is also sitting), and also helps a lot with immersion and control, since he is not using his keyboard for basic functions.
A construction management simulation game though is a lot more difficult to design for VR as far as UI is concerned, since there are a lot of keyboard shortcuts and the player is essentially a disjointed camera, flying around his park with 2D menus stuck close to his face.
Here is what would work imo. VR presence is suited to roller coaster and flat/tracked/water ride PoV cameras, since the player is sitting both in real life and in the game world. In a smaller amount, VR presence is also suited to the player moving around his park in 1st person view (like you can already do now via the TEGIDCAM cheat), although FPS games in VR are a little more problematic from a motion sickness point of view (you are sitting down in a chair, while your character is walking around a park).
Thus, the best way to do this would be to offer a different game mode for those PoV sessions. This way Frontier gets rid of three big potential problems VR implementation would have. Changing the UI for 3D VR, simplifying the UI for a gamepad, and doing hot seat VR in/out sessions.
A different game mode, where you can go to an existing park as a person, move around it and ride the attractions is akin to something like what Maxis did in Streets of SimCity for SimCity 2000 (you might remember that if you've been around for a while). It could/would work, but it is a big project in itself. I think that if enough people want this, Frontier might consider this for a paid expansion (if they are not already working on VR as we speak).
Thoughts?..C:
For getting VR in Planet Coaster, there are two big hurdles to surpass though.
1. Performance - The experience in VR games is very sensitive to how well the game performs. It is not a simple matter of playability either, since subpar framerates reduce the presence VR gives and can also give you motion sickness.
For proper gameplay , you need 75+ sustained FPS (preferably 90) with no drops. Both big sets (OR, Vive) have a resolution of 2160 x 1200 (1080x1200 x2). So the game has to render 2.6M pixels @90 FPS for a respectable experience. I think this is doable with proper multi-GPU support, which the game does not have at this point in time.
2. UI/interface - Giving your game VR support is one thing, but making your games' controls and UI compatible with it is something a lot more involved and difficult to accomplish. VR is well suited for driving or flight games, since the player is essentially sitting in a chair and using a gamepad, a driving wheel or a HOTAS to control his car/spaceship/plane.This gives a good sense of presence (since the player in the VR world is also sitting), and also helps a lot with immersion and control, since he is not using his keyboard for basic functions.
A construction management simulation game though is a lot more difficult to design for VR as far as UI is concerned, since there are a lot of keyboard shortcuts and the player is essentially a disjointed camera, flying around his park with 2D menus stuck close to his face.
Here is what would work imo. VR presence is suited to roller coaster and flat/tracked/water ride PoV cameras, since the player is sitting both in real life and in the game world. In a smaller amount, VR presence is also suited to the player moving around his park in 1st person view (like you can already do now via the TEGIDCAM cheat), although FPS games in VR are a little more problematic from a motion sickness point of view (you are sitting down in a chair, while your character is walking around a park).
Thus, the best way to do this would be to offer a different game mode for those PoV sessions. This way Frontier gets rid of three big potential problems VR implementation would have. Changing the UI for 3D VR, simplifying the UI for a gamepad, and doing hot seat VR in/out sessions.
A different game mode, where you can go to an existing park as a person, move around it and ride the attractions is akin to something like what Maxis did in Streets of SimCity for SimCity 2000 (you might remember that if you've been around for a while). It could/would work, but it is a big project in itself. I think that if enough people want this, Frontier might consider this for a paid expansion (if they are not already working on VR as we speak).
Thoughts?..C:
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