[Viveport FAQ: Do I have to install Steam?]

The Viveport FAQ has been consolidated into one document that can be located here. 

https://forum.viveport.com/forums/topic/5429-viveport-infinity-faq/?tab=comments#comment-5436

 

[Bringing the house down with the hilarious party experience Takelings House Party]

Creating multiplayer experiences that are satisfying and fun for everyone involved is no easy task – especially with the asymmetrical nature of VR. The creative team over at DimnHouse – makers of the new Viveport release Takelings House Party – sought to make an experience that plays into not only the strengths of VR, but of this asymmetrical nature of VR couch play to make a game that will keep you laughing and shouting at those around you for countless hours. We sat down to find out how they sussed out the formula for the perfect VR party.

Interview by Nathan Allen Ortega, Viveport Staff

Tell us a bit about yourself and the team at DimnHouse

Hi, my name is Kevin Weir, I’m the lead game designer here at Dimnhouse. I work with our art lead Clint Davidson, and our project manager Faith Myhra. We’ve been early adopters and big fans of VR. Before starting Dimnhouse, both Clint and I worked as motion graphics artists, and Faith as an organizer in the environmental justice movement in LA.

What inspired you to create the wacky party experience Takelings House Party?

We were driving back from a camping trip in Yosemite sorta group daydreaming about what might be some fun game ideas for VR. None of us at the time had any experience in games development but we were all huge fans of VR. We’d played games like Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes and Ruckus Ridge to death, and we knew we had to make it a party game.

I’d mentioned the idea of being able to pick up a tiny character while slowly carrying them over to some sort of death machine and they’re yelling, “NO NO, PUT ME DOWN!” as their allies attempt to free them, while the VR player laughs maniacally. We all got excited about this idea, and once I got home I opened Unity and started prototyping it up.

Takelings House Party features asymmetrical gameplay – pitting one human player strapped into a headset against multiple couch players who cause mischief and mayhem as the titular Takelings. Was this the premise from the start or did it come about through experimenting with design ideas?

It’s definitely grown quite a bit from the original premise. Really we just wanted a game where the VR player can pick up a player smaller than them and shove them into a toaster. It was meant to be demeaning to the couch player and inspire shouting, begging, taunting. I’m really happy to say that we were able to deliver that experience, people get REALLY loud while playing Takelings.

But it has grown a lot, we now have other game modes and have expanded out a party mode. Even the original Kitchen game itself has grown, with added power up items, and other… cartoonishly brutal ways to murder your friends.

This all came about from playtesting and trying to be reactive with our design. Seeing what people enjoyed, what got everyone jumping out of their chairs in excitement or outrage and dialing in and expanding on those aspects of the game.

Can you speak to how difficult it was to implement asymmetrical party gameplay between VR and couch/controller players? I imagine the concept provides unique design challenges to make the experience equally fun and intuitive for everyone.

It has always been important for us that the game is equally as fun for the Takelings as it is for the VR player. This is a particular challenge in asymmetric games, it’s easy to get fixated on the experience of the solo player and forget about the individual experience of someone on the “mob” side of things.

There was also an interesting effect in balancing against a VR player. We didn’t want to inhibit the VR player in any way. When interacting with the world in VR, what you expect to happen should be what happens, and any artificial slowing down of your player would be very uncomfortable in VR. That free motion, however, means there’s not really a limit to how quick the pace of the game can be. So a lot of tuning went towards empowering and mobilizing the Takelings more and more, and building into that frantic pace set by the VR player. And, the more we sped up the game, the more frantic energy revved up our players and the more fun the game became!

But I think the biggest challenge for us, especially as a small team of 3, was playtesting. With a game that allows up to 9 players, we’ve had to host TONS of beta testing parties. What’s it like to play with 3 players? Or 5? Or all 9? Balancing the game while keeping the variety of possible experiences in mind required a lot of playtesting with our very awesome and patient friends and family.

Were there any weapons/environments/game modes etc that you wanted to work into the game but had to leave on the cutting room floor?

Oh sure, the biggest one for me is online play. I was, unfortunately, unable to get that into the game. There were some technical challenges, one of which is that our game is pretty physics heavy.

There are many game modes we’d love to add to Takelings. Our goal, if all goes well, is to release content packs that feature the other members of Hal’s family facing off against the Takelings in different themed game modes adding more variety and rooms to the game. We’re really excited about the next character.

What do you think are essential elements necessary to making an engaging multiplayer party game that keeps players coming back?

For a party game, I think it’s important to be very easy to pick up and play and also engaging and inclusive to casual players and people who don’t generally play games. It should be a social experience, something that you share with many different people. It should be unique depending on the group playing, you should be saying, “We need to get so-and-so to play this with us.” We try to encourage these social experience with our game design as much as we can. Our big mantra with Takelings is, “How can we get people yelling at each other” (in good humor of course).

And it definitely doesn’t hurt to have a higher skill ceiling, so players can feel like they are improving as they play. I think this is where asymmetric party games can really flourish. Normally in competitive games, a high skilled player wouldn’t be fun to play against as a new player, but in an asymmetric game that player would be teamed up against, or underpowered in the “mob” group. Takelings, sort of by accident, actually has a relatively high skill ceiling. Some of our friends are SCARY good at exterminating Takelings.

Takelings House Party has been shown at several events – such as VRLA, Caltopia and the 2018 AMD Gaming Garage. How has player feedback helped shape the direction of the game? Have you been surprised by any particular responses from players?

The positive response from families was a bit surprising. It probably sounds funny, but I wasn’t really building Takelings as a family friendly game on purpose. Kids were drawn to the game in mobs, and after watching for a round or two, their parents would join right in, seeing how easy it was to pick up. We had a quite a bit of complements from parents who were grateful to have a few minutes to… shove their kids in a waffle iron. I think we sold a couple parents on VR that day.

Their perspectives on the game were pretty funny too. One little girl pointed at Hal and said, “I want to be the monster next.” While one of the parents commented, “So they’re all controlling the little pests huh?” We don’t really think of either Hal or the Takelings as good or evil, but it’s fun to see everyone picking a side anyways.

What were your main creative influences on the tone/design of Takelings House Party?

There’s a good amount of the classic mouse hunting genre in this game. Tom and Jerry, The Borrowers, Mouse Hunt. But we also felt inspired by old propaganda films. “These Takelings are a stain on the American way of life!” “Protect your family from these pests”. These are the sort of things our character Hal is hearing over the TV. This tongue-in-cheek propaganda style was utilized really well in games like Portal 2 and the Fallout series.

How many people helped make Takelings House Party and how long was the development process?

I started working on it part time as a hobby after work for about 6 months, and in July 2017 I switched to start working on it full time. Last fall my teammates Clint Davidson (our Art Lead) and Faith Myhra (our project manager, plus some) joined me. We were also very fortunate to have the talented Adam Bravo compose the theme music and Kevin Chaja as a Business Development Advisor. And of course our dozens of amazing playtest volunteers.

Takelings brings out a lot of passion in players – as illustrated by the hilarious trailer featuring some very adult language haha. What has been the wildest thing you’ve heard players shout during gameplay? (don’t worry, we’ll censor it for any young eyes who might be reading)

 Oh my god it’s incredible what people are shouting. A favorite was from ViveSummit 2019 CIZZORZ panicaly said, “He’s waffling me!”

A young boy at the AMD Gaming Garage yelled to his dad, “She’s toasting him! That’s hecka evil!”

Also, “No, you’re killing him wrong!” at VRLA

It got to a point where we started writing down what people said, they are just too good to forget.

What are your thoughts on the future of VR and AR and where do you hope to see the technology develop going forward – especially in the realm of multiplayer experiences?

Oh I’m very hopeful for the future of VR. I mean, just the term virtual reality has been in our lexicon for quite a while. I think it was always coming, and as the technology improves more and more people will adopt it, and a lot of people already have. It might be a ways off but I’m really looking forward to the possible transition to light field displays allowing you to draw natural focus with the eye.

On the multiplayer side, we’re really starting to see a unifying experience across devices. Like in Takelings, being able to use your smartphone as a controller. I’m really excited to see where we go in this space of multiplatform play with smartphones, almost everyone has a smartphone.

What’s next for DimnHouse?

Finishing the final release of Takelings House Party with a total of 5 games and AI Takelings. We’d love to continue to support the game for a while with additional content packs featuring the other members of Hal’s family and their own themed levels.

Really we just love VR, and to have the opportunity to create more unique and engaging experiences for this fantastic new medium is the dream.

Sounds awesome! We can’t wait to see what you have coming next. Thank you for your time!

Takelings House Party is now available on Viveport for VIVE and Oculus Rift headsets.

[Welcome to the new VIVEPORT community forums!]

Hello everyone, 

Welcome to your new VIVEPORT Community Forum. This is where you can now talk about all things VIVEPORT. If you are new, it's great to have you here. We hope you enjoy your stay. Feel free to ask any questions you have and engage in any discussions you wish related to VIVEPORT. 

For those of you who are returning members, you may notice a few changes. Ok ok, A LOT of changes. Here are some of the biggest changes;

1: Split communities. To make it easier to navigate through various VIVEPORT discussions and sections, we have created to separate VIVE and VIVEPORT community pages. This will make it so we can make sure you get the content you are looking for as well as offer surface level help. 

2: Easier to navigate UI. As you can see, in the upper right, you have a few icons that will help you with notifications, private messages, and you will be able to access all of your profile settings. We'd rather you be able to enjoy the community without any confusion. If you have any questions, please ask and we will help you to the best of our ability. 

3: Cleaner and clearer design. A few mentioned it was hard to find what you wanted to read or navigate back to where you once were without having to completely start over again. We've taken care of that for you. Now, our forum directories are less cluttered and more attractive. 

4: Emotes, GIFs, and YouTube options. As many of you mentioned previously, adding these types of links/files to the forums was confusing or lacking. We now have it to where you can easily add a video, a gif, or extended emojis with no problem. 

 

These are the more important ones that you. As we open up for fun apps, options, and features, we will let you know. Until then, have fun!

[Welcome to the new VIVE Community Forum]

Hello everyone, 

Welcome to your new VIVE Community Forum. This is where you can now talk about all things VIVE. If you are new, it's great to have you here. We hope you enjoy your stay. Feel free to ask any questions you have and engage in any discussions you wish related to VIVE. 

For those of you who are returning members, you may notice a few changes. Ok ok, A LOT of changes. Here are some of the biggest changes;

1: Split communities. To make it easier to navigate through various VIVE discussions and sections, we have created to separate VIVE and VIVEPORT community pages. This will make it so we can make sure you get the content you are looking for as well as offer surface level help. 

2: Easier to navigate UI. As you can see, in the upper right, you have a few icons that will help you with notifications, private messages, and you will be able to access all of your profile settings. We'd rather you be able to enjoy the community without any confusion. If you have any questions, please ask and we will help you to the best of our ability. 

3: Cleaner and clearer design. A few mentioned it was hard to find what you wanted to read or navigate back to where you once were without having to completely start over again. We've taken care of that for you. Now, our forum directories are less cluttered and more attractive. 

4: Emotes, GIFs, and YouTube options. As many of you mentioned previously, adding these types of links/files to the forums was confusing or lacking. We now have it to where you can easily add a video, a gif, or extended emojis with no problem. 

 

These are the more important ones that you. As we open up for fun apps, options, and features, we will let you know. Until then, have fun!

[Vive Community Guidelines]

Please note that the Vive Community is not a direct support channel. To reach the Vive support team, please click here.

 

The Vive Community is a peer-to-peer channel and central space to get help and exchange information, tips and techniques. It is also the place to share and collaborate on ideas to use and improve Vive products and services.

 

Everyone is welcome to join the community. Please exercise good judgement in what you post, and be respectful of the rights of your fellow members. All members are required to adhere to HTC’s Terms of Use, Privacy Policy and these Community Guidelines, as follows:

 

1. Be respectful to all community members.

Respect other members as individuals by keeping your tone positive and your comments constructive. We absolutely do not tolerate personal attacks, harassment, racism, sexism, threats, obscene material, or other behavior that we determine to be detrimental to the openness and well-being of our community.

 

2. Be relevant to the conversation.

Make sure your contributions are relevant to the specific forum and topic where you post. Search the community before posting your question - it may have already been answered! If you have a new question, start a new topic rather than interrupting a conversation. Do not post duplicate messages in different areas of the community (to avoid fragmenting discussion). Solicitations (adverts) are not permitted. If you’re unsure whether or not your contribution is considered an advert or solicitation, please contact the Community team for clarification.

 

3. Adhere to legal agreements.

This particularly applies to developers: don't post anything that would violate any legal/contractual agreements (intellectual property, copyright, trade secret or otherwise) or nondisclosure agreements to which you are a party.

 

4. Protect privacy - yours and others'.

Don't share anything about yourself or your organization that you would not want to see on a giant billboard. This includes but is not limited to names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, private messages, and links to personal websites.  If you need to exchange personal information, do so via a private message.

 

5. Respect moderation decisions.

The Community Team reserves the right to edit, move, block or delete any content and ban any member that is considered inappropriate or detrimental to the community. Do not publicly discuss moderator actions. If you wish to comment on a moderation decision, please contact the Community Team.

 

6. Use caution when adopting advice/solutions.

You'll find plenty of good advice here, but remember that your situation, configuration, or implementation will often vary from other members of the Community. Some advice you find here may even be wrong. Apply the same good judgment here that you would apply to information anywhere on the Internet.

 

How to flag inappropriate content for review

 

If you encounter any violations of these guidelines, please notify the Vive Community Team: choose the "Report Inappropriate Content" from the message's Options menu (the three dots in the top right corner), and state why you feel the content is inappropriate.

 

 

 

Feedback and ideas

 

We want this to be the best community it can possibly be - so let us know what you think, and how we can help improve your experience by visiting the General Vive Discussion Forum.

 

If you have any questions about the Vive Community, including our guidelines, terms, and policies, please send a private message to the Community Team.

 

Thank you for reading! .

[Thief Simulator VR (DevLog) - Theft in virtual reality]

The more I see, the more excited I am for the release. It looks amazing. 

[Cannot create new topic in Vive SRWorks SDK]

 

8 minutes ago, Tom17 said:

Hello,

does anybody experience the same problem? I wanna create a new topic but the button is missing.

Thanks

Thomas

Hi @Tom17, 

I am looking into this right now. 

 

This should be fixed. Give it another shot.

 

[If you are a VR Developer -you should have a blog. This is how I aim to approach it, and why you should take advantage of VIVE PORT Blogs]

I appreciate your post. Thanks for sharing it! 🙂

This will definitely help others out!

[7/22-7/23 - Vive/Viveport Community Forum Maintenance]

Hi everyone, 

 

On Monday, July 22nd, the forum will undergo maintenance from 3am PDT to 12pm PDT Tuesday, July 23rd. 

 

During this time, the forum will be in Read Only mode. This means you will be able to reference previous topics and posts but you will not be able to create new ones. This will be done so we don't lose any content during the maintenance period. 

 

The reason for this is so we can make the forums as easy navigate as possible. Over the last while, we've taken into account the various pain points the community brought to us and we are acting on those suggestions. Here is a short list of changes you will see and experience. 

 

1: Private Messages - Many of you have mentioned it isn't clear on how to send or respond to private messages here on the forums. We are fixing that with a visual clear path that makes it easy to identify what exactly you need to do to send, receive, and check your PMs. 

 

2: Navigation - We will be making it easier for you to find what you are looking for. From the front page you will be able to see everything you need. When you are looking over posts, you won't need to click on them to read the first post. Just hover over the topic title and a preview will pop up. 

 

3: Longer times before timing out - We've had quite a few of you mention timing out being an issue which requires a log in. This time will be extended for quite a while. You will still get signed out after a period of time but chances are, if you frequent the forums, you will return before that time runs out. 

 

4: This is the biggest of them all. When we come out of the maintenance period, you will notice there are two completely different sections of the forums. One will be a Vive community and the other will be a Viveport community. The main reason for this is so we can engage both communities efficiently. We will be able to address concerns, interact more smoothly, and give each their own look and feel. They will still be available side by side and you can go between the two freely and effortlessly. 

 

5: You will notice you will be redirected. We will be giving the forums a new domain. Your previously bookmarked links won't break and you should land on them with no problem. This post will be updated with the new links for your reference after the maintenance period is over. 

 

6: All new look and feel - Both the Vive and Viveport sections will be visually different but they will perform the exact same way. We are going for a more exciting visual appearance as well as matching their general brand look. 

 

Those are just a few things that you will notice when we are out of the maintenance period. You may notice a couple things still being moved around or tweaked once we are back live. Don't worry, you aren't losing your mind. We plan for just about everything before making these changes. You never know what little things can pop up that need to be adjusted. If you happen to see anything after, please make sure to comment in this thread and let us know. 

We hope you enjoy the new look on Tuesday. If you have any questions before then, please ask here as well. 

[Q&A with Kris Severson, Director of Global Partnerships]

This post has been moved. Follow the link to the new location. Thanks!

[Thief Simulator VR (DevLog) - Theft in virtual reality]

This game keeps looking better and better. 

[Vive Pro controllers don't stop charging]

 -

 

As mentioned in the other thread you commented on, SteamVR is not handled by HTC.

[User Reviews]

You do have a good point. I will gather this feedback up and give it to the appropriate folks and see if something can be planned. I can't promise a for sure action but this is a good idea. 

[Swords of Gargantua Giveaway]

Have you all entered yet? I sure hope you do. 

[POKEMON VR GAME ?]

I would also like to see something like this. Pokemon VR would be awesome. 

[Viveport Welcomes Oculus Rift S and Valve Index Owners to the Viveport Infinity Family]

Hey , 

 

I responded in your created thread. Check it out. 

[2 months viveport infinity email with no code]

Hi , 

 

To get this checked out, you'll want to send a ticket to our Customer Care team. customersupport@viveport.com They will get you up and running in no time. 

[The Viveport Summer Sale Has Begun - 6/13-6/23]

Hi everyone!

Just wanted to pop in and let you all know that our Viveport Summer Sale has started! There are about 200 titles on sale up to 95% off. Also, you can get a year of Viveport Infinity for 45% off. That comes to about $6.99 a month.

 

Here are a few of my favorite titles that are on sale currently.

 

Arizona Sunshine $20.00

Blasters of the Universe $5.40

Guns'n'Stories: Bulletproof VR $5.00

Mercenary 2: Silicon Rising $15.00

Operation Warcade $8.00

I Expect You to Die $12.50

Torn $7.50

Transpose $10.00

Prison Boss VR $10.00

Shooty Fruity $8.00

Tribe XR DJ School $15.99

Panzer Panic $2.50

Konrad's Kittens $7.50

Dance Collider $5.25

Ready Player One: OASIS - Elite Gunter Edition $2.00

 

There are tons more and quite a few of them are in Viveport Infinity. The Summer Sale runs from today June 13-June 23. Check it out at viveport.com.

 

What are some of your favorite games? Are you looking forward to picking anything awesome up?

[Tilt Brush Superheroes]

Alright      , 

 

Your prizes have all been sent to you via forum PM along with instructions on how to redeem. 

 

Thanks again!!!

[Tilt Brush Superheroes]

Alright everyone!

 

The moment you’ve all been waiting for. This was really tough and a lot of back and forth. Thank you all for making the first creative contest like this a success.

 

1st Place and $100 Viveport Wallet Code:

Insidetherobot

 

2nd Place and $50 Code: Geneus1

 

3rd Place and $50 Code: Fiftymiles

 

2 Honorable Mentions and $25 Code: Asktoby and Rattlehead

 

 

You will all get your prizes by the 12th. Most likely sooner. You will receive them by way of Forum PM so make sure to keep an eye out.

 

Thank you! Keep an eye out for more contests!

[Tilt Brush Superheroes]

Alright everyone!

 

The moment you’ve all been waiting for. This was really tough and a lot of back and forth. Thank you all for making the first creative contest like this a success.

 

1st Place and $100 Viveport Wallet Code:

Insidetherobot

 

2nd Place and $50 Code: Geneus1

 

3rd Place and $50 Code: Fiftymiles

 

2 Honorable Mentions and $25 Code: Asktoby and Rattlehead

 

 

You will all get your prizes by the 12th. Most likely sooner. You will receive them by way of Forum PM so make sure to keep an eye out.

 

Thank you! Keep an eye out for more contests!

[Tilt Brush Superheroes]

Alright everyone, 

 

Thank you all for your awesome entries. It's going to be a tough one for sure. We will have winners chosen soon. Keep an eye on this post today. You will all be tagged. 

 

Thanks!

[Tilt Brush Superheroes]

Great entries everyone! We love what we are saying. Definitely going to have a hard time for us all to agree on winners. 

 

If anyone else has an entry, you only have 8 1/2 hours to get your entry in. Hurry!

[Tilt Brush Superheroes]

Hi! Thanks for your entry. That is a pretty snazzy comicbook. I'd read it!

 

Don't forget to include a short story about your hero  

[Viveport FAQ - Getting Started with Windows Mixed Reality]

Windows Mixed Reality is a mixed reality platform introduced as part of the Windows 10 operating system, which provides holographic and mixed reality experiences with compatible head-mounted displays.

 

VIVEPORT supports all the WMR devices such as; VIVE Cosmos, Samsung Odyssey+, HP WMR, Lenovo Explorer, Acer WMR, Dell Visor. 

 

Hardware and Software Requirements: 

Hardware requirements:

• CPU: Intel Mobile Core i5 (e.g. 7200U) Dual-Core with Hyperthreading equivalent
• GPU: Integrated Intel® HD Graphics 620 (GT2) equivalent or greater DX12 API Capable GPU
• RAM: 8GB+ Dual Channel required for integrated Graphics
• HDMI: HDMI 1.4 or DisplayPort 1.2 for 60Hz head-mounted displays
• HDMI: HDMI 2.0 or DisplayPort 1.2 for 90Hz head-mounted displays
• HDD: 100GB+ SSD (Preferred) / HDD
• USB: USB 3.0 Type-A or USB 3.1 Type-C Port with DisplayPort Alternate Mode
• Bluetooth: Bluetooth 4.0 for accessories (NOT included in most WMR devices)

Operating system requirements:

• Windows 10 version 17688.0 or higher required
• Windows architecture X64 required

Software requirements:

• Mixed Reality Portal,  downloadable via Windows 10 Store.  
• VIVEPORT Desktop App, Click here to download.  
• Windows Mixed Reality for SteamVR, downloadable via Steam.  

Other requirements:

• Some WMR devices requires 4* 2A batteries that is not included at purchase.  
• If you are setting up your WMR for the first time, it will require you to go to Bluetooth & other devices to add both of your controllers.  

To connect your WMR device to VIVEPORT: 

To connect your WMR device to VIVEPORT, you need to follow the below steps:

1. Make sure that your hardware, OS, and software meet the Requirements. 
2. Download VIVEPORT Desktop app
3. Follow the install process and create an VIVEPORT account
4. Restart your computer after the install process
5. Launch Windows Mixed reality portal, and VIVEPORT Desktop App to start browsing for WMR compatible titles.  

What titles are available for WMR?

You can check whether a title is compatible with Windows Mixed Reality by hovering over its title card on the Viveport homepage. You can also visit the game’s detail page and check under the “supported headset” information.  Additionally, you can browse for compatible titles by checking the “Windows Mixed Reality” box under the Headset search menu.