Recently I've had the opportunity to play with an [Oculus
Quest](https://www.oculus.com/quest/), a self-contained and incredibly portable
VR headset with a ton of neat features like hand-tracking. It has an incredible
processor, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835, which allows you to play standalone
games entirely on the headset, no connection to your computer at all.
Additionally it lets you sideload a ton of `.apk` files using the familiar
`adb` tool, commonly used for hacking with Android phones.
Half-Life 1
-----------
So HL:1 was already an amazing game to play on the PC; I can remember unsealing
the CD years ago and being astonished at the ability of the developers to tell a
story so well through the first-person shooter genre. Using
[Lambda1VR](https://www.lambda1vr.com/) sideloaded throught the Quest I am
currently playing through the campaign again except this time fully immersed in
the game's atmosphere and characters.
Let me prefix this by saying: this game was scary enough on PC with all the dark
corners and creepy monster design; in virtual reality, however, it's all fucking
terrifying. All the parts that made me jump on PC make me absolutely scream when
playing it on the Quest. The mod itself requires purchase of HL:1 on Steam;
once you've sideloaded the app onto the headset, this mod adds intuitive
controls on all the controller faces allowing you to do everything you could on
PC except now you're moving, leaning, reloading and crouching all as if it were
a Quest game released this year. It's all an incredible feat breathing new life
into a game which is over 20 years old and I give massive love to
[DrBeef](https://twitter.com/DrBeef), the author of this incredible mod.
Garry's Mod: VRMod
------------------
GMod has been around for years; it's easily one of the most hackable games on
the market and (in my opinion) very few games even rival the scripting interface
it exposes for manipulating the engine and creating new and novel experiences.
I've exploited this ability (very) recently to write a complete solution for
hosting virtual DJ festivals in VR (check out my article about my [Steam
Workshop](https://prettyboytellem.com/writing/2020/Apr/My%20Steam%20Workshop.html)).
### A bit about URL festivals
A ton of URL festivals were done this Spring in Minecraft (mostly due to the
work from [one company in particular](https://openpit.net/) during the
pandemic); while Minecraft is also a very extensible platform, its selection as
a medium for virtual DJ'ing seems fairly arbitrary. I believe that players and
developers can better express themselves in the Source Engine environment and
if we ever revisit the idea of "purely virtual DJ festivals" I have faith that
we will choose (or maybe even develop our own) medium which accomodates
community interaction and expression in a way we haven't seen in these
hacked-together events before.
One really neat thing I discovered about GMod is the existence of
[VRMod](https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1678408548), a
deceptively simple mod and set of OpenVR `.dll`s translating VR headset /
controller motions into Source Engine motions. This means you can play Garry's
Mod entirely in VR. For a sandbox game with an initial release of 2004, this is
fucking nuts... and VRMod works extremely well, even with my hacked-together
Quest setup.
While I have hosted virtual raves in the past (see: [End of Howler: One More
Final: Thank You](https://djr3.org/sets/2020/end-of-howler-one-more-final.html),
and Club Howler [Week 2](https://djr3.org/sets/2020/club-howler-week-2.html) and
[Week 3](https://djr3.org/sets/2020/club-howler-week-3.html)), hosting a VR rave
is something novel that I had wanted to do for some time.
Originally I wanted to host this rave in VRChat, a well-known game for meeting
new people and friends in virtual reality. The problems with implementing this
VRChat are:
1. VRChat's programming language
[Udon](https://docs.vrchat.com/docs/getting-started-with-udon) is still in
alpha
2. It's nowhere nearly as expressive as GMod Lua (GLua)
3. You cannot self-host a VRChat server
4. VRChat heavily favors players with VR setups; we want to be more inclusive
than that
... so the decision was made to re-use my old GMod DJ kit, this time with VRMod
attached.
### EVA Online Presents: Synesthesia #002
*More detail [on DJR3.org](https://djr3.org/sets/2020/eva-0nline-synesthesia-002.html):*
EVA (Eternal Virtual Ascension) (on [Discord](https://discord.io/EVA_0NLINE),
announcements via [Twitter](https://twitter.com/eva0nline)) is a neo-rave record
label / community of artists and creators; the community was born on the
Internet and is constantly evolving with the collective itself. EVA hosts URL
festivals regularly; I was invited to play a half-hour set for the [second
installment of their Synesthesia
series](https://djr3.org/sets/2020/eva-0nline-synesthesia-002.html) on June 26th
and I gladly accepted. EVA is a very wholesome and directed community, and they
summarize what I love most about creative communities on the Internet.
This was really one of the most fun sets I've done and it definitely was the
most ambitious we've ever organized. As a sidenote, it's extremely difficul difficult to
operate a mixer with a VR headset on; I managed this by overlaying my mixxx
window into my headset so it showed up on my wrist in VR, much like a lot of
VR streamers do for their Twitch chat.
If you want to watch some other performances from Synesthesia #002 check out
[the lineup and
summary](https://djr3.org/sets/2020/eva-0nline-synesthesia-002.html) which
includes a full 1080p60 copy of my set as well. Using VR like this has a ton of
potential; I hope that more social software exposes interfaces similar to what
GMod supports and allows its userbase to bend and play with the software to make
more events like this.
Echo Arena
----------
Zero-G movement in VR is, despite first impressions, extremely natural. Echo
Arena is a competitive team-based game which feels similar to that Battle Room
game they play in Ender's Game. It came to Quest this year.
For some reason the game is filled with kids. I haven't figured that one out,
maybe it just feels like the most "tame" competitve game (e.g. no blood or guns
like many other games on the VR market) but I'm still not really sure. It's a
really fun game regardless, I'd encourage you to check it out. I am very bad at
the game but I've got a pro teaching me the ropes so I've got no doubt I'll be
pro soon! :smile:
Half-Life: Alyx
---------------
Alyx is the first AAA title I've bought in a very, very long time.
I first watched gameplay of Alyx when [Porter Robinson played it in
March](https://twitter.com/porterrobinson/status/1242292124726542337) but I
never thought I'd cave to the hype. It's an extremely fun game and it makes me
excited to see what development studios decide to do with the new VR resources
in Source 2. The game is not supposed to be very scary but I am *very* bad at
reloading so it quickly becomes a horror / survival game when I'm being chased
by headcrab zombies and can't reload a shotgun to save my life; it's difficult
because you have to perform all the reload actions by hand (like in Pavlov) by
ejecting the spent rounds, retrieving a magazine from your backpack and
inserting it all before being fucking mauled to death. Very distressing when
that happens, but once you get the rhythm of it it's very fun.
Rez HD and Rez Infinite
-----------------------
Rez is an incredible game and despite being released in 2001 it is an amazing
game to play in VR, it feels like it was begging to be played in this kind of
environment. This is probably the closest I will ever be to playing Rez in [the
Synesthesia suit](https://synesthesia-suit.com/).
The free-range movement in Area X is what feels most natural for Rez;
unfortunately the parameters of the Dreamcast restricted the game to being run
on-rails for its original release. Area X is a beautiful level and moved me in a
way that few games have, but it feels tragically short. I am eagerly watching
the things Mizuguchi is developing now, as the direction he gives a lot of his games
(e.g. Tetris Effect) are inspiring and exciting.