On the Design of Valve’s ‘The Lab’

I played with ‘The Lab’ a little in an open space with a Vive. It was an intensely magical technological experience. (So was Tilt Brush.)

Exploring an environment in VR can’t be compared to exploring one on a screen, because the objects have scale that makes sense, and you can freely move around them to see their shapes. Or, when you pick something up, you can freely move it around with your hand to see different sides and angles.

The software includes detailed representations of the Vive controllers, so you can see them while you’re in VR — including accurate battery LEDs, the state of the buttons, and the position of the analog trigger.

Even the little toys in The Lab’s “menu room” are fun and natural — there's a wooden bow on a table. You can reach out with a hand, touch the trigger on the controller to pick it up (the controller disappears so you seem to just be holding the bow), and then use your other hand to grab an arrow, pull it back (holding the trigger), and release (by releasing the trigger).

The demo worlds are equally magical — when I played fetch with my little robot dog, I kneeled down to pick up a stick, stood up to throw it, and then kneeled back down to give the dog an approving scratch when it brought the stick back.

I was mildly excited about VR and AR. Now I’m convinced that they’re going to change how we interact with computers, and with each other.

Watching the evolution of new design paradigms for vr is a delight - we haven't had a media this new and different since film was developed.

A particularly interesting area is locomotion - how to get about. The teleportation model is very much a first gen approach, and folks are playing with concepts like swinging your arms to walk, and designing games so you're constantly turning around in your playspace without realising it.

I know this probably isn't appreciated, but reddit.com/r/vive is a good place to keep an ear to the ground and to watch the technology and its use develop.

Ugh. Yet another website that decided to hijack scroll.

I do love the "place this sphere on your head to switch worlds" paradigm, but I think it's maybe too natural - every user I've demoed the lab for inventively ends up punching a controller into the visor.

I just got to try this out yesterday. Like many others, I wasn't convinced going in but now I'm a "true believer".

I don't think VR will directly compete with the traditional video game interface, much like handheld consoles don't directly compete with PC gaming. I do think it will spawn a whole new branch of the gaming industry.

As a side note, I don't think the screenshots do justice to just how _good_ 'The Lab' looks once you're wearing the Vive.

As a professional game developer, I've always loved how well Valve designs all their user experiences. They highlight this very well in the developer commentaries which are included in all their games. To me, those commentaries are one of the best parts of any Valve game, despite often sounding like an infomercial about how great Valve is.

Now, the portal thing isn't all that sensational. The room which is a level selection menu has been done a ton of times. Nintendo loves it. Super Mario 64 is one of the earliest examples I can think of and Nintendo Land even presents the different levels as attractions in a theme park which are accessed via futuristic looking gates (portals?). Valve simply did the same thing with the portals being more like those in Valve's own hit franchise aptly named "Portal", but as standalone 3D objects, rather than flat ones projected onto a flat surface.