This is a page to share with the growing VR community the insights of my project codenamed «The Reflector of the Past», an interactive app for experience the sensation of being in the most remarkable ancient cities, as Rome, Athens or Jerusalem.
I am Jan Herca. I work in GIS and cartography for living and I spend most of my spare time as writer. I am a programmer, I am not an artist, so I have a plenty amount of things to learn, but I think this will be a real exciting project and instead of waiting to have some preview to share, I want to spread the idea to see if more people can be interested in it.
VR is exploding as never before thanks to the arising of the Oculus Rift headset, and during the last year of intense emerge of VR creativity, I was sure that it would take not longer before we see a great app regarding Historical Simulation in Virtual Reality, but the fact is that focus is much on the videogames and very poorly in this amazing matter. This is why I decided to start this project.
The goal is to do a recreation of this ancient cities with a special attention to the fidelity at the current archaelogical discoveries. This won’t be a gore blood and blade videogame following the appeal of Ryse, but more a relaxing and educational experience with the objective that the player always end with a better understanding of how was the life and the surroundings at that ancient times.
My first stretch goals will be:
– Create first a small demo with a 3D model of the Roman Forum, and then proceed with a more extended model of Rome from the Campus Martius to the Colosseum, including the buildings at the Capitoline and Palatine hills, both well adapted for running at required framerates.
– Integrate the models in Unreal Engine 4 with both support for normal playing and also Oculus playing, and with gameplay specifically designed for both normal and VR modes. (First game-engine under consideration was Unity, but later I have decided to switch to UE4).
– Introduce simulation of people from that time that the player can see working and acting as they did in that age.
– Integrate support for upcoming exciting technologies as Stem and PrioVR, so the player can see his full body in the game and interact with objects and people using his own avatar.
– For enjoying more the VR experience, create a short RPG-style videogame, with a background story of a conspiracy against the emperor that the young son of a senator (you) must face, using his intuition to find clues and objects in the city that thwart the plans of the conspirators.
This is why I call it «The Reflector of the Past», because it will be, if I can achieve the intended quality, like a time machine device. You will put on the Oculus and other devices, and you will feel as if you have traveled through time to the past, but what is really happening is that the past comes to you and to your time.
So hi you all and be wellcome to this amazing journey that I expect to be of your interest.
If you are interested in the project, you can contact me using this form:
Spanish version: http://reflectordelpasado.wordpress.com/acerca-de/
Reflector of the Past 