The Language of Hand-Tracking in VR
Introduction
Elixir is a game available on the Oculus Quest that lets users play the part of a Witch’s Apprentice while experimenting with Virtual Reality Hand-Tracking (“Elixir”, n.d.). Hand-Tracking is when users can interact with the VR experience in front of them without controllers (“What is Hand-Tracking in VR?”, 2021). Sensors through the technology monitor the user’s hand movements, velocity, orientation, and position (“What is Hand-Tracking in VR?”, 2021). Users will then see virtual hands on the screen that mimic their real-life movements. When enabling hand-tracking, the Oculus will lead users through the basic hand movements—for example, to select, the user must pinch the pointer finger and thumb together.
The Elixir demo providers users with a set of challenges while allowing them to get used to the motions of hand-tracking. The game begins with a booming voice from above—it’s the witch telling you to enter her chamber for your “interview”. She also instructs a set of hands to teach the user how to move throughout the game. Throughout the demo, the user must follow instructions from the witch to learn the ropes of her alchemy lab while facing off against mini eyeball monsters dead-set on causing mayhem.
UX Design
The user experience of the game was very intuitive. To move across the lab, the user made a triangle with their fingers and pinched. To perform different tasks, the users had to interact with different tools around the lab. By interacting with these tools, the user temporarily gained different powers, which they could see by their hands change color and texture. For example, the user would place their hands on the fireplace tool to gain fire powers to light the candles around the lab. Other examples include touching the electrodes and squeezing their fists shuts, which would create orbs of electricity emerging from the user’s virtual hands.
In addition to the stunning graphics, the virtual hands and skins the hands acquired throughout the game had detailed motion. For example, after touching the water in the cauldron, the user’s hands turned into tentacles. When the user moved their virtual hands with the tentacles, the tentacles mimicked the motion they would in real life—slow, droopy, and with the tentacles dangling.
However, while the user experience and graphics were very detailed and added a depth to the experience, the UX was not perfect. For example, when chasing the flying eyeballs across the lab, there are moments when the user is not able to capture these mini monsters because they haven’t unlocked the tool to defeat them yet. This is potentially a problem with the storyline. The witch guides you across certain tools that will defeat the eyeballs, but if the user tries to destroy certain eyeballs out of order, nothing will happen. This doesn’t ultimately negate the experience of the demo, but it was an area of friction.
Conclusion
All in all, Elixir is a fun game that will transport the user to a hazy underground lair where they will take orders from a witch—if they succeed, they’ll get the job. If not, they’ll get the boot. This game will provide a useful experience to anyone wanting to gain more experience in the hand-tracking realm but are also looking to play a game where they can enter another world—in this case, the underworld. The game requires quick thinking, quicker hand motions, an excitement to learn, and a genuine interest in the merging of immersive technology and fantasy.
Hand-tracking in general is useful for anyone to get familiar with. Hand-tracking will allow for a more interactive experience, without the bulky hardware of the controllers. With the exponential integration of the physical and virtual world, VR will soon be commonplace. Additionally, the size of the hardware will shrink, and VR experiences will be easier to access on a daily basis. As we live in a world where technology is becoming more embedded with reality, it’s essential for everyone to learn this new language.
Sources
Elixir on Oculus Quest. Oculus. (n.d.). Retrieved November 22, 2021, from https://www.oculus.com/experiences/quest/3793077684043441/.
What is hand tracking in VR? Ultraleap. (2021, May 7). Retrieved November 22, 2021, from https://www.ultraleap.com/company/news/blog/hand-tracking-in-vr/.