Pokemon VR - Opening Scene
Pokemon VR - Oak’s Lab Concept
(Warning! Video was captured in VR so it may cause motion sickness)
Pokemon VR
Ever since I got my HTC Vive I’ve been fascinated with the new types of experiences that could be created. I was blown away by the level of immersion VR allowed. So, I decided to take an existing franchise that I adored and create a new way to experience it. It was a simple proof of concept that was a fun way to get familiar with the hardware and the coding challenges of working in a virtual space. The game is not available for download as it’s just a simple proof-of-concept, and the rights to the property belong to Game Freak and Nintendo.
Development
To achieve this look, I started by using a reference image of Professor Oak’s Lab from the game Pokemon Fire Red on the Gameboy Advance. I took a few liberties in the placement of things, but for the most part I tried to be faithful. I needed to model various 3D objects to be able to piece together the scene I was going for.
Once I had the look down, I needed to focus on learning the new (at the time) SteamVR API. It was a huge challenge and a lot of fun. Because the technology was so new, there were not a lot of resources available it makes debugging and tinkering that much more important. Once I learned how to place teleport markers, it was such a blast to finally experience being in Professor Oak’s lab in a life-sized aspect.
The last aspect was of course, choosing a Pokemon! I chose to use Charmander in my experiment as he was always my favorite. I adapted existing model data to create a skeletal structure I could animate and used fire effects to give him his signature tail. I found a voice clip of Charmander from the Pokemon anime series and used that when he finally popped out of the Pokeball.
Development Photos
The blender structure that represents Oak's Lab.
A top-down view of Oaks lab
The table that holds the Pokeballs. Which one would you choose?
The desks found in Oak's office. They hold the Pokedex!
The bookcases in Oak's Lab have a very specific color pattern.
This object in Oak's Lab. Not sure I've seen it used in the games. Maybe its some sort of incubator for egg Pokemon?
The giant tower computers found on the top left side of the map.
Early prototype render of Oak's lab
