BuggyBuddy™

BuggyBuddy is an experimental line of lunar rovers currently in the R&D phase. Take them out for a test drive in this lunar arena. Just don't leave the test site, as a Material Emancipation Grill has been installed around the perimeter. This scene demonstrates natural tool use (pick up and hold to "equip"), as well as thumbstick, track button, and face button functionality.The buggy scene was a nightmare to create. We went through at least 20 control schemes, mapping and remapping the buttons. Every playtester liked something different. We started out with the joystick controlling the global direction of the buggy, top down style. About 50% of people loved this, and 50% hated it and couldn't steer to save their life. Eventually (2 days ago), we settled on what we have now. The trigger, which used to be the brake, is now the throttle. The joystick, once steering in absolutes, is now relative to the buggy. We began with something imitating video games and established third person controls, but we ended up with something identical to most real-world RC car control schemes. Food for thought?But hey, with the new binding system, players can rebind inputs in your games to anything they want. That's a big step forward.You can also teleport by clicking the touchpad (as long as you're not holding anything). With the physical click gone, this is done with the force sensors and a strategic haptic tap to imitate a button. This works quite well, and definitely holds up to the old touchpad clicks on Vive controllers.This scene was created to utilize all of the more "traditional" inputs adorning the head of Knuckles EV2. There are a few to choose from, but you shouldn't feel pressured to use them all. Something to try could be making virtual controllers that only have the inputs you're using, such as the buggy remotes with their missing touchpad. Despite the focus on traditional input, finger tracking is still utilized to provide an incredibly natural equip/drop mechanic for the buggy remotes. You just have to grab on to the controller, and hold it as long as you want before dropping it. It's not fatiguing as first generation controller solutions of constantly holding a grip button or pulling a trigger. With high fidelity cap sense and force sensors this feels perfectly natural.