Aldin Dynamics to create tools to help devs analyse VR behaviour

We had a good long chat with Hrafn Thorisson of Aldin Dynamics, who had plenty to say about VR.

Waltz of the Wizard is one of the more well-received VR titles currently available for the HTC Vive and on Steam, and at Slush Play a little while back we were lucky enough to get the chance to catch up with Hrafn Thorisson, of the development team at Aldin Dynamics.

We had the chance to try Waltz of the Wizard at Slush Play, and the first thing we noticed is that there is loads packed into the game, and almost everything can be interacted with. The reason for this is that Aldin Dynamics underwent extensive testing to see what the player wants to do.

"We do a lot of user testing, and we're making tools for user testing to further understand what people do when they go to a virtual world." Thorisson said to us. "We can identify places where people try to do something that we didn't foresee, so we think 'what can we do there.' When the person crouches at this point or when he reaches for something is there anything interesting that we can do to amplify that behaviour. Focusing on this human behaviour side for VR is really important."

Aldin Dynamics also understands that they are at the forefront of a new medium, and that they will constantly be met with new issues to overcome. "There are really serious challenges that a lot of the leading developers today are still tackling, still trying to understand, and it's going to be that way for the next few years." Thorisson said. "There are really tough challenges that are being solved today. At the same time, that's what makes it so fun; these are challenges that nobody in the history of any medium before has had to face."

The studio is also creating design tools that help developers analyse player behaviour, making it easier for developers to know what to put into their game. The tool is called Ghostline, and records the behaviour of users within the virtual world. "Once people are inside the virtual world, that's something that nobody has ever had to deal with." Thorisson explained. "Its really important to analyse how people are behaving and that [Ghostline] is sort of our solution."

Finally, we asked Thorisson where he thinks the VR industry is headed in the next few years. "We're definitely headed into the motion controller direction." He said, "over the next five years we're going to just see more and more of your physical input being taken into account; your voice, your ears, better haptics."

Waltz of the Wizard is a brilliant VR game and is available completely for free on Steam for HTC Vive. To check it out head here. To watch our full interview with Thorisson, look below!