House of Secrets

Author: House of Secrets

  • Pilot of VOYAGES now on SamsungVR.com

    Pilot of VOYAGES now on SamsungVR.com

    SamsungVR has teamed up with House of Secrets and Kaleidoscope to show the pilot for our current project: Voyages.

    VOYAGES is a multifaceted VR experience by Kaleidoscope and House of Secrets that takes you through the journey of life.
    We travel through six chapters: Birth, Childhood, Youth, Maturity, Old Age and Death.
    In the pilot on SamsungVR viewers can now see and hear the concepts for Birth, Maturity, Old Age and Death play out before them.

    Each chapter of our life has something new to offer, something universal yet unique. In Voyages musical artists uncover the meaning of each stage of our lives as visual artists create their own take on things. Together, they develop immersive, incredible, yet familiar experiences in VR.

    This awesome VR music project is still ongoing, but on Samsung’s platform you are now able to see four of the six concepts worked into 360 formats.  Eventually there are big plans for Voyages; real-time, interactive, an installation even? We’ll keep you updated once more can be confirmed 🙂

    For now, go and enjoy the experiences on SamsungVR. You can watch the video’s both in-browser, or, better yet, in your GearVR:

    Take me to VOYAGES on SamsungVR.com

  • Announcing KIN

    Announcing KIN

    [vc_row row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern” css_animation=””][vc_column][blockquote text=”Stylistic VR platformer to hit Oculus Store later this year” show_quote_icon=”no” text_color=”#f25709″][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]At the end of 2017, House of Secrets will present a VR puzzle platformer game with combat elements that will have the player traverse the remnants of an ancient civilization on a distant planet. Throughout the journey through alien landscapes, a story will unfold.

    The game will become available for both the Gear VR and the Oculus Rift later this year.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern” css_animation=””][vc_column][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern” css_animation=””][vc_column][vc_column_text]The game holds an abstract aesthetic that has become characteristic for the studio through their earlier VR experiences such as APEX and Surge. Lively colours, intuitive gameplay and interesting level design set the tone for KIN, in which the player moves through the world as a mysterious, tiny girl with big hair clad in a bright dress. Defeating enemies and solving puzzles, she leaps from platform to platform, travelling through different landscapes.

    We at House of Secrets have been loving this journey into indie game development for VR and we will share more news with you as we are nearing the launch date.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern” css_animation=””][vc_column][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern” css_animation=””][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”1429″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center” qode_css_animation=””][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern” css_animation=””][vc_column][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern” css_animation=””][vc_column][vc_column_text]Exact release date to be announced

    Made possible by Oculus

     

    Find out more at http://kin-game.com[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

  • The making of: APEX

    The making of: APEX

    [vc_row row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern” css_animation=””][vc_column][blockquote text=”One of the most important voices in this conversation is the Dutch artist Arjan van Meerten. He is taking big creative risks, and by doing so, pushing the medium forward – René Pinnell, CEO, Kaleidoscope VR” show_quote_icon=”yes” quote_icon_color=”#f98613″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern” css_animation=””][vc_column][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern” css_animation=””][vc_column][vc_column_text]Arjan van Meerten shows how he approaches his creative work: how he starts out with a bunch of looping sounds until he finds one to his liking and then builds the other music and animations around that.

    Arjan mentions how the audio and the intense feeling of APEX is partly drawn from the experience of attending metal concerts when he was younger; that overwhelming feeling you get when standing in front of the pumping loudspeakers and literally feeling the music blast from the stage.

    As in this video, people have often reacted to APEX saying they felt their bodies heat up and sense the warmth of the virtual fiery world surrounding them.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern” css_animation=””][vc_column][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern” css_animation=””][vc_column][blockquote text=”He gives you control, but gives you the freedom to feel like you don’t have to be in control and he can still make you feel everything he wants you to feel – Maureen Fan, CEO, Baobab Studios” show_quote_icon=”yes” quote_icon_color=”#f2680c”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern” css_animation=””][vc_column][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern” css_animation=””][vc_column][vc_column_text]When making animations Arjan will also often skip the drawing board and head directly for a trial and error workflow. Trying out a lot of stuff until, again, he finds that one thing that catches his eye and works with the concept of the experience. That first animation becomes the jumping off point for many iterations, successions and alterations. Test and fix, test and fix, test and.. yes!

    In between cuts, you see Arjan working in Unreal and Cubase, puzzling all these bits and pieces together.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern” css_animation=””][vc_column][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern” css_animation=””][vc_column][blockquote text=”He approaches this in an original way and has a vision. He has his own style for it and I think that’s what defines an author – Yelena Rachitsky, Creative Producer, Oculus” show_quote_icon=”yes” quote_icon_color=”#f26202″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern” css_animation=””][vc_column][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern” css_animation=””][vc_column][vc_column_text]We hope you enjoy APEX and this making of video. APEX is currently available through Transport, and will be made available through Steam and Oculus very soon as well.

    APEX is a House of Secrets production, made possible by Kaleidoscope VR and Wevr.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

  • Cruise Patrol online!

    Cruise Patrol online!

    [vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_video link=”https://vimeo.com/125673986″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator type=”transparent” position=”center” up=”8″ down=”24″][vc_column_text][dropcaps type=’normal’ color=’#ffffff’ background_color=’#262626′ border_color=’#262626′]A[/dropcaps]fter a nice long run on many festivals, you can now enjoy our latest animated short film Cruise Patrol from your own cozy couch at home.
    So head on over to the Cruise Patrol project page or our Vimeo channel and enjoy.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

  • House of Secrets interactive

    House of Secrets interactive

    [vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_video link=”https://vimeo.com/125555690″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_separator type=”transparent” position=”center” up=”16″ down=”16″][vc_column_text][dropcaps type=’normal’ color=’#ffffff’ background_color=’#262626′ border_color=’#262626′]W[/dropcaps]hen we first heard the announcement of the Oculus Rift, everyone in our studio got really excited. Finally we are able to create worlds which we could explore in Virtual Reality!
    We got ourselves an Oculus Developer Kit and started out creating Uncharted Territory. A small demo of a desolate desert on a foreign planet. Not only was this our first Oculus project, this was also one of our first Unity Projects.

    The biggest challenge was creating a real sense of presence. The sound design, sense of scale and the atmospheric effects create a believable immersive world. This project got us so excited that we chose to focus more of our time on interactive virtual worlds.

    It ended up on the Oculus Rift store where it was featured and was downloaded over 8000 times. We received a lot of great comments and hopefully we can expand on this demo in the future.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_separator type=”normal” position=”center” up=”8″ down=”32″][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”3/4″][vc_column_text][dropcaps type=’normal’ color=’#ffffff’ background_color=’#262626′ border_color=’#262626′]W[/dropcaps]e then started on Lava World. A demo which was used in NuFormer’s marker-less motion tracking studio. The studio consisted of a 6×6 meter green screen room with an effective tracking area of 5×5 meters, which was capable to track up to 4 people at the same time.

    We created multiple 5 by 5 meter areas in which you can move around in Virtual Space. The objective here is simply to jump from stone to stone and get across to the other side. Unity was used to build the scene.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”976″ border_color=”grey” img_link_target=”_self”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_separator type=”transparent” position=”center”][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”1104″ border_color=”grey” img_link_target=”_self”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”3/4″][vc_column_text]Another demo for the motion tracking studio was the Infinite Hallway. In this demo you walk around in an endless corridor aboard a spaceship. We scripted it in such a way that you can walk around forever in an area of 5×5 m. The code behind it randomly generates chambers and corridors to keep you within the dimensions of the tracking studio.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_separator type=”normal” position=”center” up=”8″ down=”24″][vc_column_text][dropcaps type=’normal’ color=’#ffffff’ background_color=’#262626′ border_color=’#262626′]T[/dropcaps]o this day we’ve created various VR experiences and game prototypes, while testing various engines for various hardware. At the moment we have settled on using 2 engines, Unreal Engine 4 and Unity 5.
    Stay tuned for more interactive projects from House of Secrets in the future.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

  • Surge in Virtual Reality

    Surge in Virtual Reality

    After a year of hard work in his spare time, our own Arjan van Meerten has created a stunning VR musicvideo for the Oculus Rift called Surge. After being released on the Oculus Share page, it has received a lot of positive comments and is currently featured on Oculus’s share page.

    If you own an Oculus Rift, go check it out !
    [vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][button size=”small” text=”Download from OculusVR share page” icon=”fa-eye” icon_color=”#ffffff” link=”https://share.oculus.com/app/surge” target=”_blank” color=”#ffffff” hover_color=”#262626″ border_color=”#262626″ hover_border_color=”#ff5500″ background_color=”#262626″ hover_background_color=”#ff5500″ margin=”2px”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

  • New site online!

    New site online!

    It’s finally online, our new site, all nice and shiny in HTML5 and fully compatible with pretty much every modern device and browser (let’s face it, our Flash based site was getting a bit long in the tooth)

  • R&D : Infinite Hallway

    R&D : Infinite Hallway

    [vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_video link=”https://vimeo.com/125587113″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_separator type=”transparent” position=”center” up=”8″ down=”24″][vc_column_text][dropcaps type=’normal’ color=’#ffffff’ background_color=’#262626′ border_color=’#262626′]I[/dropcaps]nfinite Hallway is a project we did along side Lava World and a virtual zero gravity ball pit to test the applications of VR in combination with real-time full body motion capture.
    The idea for this came forth after pondering whether or not it would be possible to give a player the illusion of walking around in an endless virtual world while being constrained to a small area in the real world (in this case NuFormer’s markerless motion capture studio which at that time had an effective capture area of 5×5 meters.)

    The project as it is now is a prototype in which a scene is procedurally  generated consisting of rooms connected with hallways.
    The trick however is that the hallways and rooms are generated in such a way that a structure arises that intertwines into itself, however, the intertwining is done in such a way that the player won’t notice the structure is actually intertwining into itself (you will for example never actually see hallways or rooms accidentally intersect or cross into each other.)

    On top of the procedural generating of rooms and hallways, the program also has a kind of template support, meaning various types of hallways could be used, the program would then choose when it would be a good time switch up templates in order to prevent boring repetition.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

  • Behind the scenes of: CG Car commercial

    Behind the scenes of: CG Car commercial

    [dropcaps type=’normal’ color=’#ffffff’ background_color=’#262626′ border_color=’#262626′]T[/dropcaps]oday, We’d like to take you back a couple of years to this automotive project. This animation was an in-house commissioned R&D project.

    Instead of key framing the motion of the car, it was performed real-time using an Oculus Rift DK1 for maximum immersion, along with an Xbox 360 steering wheel and Unity.

    The motion data of the car was fed into Maya for use with the high resolution geometry, after which the scenes were lit and rendered using V-Ray. Enjoy: a highly detailed, shiny new car, smoothly moving and with lighting on point at every turn!