Owlchemy Labs the award winning creators of Job SImulator, Jack Lumber, and Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality get acquired by Google.

Google has made an interesting play to solidify it's VR lineup for the future. Welcome Owlchemy Labs to Google. They've created award-winning games like Job Simulator and Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality. They have won multiple awards for their gameplay and interaction in Job Simulator, and became one of the most popular VR titles across the many platforms. They’ve helped set a high bar for what engagement can be like in virtual worlds, and do it all with a great sense of humor! 

With several great moves Owlchemy did great job establishing themelves as a hit VR developer and right around their recent 6 year anniversary had turned that into a  $5 million series A investment from Qualcomm Ventures, HTC, The VR Fund, Colopl Next, Capital Factory, and several Austin area investors. Now the team takes a huge leap by possibly becoming Google's go to VR dev team for some interesting IP. They already showed they can handle it with the excellent Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality.

They team also pioneered a new way to show VR footage with a Spectator Mode for their games and built out a new depth-based mixed reality technique. From a small team in a bedroom in Boston to a 16 person industry respected game development company Owlchemy Labs has a bright future. Take a look at one of their early Pre VR games. 

Cats And VR

Google Makes Tilt Brush even more of a killer VR app with Tilt Brush Toolkit.

One can say Google’s Tilt Brush is still virtual reality’s closest thing to a killer app and one of the first demos anyone using a HTC Vive will ever try. 

Artists around the world have been able to create amazing works in Tilt Brush and then capture video to share their creations. Even Marvel/Disney has gotten down with the Tilt Brush.

Google has recently announced the release of the open source Tilt Brush Toolkit, a tool that allows Tilt Brush creators to export their creations into Unity, and animate them. Tilt Brush Toolkit makes exporting your Tilt Brush paintings easy and gives them the ability to come to life using Unity, one of the most robust game development tools on the market.

The toolkit being open source means that developers can optimize and create new tools. This also means that Oculus owners can use Tilt Brush to create as well.

Along side with Unity's recent VR workspace update it looks like the future is very bright for using VR to develop for VR.

The Tilt Brush Toolkit includes Python scripts and a Unity SDK with everything you need to make movies, interactive stories, video games, music videos, or other projects using assets created in Tilt Brush. A few example projects are given in the Github link including a Car and exploration game all built in Unity using Tilt Brush assets. https://github.com/googlevr/tilt-brush-toolkit

The Simpsons teamed with Google to produce the virtual reality experience for their 600th episode Treehouse of Horror XXVII.

Fox Broadcasting Company (FOX) and THE SIMPSONS worked closely with the Google Spotlight Stories team to create a special Virtual Reality (VR) experience for THE SIMPSONS couch gag, “Planet of the Couches,” airing in the milestone 600th episode of the animated series, the all-new “Treehouse of Horror XXVII,” on Sunday, October 16, on FOX.

“At first we had concerns about working with Google because we didn't know who they were, but then we googled the company and were very impressed,” said Homer Simpson.

“It’s a thrill to be associated with Google and not only because they have perfected the quality of their cafeteria food, especially those little sausages,” said James L. Brooks.

“Spotlight Stories is all about pushing the boundaries of interactive, mobile storytelling. Having a chance to build an immersive story with one of the most iconic and beloved shows of our time was an honor and thrilling challenge,” said Jan Pinkava, Creative Director, Google Spotlight Stories.

“We are thrilled to collaborate with THE SIMPSONS and Google Spotlight Stories on this milestone virtual reality experience. This is another example of how FOX is able to leverage innovation to deepen fan engagement and strive to bring interesting opportunities to our production partners,” said Angela Courtin, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, FOX.

Produced with Google Spotlight Stories, “Planet of the Couches” will be available on October 16 through the Google Spotlight Stories app on Android and iOS. View it with any Google Cardboard viewer for the full VR experience. The couch gag will kick off the milestone 600th episode, and will be available as a VR experience via the app.

There will be 25,000 limited edition Google Cardboard viewers available for order on a first-come, first-served basis, featuring one of the five main characters from THE SIMPSONS – Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie – with a customized 600th episode “Treehouse of Horror XXVII” slipcover, beginning today at simpsonscardboard.com in the U.S. only.

“Planet of the Couches” takes the viewer on a completely immersive VR experience. In this VR “couch gag,” the world of THE SIMPSONS is extended 360 degrees, an augmentation of THE SIMPSONS’ 600th episode, unprecedented in television history. The audience is able to enter and explore the universe of THE SIMPSONS with multiple viewings yielding different results. Truly a groundbreaking event.

“Planet of the Couches” in VR was developed by Google Spotlight Stories in conjunction with executive producers James L. Brooks, Matt Groening, Al Jean, Matt Selman and director David Silverman.

Google Daydream Labs Update- 6/28/2016

Daydream Labs have been experimenting with ways to reduce technical complexity and even add a greater sense of play when animating in VR. In one experiment they built, people could bring characters to life by picking up toys, moving them through space and time, and then replay the scene. Check out the latest updates from Daydream Labs

An app experiment from Daydream Labs. Instead of animating with graph editors or icons representing location, people could simply reach out, grab a virtual toy, and carry it through the scene.

To create more intricate animations, they also built another experiment that let people independently animate the joints of a single character. It let you record your character’s movement as you separately animated the feet, hands, and head — just like you would with a puppet.

An app experiment from Daydream Labs. Independently animate the joints of a single character.

Check out more from Daydream Labs.

https://developers.googleblog.com/2016/06/daydream-labs-animating-3d-objects-in-vr.html

Cats And VR

Oculus, Sony, HTC, and Microsoft can all go to hell because Google just changed the game up. Introducing Google Cardboard Plastic!

#GAMECHANGER #THUGLIFE Upstart Startup Google just changed the game up son! The first ever 100% fully immersive experience. CatsAndVR.com got some hands on experience and not since the advent of credit card debt has a piece of plastic felt this real. But hey we are pay to play bloggers so check out what VR evangelist Lil Wayne had to say after getting some hands on time with Google Cardboard Plastic. 

Sources at VrAndCats.com  have told us Lil Wayne is trying hard to get out of his deal with Samsung and is actually said to be trying his hardest to be in commercials for Google Cardboard Plastic now that Google has a product that can withstand the harsh conditions of Champaign. Lil Wayne had previously been enamored by the anti-champagne tech Samsung had developed.

Even though Google respects Mr. Wayne, sources at VrAndCats.com say that Google is looking to upstart rapper Drake as a potential celebrity endorser. Drake's recent song about a cell phone has gotten the educated Canadian mad respect in the undergrown hip hop community. One may remember Drake due to his struggle being real and thus being the inspiration to the global television hit Wheels Ontario. 

When asked about the potential release date of the new product Google responded with "Who the hell is CatsAndVR.com and who let them into the building"

Cats And VR