While Half-Life: Alyx may not have made many 2020 Game of the Year lists due to its niche availability, it was still a major step forward in the VR space. Valve’s history of moving technology forward in its games was repeated. Now it’s just a matter of time before Half-Life: Alyx‘s VR tech and the ideas behind it propagate. One of the first examples, it seems, has just been revealed. A modder has added Half-Life: Alyx‘s “hand interaction” and “gravity gloves” tech to Skyrim VR.
The Half-Life: Alyx hand tech, as anyone that has played the VR game can attest, is an astonishing step forward for the medium. While VR controllers have enabled 1:1 movement within VR spaces, actual interactivity within a VR game depends on separate technology. What Valve’s done is two different core features. The first, what the mod calls hand interaction, makes players’ hands have a physics-based interaction with in-game items. The second, described as gravity gloves, allows players to pick up items from a distance.
These two features put together and implemented into Skyrim VR have been dubbed HIGGS VR, from modder FlyingParticle. The mod’s first focus is hand interaction, and the first core feature is implementing collision with the player’s hands, so they can hit items off of tables. Further, both hands can be used to pick up and throw objects, with the objects actually being shown as gripped in the in-game character’s hand. They can then also be placed into the player’s inventory by putting them over the player’s shoulder.
As for the gravity glove-style mechanic, it’s a feature that improves interaction by not forcing the player to directly interact with objects 1:1. By holding up a hand, players can target in-game items, which gives them a sort of light blue highlight. They can then pull these objects into their hands from a distance. Some extra functionality added specifically for Skyrim VR includes the ability to pick up and move bodies, as well as the ability to loot armor by pulling it off of bodies.
A video put together by Cangar shows just how the functionality in Skyrim VR works. To say that the tech is impressive is an understatement. He’s able to pick up and throw objects within Skyrim VR with ease, but just as importantly it looks smooth and realistic rather than clunky and buggy. One great example is when he pulls a bowl full of apples toward himself and is able to bounce the apples while holding the bowl, as well as add and remove apples from the bowl with their other hand.
Obviously, the HIGGS mod is built around Skyrim VR to showcase some exciting ideas that fit specifically with this game. It’s not going to make sense with every VR game. But regardless, it shows just what kind of ways hand interaction can continue to be improved going forward.
Half-Life: Alyx and Skyrim VR are available now on PC.
Source: NexusMods
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