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MusicVR Episode 1 ‘Tres Lunas’
Wie Mike Oldfield auf die Idee zum Spiel kam und was sonst
noch wichtig ist, veröffentlichte WEA Spain S.A. mit dem Album.
Auch hier fehlt mir noch eine deutsche Übersetzung.
MusicVR Episode 1 ‘Tres Lunas’ by Mike Oldfield
MusicVR was first conceived by Mike Oldfield back in the
early 90’s. Since then it has progressed through many stages to now finally
arrive in a form that many home computers can play.
When it started it was necessary to have computers the size of fridges (with
a suitably large price tag) to run even a basic version of the game. The
only way for people to play the game was on this huge ‘super computer’. Mike
toyed with the idea of taking this computer on tour so that many more people
could enjoy the experience, but for one reason or another it never happened.
In the last few years computer graphics have been advancing at such a rate
that home computers are many times faster than the original computer that
Mike used. So he has decided to make the game available to a much wider
audience…..
You may be asking why does MusicVR need computers that are so powerful?
Well, the answer lies mainly in ‘freedom’. Most of us are aware of the
amazing computer graphics that we see on films and television but this is
very different from the world of MusicVR. Film and Television computer
graphics are all known as ‘Pre-Rendered’. This means that everything that
you see has been thought out previously (Pre) and then the computer gets the
task of making each separate frame of the film (Rendered). Much in the same
way as traditional animation all of these frames are then played one after
the other and the animation unrolls in front of us. The advantage with this
method is that it doesn’t matter how long the computer takes to make each
frame, as we will simply play them all back at the end. The disadvantage
with this is that if you decide that you want to change where you go in the
film the whole sequence has to be built from scratch. This is where MusicVR
comes in….
MusicVR relies on the computer being able to make each frame of the
animation in a fraction of a second. If you can make the computer so fast
that it makes 30 or even 60 of these frames a second then you could actually
decide in ‘real-time’ where you wanted to go and hence change the animation
as you go. This is what Mike wanted so that playing MusicVR is really more
like exploring his world because you have the freedom to travel where you
like – hence the name of Music Virtual Reality.
As there has not been anything quite like MusicVR with it’s mixture of
imaginative images and music before, Mike had to have the software specially
written. He got together a team of people to help him both write the new
software and make everything in his world. He has decided at every step of
the way how the software should look and work and what it should and
shouldn’t do. Each part of the world is carefully made on the computers so
that it does not slow the final world down. If a part of the world is too
complicated then everything slows down and the illusion of a virtual world
is lost.
Obviously there are computer games available that seem to have this type of
freedom, but most, such as racing games keep you on a very narrowly defined
path or area. None have come close to the mix of music and experience. Other
computer games are very much goal orientated, whether it is to kill all the
enemy, or score the most goals, again MusicVR is not about finishing the
game, nor is it violent, it is about enjoying the music, the visuals and the
experience.
Not content with only one person being able to play the game, Mike wanted
for people to be able to link their games. He has done this with things
called Avatars. An avatar is an object in the game such as a humming bird or
a butterfly. They can be as varied as an airship or a firebeing and there
are 13 of them in total. You don’t need to have an avatar to play the game
but if you are connected to the internet then you can link your game of
MusicVR to another. Once linked you can see other avatars moving around the
game. With the aid of a mobile phone, you could also talk to your friend
then meet up and go and explore together. Or if one person is a novice then
they could be helped to find their way around. There is also a section on
www.mikeoldfield.com where people can post information about their game
enabling them to share a game with someone completely different who could be
across the other side of the world. This also gives the game an element of
randomness as you don’t know what other avatars will do. As there are only
13 avatars per game you can join a game without being an avatar, just as an
observer. When an avatar becomes available you can take it and join in.
Mike has used computer technology with his music to make a highly
imaginative world that you can explore and experience. As you look around
the world things change depending on what you do. As you fly around the
central desert area then the music changes depending on where you have been
and what things you have found. For instance there are rings that are placed
around the world, by collecting these it opens up new areas that you can go
and explore. Sometimes you will be helped – there is a bird that takes you
out to an island at sea if you have enough rings. It is not necessary to
collect the rings, but it is one way of enjoying it.
We have found that in making MusicVR it is very difficult to describe it.
When people do finally get to see the game they usually respond with ‘ah
this is what you mean’ If left to play the game then they usually develop
the MusicVR chuckle as Mike calls it – as they fly around, explore and get
the hang of it, people tend to chuckle.
The only way to experience it is to have a go. MusicVR is to be released as
a double CD with Mike’s latest album ‘Tres Lunas’ The cd contains a free
demo and the installer for the full game which requires an online payment of
£11.75. Both of these can also be downloaded from his site,
www.mikeoldfield.com.
Download als PDF-Datei: MusicVR.pdf
Zum Lesen der Datei, wird zum Beispiel der Adobe Reader
benötigt. 
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