Earlier this year, I had the chance to bring my thoughts on Stop Thinking Killer App, Think Killer Experience to life at Propelify 2017. My presentation covered several key thoughts:
- Stop with the limitations. We need to stop focusing on the limitations. Everyone knows they exist, but we still need to make great content. I've had so many conversations with friends who were doing VR/AR 10 or 20 years ago and they were all doing awesome, cool things, even with all of the limitations we had back then.
- Add the other senses. We're slowly starting to see more experiments with other senses coming into the space and I hope that continues. That includes spatial sound, scent and touch.
- Set the environment and bring in the physical. So often we walk into a brightly lit room, with no cues at all to enhance the experience. There's nothing there to set the mood of the experience or at least break us from the reality of being in a plain space. Make it a set and see the difference in the experience.
- Think cycle time. This point is specifically for location based entertainment and promotional efforts. After doing tens of thousands of events and watching many, many people waiting in line, I can tell you that you need to complete a story arc in no more than about 7 minutes total. It's very hard for guests not familiar with either video games or VR to step into an experience and then wander around trying to figure out what to do. They need to have a story that's easy to understand and navigate. The need to feel like they completed something or they will walk away frustrated with the technology.
So take a listen as I talk VR from 25 years ago and how that work can help us navigate the VR/AR today. You can ready all of my thoughts about VR/AR here.