Ludic Trips is a virtual reality, geocaching experience that lets users build objects and navigate through a series of planetary dream worlds using motion controllers. During the experience, the user can find art pieces and a variety of herbal items, hide those artifacts on a customized planet, or upload 3D design contributions to leave for other players to find.
The game is played using the Oculus Touch, HTC Vive & Lighthouse, and Sony Project Morpheus hardware.
The work of Sebastian Hinz, Ulf Paetow and Mo Li, a small team of creative VR enthusiasts, the team has been working nearly two years to build the concept, which uses hand-motion-controllers to simulate movement for players.
They say players can seamlessly switch from walking to jumping, flying, climbing, or swimming within the virtual space, and “this makes them completely free in the exploration of the magic environments on the artistically designed dream planets of Lucid Trips.”
A player’s avatar constantly hovers above the ground, and a pair of “virtual hands” is available for various interactions at any moment. The hands can also be used to model three-dimensional shapes and build three-dimensional objects.
In the first “dream universe” of the game, “Whateverland,” players have the option to reconfigure works from a group of selected artists and interact with them in various ways. The artworks used in the game have been digitized via 3D scanning and then integrated into the game world, and each piece of art offers the player interactions based upon the artists’ intentions and concepts.
And as part of the experience, a player has the opportunity to purchase any of the artworks that catch their fancy as 3D prints. “Whateverland” includes pieces by German artists Gero Doll, Rolf Bergmeier, Neo Rauch, and Daim.
The team are also calling on artists to take part in the project by creating their own 3D models and submitting them to the Lucid Trips team. They say analog artists are also building various sculptures and plastic pieces which will be 3D scanned and transferred into the planet by the team.
Lucid Trips plans to launch a Kickstarter campaign later this year, and if their funding goals are met, consumer versions of the device will be made and a downloadable demo will be released.
What do you think of the idea for Lucid Trips, a virtual planetary experience and art gallery where players can modify and purchase 3D prints of works by various artists? Will you be supporting their Kickstarter campaign later this year? Let us know in the Lucid Trips forum thread on 3DPB.com.
