“3D Motion Sickness”
3D games cause physical symptoms due to the mismatch between visual perception and balance, similar to motion sickness experienced when riding in vehicles.
Common symptoms include fatigue, headaches, and nausea, hence the name “3D motion sickness.”
The exact cause of 3D motion sickness is not clear. While it is attributed to the mismatch between sight and balance, some individuals don’t experience motion sickness despite significant mismatches. Conversely, some get severe motion sickness from slight movements.
Just like our Baren.
“Uweeek!!!!”
As the prototype of Dune was created and tested, the feared symptoms of 3D motion sickness began to manifest.
Those trained in buoyancy magic and combat either didn’t experience it or had milder cases. Yet, ironically, Baren, who was obsessed with guns, was suffering greatly from 3D motion sickness and was throwing up his guts.
“Baren, are you alright? Let’s stop now.”
“No way! Yuren-hyung… I can keep going.”
Baren, despite not being able to play a proper game because of the 3D motion sickness, was determined to slog through the prototype of Dune, solely focused on shooting guns.
Ten minutes in, he’d throw up, ten minutes later he’d head to the bathroom, then lie down for a bit.
It was truly a sight you could barely keep your eyes open to witness.
“How’s Sora? Is he okay?”
“After about an hour, I feel a bit dizzy, but I’m fine, Yuren-nim.”
“How about Julia?”
“I feel great!! Remember when you were going crazy after learning buoyancy magic as a kid? That was way worse. Hahaha!!”
Looking at our family stats:
40% are fine,
30% feel a little dizzy,
20% are quite dizzy,
10% want to be killed.
This might be a good reflection of actual gamers out there.
Sure, 70% of users could say “Let’s go with this,” but I wanted to find a way for even the 30% to play somehow. A solution was needed.
*
“Uweeek!!!!”
“Ahh… was this another failure…?”
It’s been a week since we started working on fixing 3D motion sickness. We made several improvements to tackle it, such as minimizing camera shake, reducing confusion during sudden viewpoint changes, and creating larger spaces to alleviate the feeling of claustrophobia, recalling what I learned from a seminar on various ways to reduce 3D motion sickness while developing FPS games in my past life.
Thanks, NDC; it turns out this is useful here.
As a result, feedback on 3D motion sickness definitely decreased.
However, Baren was still suffering from it.
“Uuuuuuuuugh…”
Today, seeing Baren collapsed from another test of 3D motion sickness, we found ourselves deep in thought.
At this point, solving the issues represented by Baren, the “Kill Me 10%,” would nearly solve 3D motion sickness, yet no matter what we did, we couldn’t resolve it.
When I was pondering whether to give up on that 10%, Julia spoke up.
“Hey, Yuren, I was thinking… does this problem really need to be solved within the game?”
“What do you mean?”
Isn’t it logical to solve game problems in-game?
To clarify for our confused self, Julia continued explaining.
“If you can’t solve it inside the game, how about finding a solution outside the game?”
“Outside the game?… Ah!?”
Right! That method existed!
I understood what Julia was getting at and helped the suffering Baren up, diving right into the next experiment.
Sorry, Baren, just a little more suffering for you.
Julia used that on Baren, and jumped back into playing the Dune prototype.
Then…
“Julia-neesan! I don’t feel dizzy anymore! I don’t feel like throwing up!! Ah… the world without dizziness is so beautiful… I’m so happy.”
Baren exclaimed as he watched the graphic carnage of shotgunning demons in hell.
Julia sported a long-awaited confident expression as she spoke,
Haven’t seen Julia with that expression in a while.
“This is a spell my grandfather taught me. It’s called ‘Anti-Motion Sickness Spell’ made for fishermen who suffer from seasickness.”
So Julia’s suggested method was quite simple:
If we can’t prevent motion sickness in the game, we’ll cast a spell on the gamers to prevent them from getting sick while playing.
Such a straightforward yet solid ‘wizardly’ solution—something I had overlooked, deeply fixated on being a ‘game developer.’
“Will this resolve the issue?”
While watching Baren enjoy Dune, Sylvia asked.
There was, however, one issue with this method.
“Actually, there is one problem: Using a spell that acts on the user’s body siphons their own magical power. Those who activate this option will use up stamina faster and feel fatigue sooner than others.”
“Isn’t that a big problem?”
Naturally, game magic operates using the natural magical power stored in the crystal ball and the user’s own magical energy.
But if they activate the anti-motion sickness option while using another spell, of course, it will consume their mana significantly faster than those who don’t use it.
“Still, even when based on a child with the weakest mana, they can play for about two hours, and that’s better than what we were facing before, right?”
I pointed towards the remains of Baren’s earlier torture—buckets filled with the bile he couldn’t discard.
Deciding whether to quit a game early because of fatigue or to suffer through and vomit everything up is an exceedingly evident choice.
“Well, that should be better.”
“Even you agree, Sylvia?”
“Got it, Yuren, I’ll consider it done.”
So with Julia finally scoring a point, that solved the problem of 3D motion sickness.
Julia deserves thanks, but I suppose it’s also time to send a gift as thanks to Juel for teaching her that spell.
*
As the 3D motion sickness problem was solved and Dune was developing smoothly, the gaming industry was turning quite entertaining.
The Magus Society had just released a new game.
The title was “Out Racing.”
It was a racing game far closer to reality than “Thomas Kart.”
Having played it, I was astounded.
Where had that shoddy mass-produced game from Blue Shock gone? A proper racing game had emerged instead.
What the heck happened?
Did the Magus Society still have capable individuals left to create such games?
“Creating such an entertaining game—it must be Professor Howard!”
“Professor Howard?”
From what I heard from Sora, the dean who incited Blue Shock in the Yura Republic had ultimately been dismissed.
And the one who took over game development was none other than Professor Howard, Sora’s former boss.
“Professor Howard isn’t quite the game-making genius like you, Yuren, but he’s a good person who believed in me as a student.”
From Sora’s description, I began to get an idea of what kind of leader he was.
He seemed to be a competent managerial leader, aware of his shortcomings and supportive of capable individuals.
If Sora was by his side… that could have been dangerous.
“Sora, you’re not going back, right?”
“Of course not! I’m already a part of you, Yuren, or should I say, the Irene School! Don’t worry!”
Saying this, Sora edged her head closer to mine.
I was starting to understand what Sora was signaling me with: It was a request for compliments for a job well done.
Swoosh swoosh
“Meow♡”
I had started to scratch her head as she wished while considering our future plans.
If the Magus Society was starting to take action again, then I needed to follow suit.
“Well then, shall we unveil our plan?”
“What’s that, Yuren-nim?”
Sora asked, her face highlighted with a question mark as she hadn’t caught what I meant to reveal.
I told her about one of the pivotal elements that contributed to Dune’s success, as well as the new game service model we were preparing.
“Shareware”
A moment was arriving where trial versions could be played before purchasing the game.
*
The day came where Dune’s trial version was released.
In front of the game store, numerous people equipped with unused crystal balls were waiting.
“Are we there yet? Shopkeeper?”
“Seriously, it’s this time; why hasn’t it launched?”
The “Game Review Institution” had another feature for shared game playtesting.
It was…
“Oooh! It’s here! It’s here!!”
“Everyone, the ‘Dune Trial Version’ is out!!”
Through the World Tree Network, players could download the trial version of the game using their unused crystal balls.
This was the moment Dune became publicly available in the other world for the first time, with people starting to download the trial version.
