Blair Renaud // LOW-FI 🟥🟧⬛

#VR Design Manifesto AKA holodeck program guidelines [a work in progress] - no fail states - minimize user frustration - maximize user empowerment - maximize user awe - allow user to set their own goals - don't put words in user's mouth - don't push the user around

@TheWireWhiz NTR Ending (Cardiac Arrest Due to Overdose) SWRSLT

@Anticleric What's the song from?

Never mind where I've been. Let's talk about where we're going.

@azrathetical You did indeed miss it, but you're forgiven. It feels like they happen all the time. Is it possible for things to be too interesting? I feel like that's where I've been at. Haha

@Anticleric I feel like I missed your birthday... where are you? Things get interesting and you fall off the map?

🔴 New Holodeck Program Guidelines is Live: Awe & the Cathedral of the Mind 👇 linkedin.com/pulse/05-awe-c… The holiday season is upon us. ❄️ What better time to talk about awe, wonder, and clutter as they relate to designing immersive worlds? How can we evoke the feeling of looking out across a sea of stars in the night sky, stepping into an ancient cathedral, or being moved by music as waves of sound from a massive pipe organ or subwoofer wash over you? In this edition of Holodeck Program Guidelines, I take a deep dive into: - Scale: How to make the user feel small, in a good way. - Depth: Leveraging volumetrics, particles, and stereoscopy. - 3D audio: How awe can be achieved without any visuals at all. - Clutter: How overwhelming complexity helps sell reality. 'Tis the season to feel deeply, and to help others in any way we can.

@alexplaysvg @anime_ That was weird.. I didn't like it. Heh

@anime_ @Anticleric bro has moves

The Darwin Incident (2026)

Taking a trip to the UK soon. I decided to learn how to drive in Grand Theft Auto London 1969. Shout out to @Anticleric for the map and sound design. I played using the @XREAL_Global 1S with built in Real 3D AI 2D to 3D conversion youtu.be/X74TrDbLabs

I agree with the store front, but "all the user money" might be a bit of a stretch. I mean, I don't have any sales figures , but Asgard's Wrath 2 was bundled, and I think we can safely assume the other titles didn't so well. Not enough to keep paying the teams anyway. I hope you're right for what it's worth, but even looking at smaller studios like Cloudhead who have seen "success" or the guys that made shooty canoe (can't remember the real name), I can't say I'm not worried.

@Anticleric Missing from your calculus is all the user money previously spent on first party titles that will now go into the rest of the ecosystem, to say nothing of all the storefront space that won't be artificially slanted.

I have an opinion on the Meta layoffs that is contrary with most of the VR industry and much of the media, but strongly held. This is not a disaster. They still employ the largest team working on VR by about an order of magnitude. Nobody else is even close. The "Meta is abandoning VR" narrative is obviously false, 10% layoffs is basically six months of normal churn concentrated into 60 days, strictly numbers wise. The majority of the 1,500 jobs cut in Reality Labs (out of 15,000) were roles working on first-party content, internally developed games that competed directly with third party developers. I think this is a good decision, and I thought the same back when I was still at Oculus. Change always sucks because people lose their jobs in the process, but in a world of limited resources, Meta heavily subsidizing their own (with money, marketing, placement, etc) at the expense of core technical progress and platform stability doesn't make sense. Crowding out the rest of the entire ecosystem, even less so. Every developer big and small, even the hyper-efficient ones, have had an extremely hard time competing with games developed by Meta-owned teams with budgets and teams that spend vastly in excess of earning potential. People will point out that these teams did an awesome job and got awesome reviews from critics and customers alike - yes, and fucked up though it is, that makes the problem even worse! Some people will say "they should have just funded those developers as external studios rather than acquiring them, then!". Yes, I agree, but hindsight is 20/20. Do you think Oculus expected to only sell 700 copies of Rock Band VR after spending eight figures to make sure it was ready and awesome for Rift CV1 launch, to the point of bundling the guitar adapter with every single headset? Of course not, but sometimes you learn what the world actually wants from you the hard way. TL;DR, I feel really bad for the people impacted, but this is a good thing thing for the long-term health of the industry, especially the ongoing incentives. (Nobody at Meta knows I am making this post)

@louksd I never really address the lack of body. I should work that into a different article.

I find that when I'm playing in VR is getting myself to look *up*...the weight of the headset and our own natural tendency to look where we are going reduces the feeling of open space. Having a complete virtual body that is visible and casts a shadow would help the player feels as if they are occupying the space, but can also take away from the idea of "self" if the body image does not match the player.

🔴 New Holodeck Program Guidelines is live. linkedin.com/pulse/04-dont-… Writing the player's character and putting a voice in their head is the number one way to break immersion in a holodeck experience. In this edition, I talk about alternatives, and how to build rich worlds, full of lore and interesting characters, while maximizing player agency without telling the user who they are and what they should be doing.

@nitrogav68 It is

Is this still coming to #PSVR2 ?. Didn't see it mentioned at the end with the others?🤔

@ScalerSohom Glad you're enjoying it 🙏

Nobody ever needed a walkthrough for the Holodeck. Step through the door and the world takes it from there. No quest log. No “GAME OVER” screen. Just atmosphere, agency, and vibes. linkedin.com/pulse/what-hol… I’ve started a weekly newsletter, 'Holodeck Program Guidelines', to dig into ideas like: • Removing fail states and puzzles from VR • Reducing user frustration without killing tension • What a “cozy dystopia” means in practice • Building worlds people want to live in, not just beat

@GAMERTAGVR I don't need to play it, I lived it. .. but I will play it anyway.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Empire City gameplay on Meta Quest 3! from the sewers to the streets of New York with pizza that’s looks so good you can smell it. This vr game is shaping up to be awesome. Can’t wait to play 4 player!👉youtu.be/ZW1QcHWq2lY?si…

@NoahRayburnXR Back at it! Let's goo! 💪

I made a planet for your living room

@alexplaysvg @TimesSqKungFu 💯!! I'm grabbing this movie right now. that ninja shit at the end where the guy escaped was 🔥

@TimesSqKungFu @Anticleric gotta hand it to Jackie, he’s still got it.

The Shadow's Edge 捕风追影 [2025] Directed By: Larry Yang Edited scene I did for one of the best Jackie Chan films he has done since the Foreigner [2017], and this is done by the same director who did a solid Jackie Chan film with Ride On in 2023.

@OmnipotentCEO 🙏

@Anticleric this is cool.

🔴 New Holodeck Program Guidelines is live. linkedin.com/pulse/03-main-… Main Quest Guilt: That feeling when the world is ending, but you’d rather be fishing, picking flowers, or just vibing at a noodle stand. In VR, guilt hits the user, not their avatar. So this edition is we talk about designing holodeck-like experiences where: + Calm is the default + Drama is opt-in + The world reacts, but doesn’t judge And how ignoring the dragon is 100% valid.

@louksd The narrative stuff for the crime scene and neighbor aren't in yet, so no need to feel guilt there. That's on me. Lol

I played LOW-FI for several hours in VR the last few days, and it didn't feel like it was that long, though it surprisingly requires core strength to protect your back! I spent my time playing at Quinn's Arcade, fishing, playing the slots, and study various crime scenes with the same level of uncertainty as a Jackson Pollock. I still haven't figured out what happened to my poor neighbor, but I also don't know how to call the coroner. (Guilt factor: Low) I also did pretty well at the range my first try! With iron sights!

@alexplaysvg @AndrewMGorham There's a lot of untapped potential with classic Hong Kong action. We got John Wick and Max Payne and the Matrix from John Woo, and I guess Sifu is the closest thing we have to the kung fu flicks. We need more though for sure.

@Anticleric @AndrewMGorham I actually prefer Sammo to Jackie. Despite his size his speed and movements are amazing. Plus he can go powerhouse and use that extra weight to body people. VR needs a gritty, hard-boiled, Hong Kong kung fu brawler.

There is such a unique timing and flow to Sammo Hung’s choreography from the blocking and trapping to the crescendo and impact of the final blows and stunts. His action stays with you. The finale of My Lucky Stars is another all timer that I can watch over and over again!

@alexplaysvg @2ndaryProtocol Pretty sure this guys is dead. lol

@Anticleric @2ndaryProtocol Bro right here doing the flip into this wood thing which is clearly not break-away.

Director Corey Yuen’s action classic ‘Yes, Madam!’ starring Michelle Yeoh, Cynthia Rothrock, John Shum, Mang Hoi, Tsui Hark, and Sammo Hung was released to theaters in Hong Kong on this day in 1985 🎭 🚨 👊🏼 #OTD

TRIVIA: Some of the alternate titles for ’Yes, Madam!’ worldwide were ‘Karate Tiger’ (Argentina), ‘In The Line Of Duty: Yes, Madam’ (Australia), ‘Ultra Force’ (Spain), ‘Ultra Force II’ (Germany), ‘Super Cops’ (Hong Kong), ‘The Super Cops: Ultra Force II’ (Netherlands), ‘In The Line Of Duty 2’ (Hong Kong), ‘Hard Lady: Hong Kong Criminal Investigation’ (Japan), ‘Honor And Revenge’ (Portugal), ‘Hong Kong Super Cops’ (France), ‘Double Dose Justice’ (Brazil), ‘Police Assassins’ (United Kingdom), and ‘Police Assassins II’ (United Kingdom). (IMDB) 🖤