Melcher Studios Create a New Immersive VR Hockey Game
Immersive VR Hockey Game

Melcher Studios Create a New Immersive VR Hockey Game

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The interactive production agency Melcher Studios has created a virtual reality game for ice hockey fanatics to put them right into the middle of the action.

The new title, called ‘Hockey VR,’ uses a real hockey stick for the gameplay. The game’s origin dates back three years to a live hockey game where Melcher Studios unveiled the concept to entertain the fans. 

“We said we should take this a step further and build out a more proper version of it,” said Dwayne Melcher. “With full AI integration and peripheral development.”

The studio then began working on designing and fabricating the “RealStick Attachment” to connect the Oculus Quest controller to a hockey stick. However, according to fabricator and software engineer Rene Dufour-Contreras, it wasn’t an easy road and presented a fair share of troubles.

“What we’re doing is taking Oculus controllers, and we’re using them in a way that’s not how you’re supposed to be,” he said. “You can’t have the controller too far away, or else Oculus says no, the arm shouldn’t be that long so there’s things like that where we just learned that ‘oh we can’t actually do it that way.’”

The team eventually managed to overcome all the software hurdles that came their way. Still, they had to constantly monitor the controls and physics of the game to make the emulation as close to real-life hockey as possible.

“With something like this, we’re making sure the calibrations are correct, making sure that it feels real,” said Melcher. “We’re lucky enough that down below (the studio’s offices) actually is a hockey training facility, just by chance. They sent up some of their students at different times to test it out and give their feedback.”

The game has so far gathered tremendously positive responses from the students and members of the team comprising lifelong hockey players. Hockey VR can be accessed and downloaded from the Melcher Studios website.

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