A downloadable VR Experience for Windows

Does the COVID-19 "Stay at home" order making your life sad this holiday season?  How about nice cup of "Hot Cocoa in VR?"

Update: Version 2 with installer coming by 12/15/2022 usign UE 4.71 in OpenXR. Meaning no SteamVR needed for Windows XR HMD users.

Update: Version 1.1 is out, with HDRI Backdrop for better outdoor lighting and realism, plus a few more items added in the cabin, working push buttons on the radio, plus one more song from Kim Aspen as well as more of Pamela's soothing voice, reading the "The Night Before Christmas..."  Also, if you press the right 'B' (Valve Index) or 'B' (Oculus Quest 2) you can rotate to the three positions, plus in front of the radio, to change songs without ever having to get up.

Fixes:  Not sure if the SteamVR manifest worked in the previous build, but it is now included in the config folder.  Sadly, setting it up for OpenXR or Oculus seems to create problems in ensuring the SteamVR controllers work properly. :(

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Teaming up with my wife, a psychotherapist of over 37 years. She knows how important it is to get away and enjoy a different, relaxing setting.  Sadly, COVID-19 is making that difficult, if not impossible for many of us around the world.  VR might be the next best thing in magically transforming the world  around you into something more soothing, calming and yes even a little magical.

"Hot Cocoa in VR" Is the first of a new way in performing guided imagery that allows you to not only imagine the environment in your mind more easily, but bring in more senses like touch, smell and even some new ones like proprioception.   Pamela S. Scott, LMFT helps you relax , breathe and enjoy your new surroundings, while Kim Aspen, plays holiday music in her guitar solos on the vintage radio. 

To take the illusion one step further, lie back at the  end "guided imagery" session with Pamela and enjoy Jim Meskimen as he recites "Twas The Night Before Christmas" in several well known voice impressions.   Afterwards you are welcom to stay and play any of the audio recordings by pressing the buttons on the radio.  Later updates will add few more selections.  Sadly, you will have to provide your own "real" hot cocoa to complete the experience, but that is what the "MugTracker" is for, coming soon.

Enjoy, and hopefully it will help make this holiday season a little more joyous or at least calmer.

Mike  & Pamela
Owl Creek technologies & Owl Creek Therapy

Download

Download
hot-cocoa-in-vr-windows.zip version 1.1 1.3 GB
Version 2 Dec 18, 2020
Download
OwlCreekTech_HotCocoainVR.zip version 1.1
External

Install instructions

Make sure you are using Windows. Sadly Apple/Valve parted ways on SteamVR compatibility and have not had a chance to try out Linux box with enough horsepower to run it with an OpenXR compatible HMD.

How to Install "Hot Cocoa in VR"

1. Unzip the file where you have at least 3.5 Gigabytes of harddrive space.

2. Open up the folder 'HotCocoainVR' and double click on the file "HotCocoainVR.exe" or on a command line, type in the same name and hit return.

NOTE:  You may get an error to load certain support files from Microsoft, mainly .NET support if you never run an Unreal Engine game.

This version will only run on Oculus and SteamVR, but a version for OpenXR will be out next week so you can run it on Window Mixed Reality in native mode, in particular the HP Reverb G2 with the new controller support.

Controls:

The VR experience is meant to help relax and meditate, while listening to Pamela the psychotherapist guide you into peacefulness.  She will ask you to press the 'B' button on your controller which only corresponds to the Valve Index controllers, but is mapped to the left 'Y' button for the Oculus Rift/Quest and HP Reverb G2 controllers. On the older HTC Vive & WMR controllers you must press the the top of the left touch pad.  To roam around, you can either walk if you have a large enough space, or teleport using the standard Unreal Engine method using the left or right joysticks and trigger.  You can also press either the left or right 'X' button ('A' on the left Index controllers) to teleport in a straight line.  Boundaries confine you within the cabin so if you do escape, you won't go far and you might not get back in.  Currently there is no way to exit within the experience. In the next release there will be a splash screen and  an option to exit buy opening the door.

Some items are interactive and can be picked up, mainly those on the table.  But you can also press the buttons on the vintage radio to change the music file. Currently there only three selections, but I am planning to license a few more from Kim Aspen, and other holiday instrumentals, as well as a way to support your own selection of OGG or WAV files if you copy them to the Music folder before launching.

This is meant to run on a mid to high end VR system, and runs okay on a three year old i7/GTX1070 ASUS laptop (OpenXR) & Reverb G2. Most of the testing was done with the Oculus Quest 2 in LINK mode on a i9/RTX2060 and HTC Vive Pro on a i7/RTX2070.  I am hoping to have a RTX30xx by the end of the year, but if you try this and have a 30xx and an Index Reverb or the PiMAX HMDs, let me know how it looks & sounds.  I spent a few hour shaping the audio channel for the vintage radio.

I also plan to convert the three scenes into a stereo 360 at 8K for Facebook and YouTube, as well as a Google 180 for YouTube.

Finally, I will create more things to interact with including a way to bring in your OGG or WAV files to play on the "radio."

Credit goes to Kim Aspen (Music), Jim Meskimen (Narration), Iron Belly Studios, NatureManufacturers, Dokyo, Gabro Media, Protofactor, Inc. (3D Content), Unreal Engine and my wife Pamela S Scott, LMFT  for lending her voice and guided imagery techniques.

Development log

Comments

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This was incredible, thanks! Possibly the most cozy Christmas VR demo I've ever played. I sort of wish it let you open the door and walk around outside, but anyhow the cabin is beautiful. Amazing work. 

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Wish I could try this but the mega link for the VR version was taken down.

EDIT:  Sorry.. just the second link.. the OwlCreekTech file.  First file works.. thanks for this!!

This is a wonderful experience!  A small amount of interactivity, and a large amount of atmosphere.  Recommended to just sit quietly and enjoy for a bit.  Sadly, you can't spill the cocoa.  :-(

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Thanks, I will have to see about adding this in the UE 5.0 version next year now that we have fluid dynamics built in. :)