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It’s all about the base, no trouble… Or is it? (Our saga of mounting the base stations onto the wall for the HTC Vive)

Published on by Admin

When we first moved into our new office at the Birmingham Innovation Centre, we were delighted to have an uncluttered room that was ideal for proper VR testing.

 

To begin with, we used light stands to position the base stations of our HTC Vive. However, they quickly got in our way and reduced the playable area we could use.

 

This led us to a logical solution: why don’t we mount the base stations on the walls?

 

If you wish to mount your own base stations, please read on before you start any drilling…

 

The HTC Vive comes with a mounting kit, so we figured out that we were all set to go: all the parts we needed were right there!

 

We drilled holes for the wall plugs and inserted the first wall plug. That went very well.

 

Inserting a screw, however, was a little more difficult.

 

As we struggled to get the screw to catch, the wall plug just pushed through the hole and fell into the wall cavity! What?!!!

 

Mike grabbed one of the wall plugs out of the bag and tried to put a screw into it. It wouldn’t go.  He could not get the screw to get any kind of hold on the plastic. It was completely solid plastic inside.

 

Apparently, these are heavy-duty masonry wall-plugs. They are totally useless for plasterboard.

 

So, with a hole in the wall and the base stations reunited with the light stands, the only way forward was a trip to the hardware store!

 

A day or two later, we brought in some new wonderful plastic wall-plugs designed specifically for plasterboard. Yes! Nothing can stop us now, right?!

 

Until we tried to put them into the wall. We inserted the new plasterboard wall-plugs into holes that were drilled earlier, even though they were supposed to be able to go in without drilling. The wall-plugs just twisted and started to break down. They were NOT going into that wall.

 

They just aren’t sturdy enough.

 

Back to the hardware store…

 

This time, we purchased metal wall-plugs. These went into the wall fine and we were able to mount the base stations!  Success! Yes!

They are mounted, but the saga is not over.

 

Unfortunately, the wall mount won’t allow the base stations to turn so that they can pick up the play area close to the wall they are mounted upon. We may have to remount one of the base stations, so that it’s on the other wall in that corner.

 

But we’re making progress…

We are moving office

Published on by adminmw

Mountain Walrus is moving to it’s third home.
We are bringing in a designer and that was one person too many for our
home office. So we are moving to a new place!
A quick visual history of our offices:

Photo 1: Our first office in my flat in Dundee. It was here that
our Tranzfuser team worked together with our one HTC Vive on our
one PC that could use it.

 

Photo 2: Our second office at my home in Rugby. From left to right is
Dr James Kitchen (programmer) and Grant Clover (artist).

 

Photo 3: Our third office
This is our new home in the Innovation Birmingham Campus and although it’s empty, tomorrow (Monday) it will have our team working away here, making “The Tower” a reality.

Mike M.

Update on the Tower VR game: We are moving forward!

Published on by Admin

slow progressFirst of all, many thanks to those of you who have asked us about our progress on the Tower VR game.

We are moving forward. Perhaps slower than we have anticipated but forwards anyway!

A lot has happened since September 2016.

Here is a quick scoop of what has taken place in our lives and at our game studio:

  • While working in Dundee, Scotland, we have experienced the challenge of owning just one HTC Vive and only one PC that could run it. Since everything needed to be tested in VR to ensure that it worked in VR, we were really feeling the pain of not being able to work consistently and effortlessly on creating our game.
  • Our lack of equipment is now resolved with the purchase of an additional HTC Vive, another powerful computer and a laptop that will allow us to present our games and pitch them to the investors. (Burglars, beware: we have a very scary and ferocious dog in our office!)
  • Back in Dundee, we had 10 weeks to produce a demo of our game at the same time as finishing our degree. In spite of this time constraint and the lack of essential equipment, we succeed!
  • We had the chance to show off our game at two events (Protoplay and EGX) where our game received lots of enthusiasm.
  • We were listed as one of the top teams of Tranzfuser and given the opportunity to pitch directly for a UK Games Fund grant.
  • We were successful pitching and we were awarded a UK Games Fund grant to carry on with the production of the Tower!
  • Do you remember our original team? Well, all of us are now graduated from our masters degrees. Hooray!
  • Mike (the founder and the producer) had to return to the Midlands, UK, where his wife and his kids were eagerly awaiting his return.
  • Chris and Ben were hired by other companies and could no longer continue with the Tower. Aaron and Nelson could not move to Midlands and could not continue with the production of the Tower, as working remotely on the VR game is just not practical at present time.
  • That left Mike to be “the general without an army.’ Mike needed the new team in the Midlands. Being a wise man, he focused on getting his wife on board first and a new company “Mountain Walrus” was officially incorporated!
  • A new programmer and a new artist were hired and started working for Mountain Walrus in January 2017.
  • We are still looking for a designer. Send us your CV, if you are interested to join the team.

And that’s where we are today!

Thank you once again, for your support at Protoplay, EGX and on social media. We would not get that far without it!

 

 

Celebrate with us!

Published on by Admin

123 stock balloons1Mountain Walrus is excited to announce that we have been chosen to be one of only two Scottish teams to compete in the UK-based Tranzfuser competition.

If you’re not familiar with the competition, it’s a programme from the UK government to support the development of start-up game studios.

You can read more about it here

or on their site (www.tranzfuser.com).

If you’re interested in supporting us or following us, check us out at:

www.facebook.com/MountainWalrus

www.twitter.com/Mountain_Walrus