Ark Park tech demo shows off VR interaction, motion capture

Snail Games, the maker of games like Taichi Panda and Black Gold Online, has released a new technical demonstration of what we can expect when its ARK: Survival Evolved spin-off VR title, Ark Park, lands later this year. You can interact with foliage, explore a large-scale visitor centre and of course meet some of the biggest creatures to ever walk the Earth.

Ark Park is designed to be the first real, Jurassic Park-like simulator in virtual reality. Players will be able to walk, drive and ride around the park, watching and interacting with all sorts of dinosaurs, without fear of being eaten. The idea is to make the experience awe inspiring and educational. Thanks to the assets taken directly from ARK: Survival Evolved, the game looks fantastic too.

In this technical demo from Snail Games, captured by Gamespot, we see how some of the game's art assets are brought into the virtual world and how players will be able to interact with them. In one instance, we see a VR player using a HTC Vive's motion controllers to brush a fern's delicate leaves. [yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJ_LscXVA6s']

Another exciting aspect shown off during the demo, was full-motion tracking with a capture suit. While not practical for home use, that sort of thing could be very interesting in the concept of a VR arcade. Imagine actors playing virtual characters, but being able to physically interact with you: shake your hand, pat you on the back etc.

It also shows the potential for Vive trackers to give us much more interactive VR games in the future.

Ark Park is set to hit PCs and PlayStation 4s later this year, compatible with HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and PSVR.

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KitGuru Says: While I am a little worried about an Ark derived game hitting a consistent 90 FPS, visiting a virtual dinosaur park is literally the pipe-dream of my childhood. I can't wait. 

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