Books!

Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.39
Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.00
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★4.32
Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.47
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★3.47
Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.56
Coolness★★★★★★★★★★48%
A near-infinite VR "Library of Babel", inspired by Jorge Luis Borges​' short story.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Library_of_Babel

Requires Oculus Rift + Oculus Touch Controllers.

Push in the left stick to teleport around the library (switching rooms may be slow)

There should be a book in there entitled "Instructions" which will tell you what to do. If you find it, please let me know where it is.

Built in Unity, with NewtonVR
https://github.com/TomorrowTodayLabs/NewtonVR

Music by
Artist name: Shady Dave
abstract (ambient loop)
https://www.freesound.org/people/ShadyDave/sounds/345838/

Other SFX
https://www.freesound.org/people/dobroide/sounds/46283/
https://www.freesound.org/people/Pieguy360/sounds/346835/

screenshot

Comments24

Palarus13 Dec 2016, 14:36
Really interesting VR experiment, how did you come up with the idea?
Palarus13 Dec 2016, 14:36
Really interesting VR experiment, how did you come up with the idea?
Billion Bits
Billion Bits13 Dec 2016, 14:50
Wow what an amazing idea! I really love Borges so no need to say that i loved the context
Billion Bits13 Dec 2016, 14:50
Wow what an amazing idea! I really love Borges so no need to say that i loved the context
Uliana Galich13 Dec 2016, 16:52
Music and graphics are really cool
Uliana Galich13 Dec 2016, 16:52
Music and graphics are really cool
Pierrec13 Dec 2016, 17:35
This looks so great! I wish I could play it! :(
Pierrec13 Dec 2016, 17:35
This looks so great! I wish I could play it! :(
Peach Pie Productions13 Dec 2016, 17:46
Wow that was such a ride. I love librarys so dont get me started haha
Peach Pie Productions13 Dec 2016, 17:46
Wow that was such a ride. I love librarys so dont get me started haha
jamioflan
jamioflan13 Dec 2016, 21:08
Would it be possible to do a Vive version? I'd love to give it a go (also, I doubt there are that many Touch users at the moment since it has just released)
jamioflan13 Dec 2016, 21:08
Would it be possible to do a Vive version? I'd love to give it a go (also, I doubt there are that many Touch users at the moment since it has just released)
Big Cow
Big Cow13 Dec 2016, 21:37
It loaded up but I was stuck and couldn't move. Just wanted to say how cool the demo looked on youtube. Ever since I saw https://libraryofbabel.info/ on a vsauce video the concept of every possible phrase being searchable on that website is kinda cool and kinda spooky. You seem to have captured that and added some cool physics. Nice work. -RS
Big Cow13 Dec 2016, 21:37
It loaded up but I was stuck and couldn't move. Just wanted to say how cool the demo looked on youtube. Ever since I saw https://libraryofbabel.info/ on a vsauce video the concept of every possible phrase being searchable on that website is kinda cool and kinda spooky. You seem to have captured that and added some cool physics. Nice work. -RS
neon17 Dec 2016, 18:55
I find the idea of this to be really cool, but I can't try it since it doesn't seem to open up in VR on the Vive.
neon17 Dec 2016, 18:55
I find the idea of this to be really cool, but I can't try it since it doesn't seem to open up in VR on the Vive.
DOXM
DOXM18 Dec 2016, 09:45
It seems great, but it is not working :(
At least the graphics are cool!
DOXM18 Dec 2016, 09:45
It seems great, but it is not working :(
At least the graphics are cool!
Naca20 Dec 2016, 22:52
"There should be a book in there entitled "Instructions" which will tell you what to do. If you find it, please let me know where it is." Hahahahaha sooo good man! You really understand what this library is :D

I love this one! I've always found Borges' Library of Babel a super mind-blowing concept. And it was in my plan to make a digital version someday. But you (and someone else) have been faster than me :D In case you didn't noticed yet, there's another game in this jam about this topic, but it's not in full 3D:

http://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-37/?action=preview&uid=38743

I'm glad to see this kind of fresh ideas come to surface. To take worlds from other media and to implement them as "games" or "simulations" is so interesting for me.

Now, I want to ask you the same questions I've asked to the other developer, in order to see how accurate is the game respect to the novel: are the books' contents randomly generated? In the novel they were not. There was a limited number of books, not infinite, and each one was unique and different from the rest. If you generate them randomly, there could be two or more identical books. If they're not randomly generated... then how did you do it?? :D It's impossible to load all the variations of 410 pages x 40 lines x 80 characters. So you have to load them room by room. Then, they cannot be randomly generated, because that way could be repeated books. So in order to generate them, you have to sort them in some way. But then you have to "unsort" them. How?
Naca20 Dec 2016, 22:52
"There should be a book in there entitled "Instructions" which will tell you what to do. If you find it, please let me know where it is." Hahahahaha sooo good man! You really understand what this library is :D
I love this one! I've always found Borges' Library of Babel a super mind-blowing concept. And it was in my plan to make a digital version someday. But you (and someone else) have been faster than me :D In case you didn't noticed yet, there's another game in this jam about this topic, but it's not in full 3D:
http://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-37/?action=preview&uid=38743
I'm glad to see this kind of fresh ideas come to surface. To take worlds from other media and to implement them as "games" or "simulations" is so interesting for me.
Now, I want to ask you the same questions I've asked to the other developer, in order to see how accurate is the game respect to the novel: are the books' contents randomly generated? In the novel they were not. There was a limited number of books, not infinite, and each one was unique and different from the rest. If you generate them randomly, there could be two or more identical books. If they're not randomly generated... then how did you do it?? :D It's impossible to load all the variations of 410 pages x 40 lines x 80 characters. So you have to load them room by room. Then, they cannot be randomly generated, because that way could be repeated books. So in order to generate them, you have to sort them in some way. But then you have to "unsort" them. How?
ijona
ijona22 Dec 2016, 21:52
Unfortunately, I can't check it out (don't have the equipment), but the idea is cool!
ijona22 Dec 2016, 21:52
Unfortunately, I can't check it out (don't have the equipment), but the idea is cool!
Sarge3v25 Dec 2016, 19:45
This is pretty good idea, art museums or libraries in virtual reality may be a part of life in future.
Sarge3v25 Dec 2016, 19:45
This is pretty good idea, art museums or libraries in virtual reality may be a part of life in future.

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