HOME SIMULATORS? P.R.M. Denne Managing Director Denne Developments Ltd., Bournemouth, England. TiLE Conference June 1992 Summary Our objective in developing technologies for leisure and entertainment is to reach the general public, for whom the ultimate market is that of the home itself. In a few years time it will be possible to market a small interactive simulator with an impressive technical performance at a low enough price for the machine to become a personal possession - a consumer product. Most of the papers at this conference will concentrate on technologies that apply to products for the arcade, simulation centre and amusement park environments. They demonstrate remarkable ingenuity in reducing the costs of design and manufacture of hightechnology products so that they justify purchase by operators of amusement facilities who charge the general public for a short ride in the machine at a price which shows a rapid return on the investment. That is, the technology goes into a product that is highly profitable - it makes money and that is why it exists. Operators do not buy the technology; they buy the profitability. The people who ride the machine do not buy the technology either;
they pay for a few minutes of pleasure and satisfied curiosity. During the last seven years leisure simulators have been developing a good business on that basis. But we are nearing the threshold of a new phase of development that will lead to the opening of a huge market for simulation products: the sale not of time in a simulator but of the machine itself into the home as a consumer item. I would like us to consider the factors behind this development. Technology trends. There is an existing and well-developed market for home video games, which have progressed from the intriguing simplicity of PONG in 1975 to the bewildering multilayer complexity of today s creations. Graphics technology continues to improve rapidly and vehicle-related interactive simulation (flight, motor cycling, car racing, helicopter combat, etc.) is popular; the control joystick has become a common feature of the amusement arcade. Some very complex flight simulation games are now available for the home market, where more sophisticated controls, using keyboard commands, can be devised and brought into play to make the game structure more sophisticated, more subtle and in a sense more realistic. In fact, the realism of modern home flight simulation games is sufficiently high for them to be educational and useful as a basic practice exercise for serious flight training. Virtual Reality has emerged (I think much too soon) from the detailed technical studies that have been going on for many years in the laboratories of major aerospace
companies. It is possible that the Virtual Reality helmet will form part of a modular home simulation centre. I will not go into detail here about the shortcomings of present Virtual Reality products; I am sure that these will be addressed and the problems solved in due course by the efforts of a number of companies competing worldwide - it is possible that DDL may make its own contribution to this work. The Virtual Reality helmet may eventually be capable of presenting a high-resolution wide-angle display within a small physical volume and as such it will be an ideal component of a domestic simulation unit that must, of course, be compact. The original game of PONG was interactive between two players whose joysticks were wired into the same computer. Computer networking now enables us to construct interesting video games of much greater sophistication in which each individual player interacts with his own computer system and its database and this interacts with other computers. Because information on all the other players is held in every person s database and updated many times a second, the players can compete or cooperate in a virtual environment. High speed modems mean that the interacting players don t even have to be in the same physical location for such interactivity to be effective. The general public has learnt a great deal about motion simulation from professionallydesigned entertainment products marketed by Rediffusion and Reflectone and they have become aware of the startling subconscious effects of precise, wide bandwidth, vigorous motion stimulation. Since the principal
effect of motion stimulation is to compel the participant to concentrate on the visual imagery, it is clear that if it is possible to devise a motion system which can be added to a home simulation centre, then the result will be to amplify enormously the sense of involvement in the experience. A new form of electromagnetic motion base will soon supersede hydraulics as the best technology for subtle and sophisticated motion effects in small simulators. A further development of the single seater electromagnetic arcade motion base is expected to be available in two years time, at a price which will make it acceptable as a component of a home simulation centre. Product specification: Personal Simulator. I would like to suggest that a domestic simulator might not be a single unit, purchased from one manufacturer in competition with other manufacturers selling similar products. It is, I think, more likely to be an assembly of modules chosen according to the taste and the budget of each individual purchaser, expanded and upgraded as technology develops. I believe that in general terms a domestic simulation product must be: - Of modular construction, each module being capable of independent purchase from several competing suppliers. Of price and quality choice from an individual supplier, capable of upgrade at any time. Comprising the following modules: - 1. Central computer and network interface. 2. Visual display system.
3. Control interface (joysticks and indicators). 4. Motion system. 5. Software. (Several modules). Desk sized, weighing only a few hundred pounds. Consuming only a few hundred watts of power, silent and causing no structural vibrations. Capable of running simulations compatible with arcade machine scenarios and therefore providing an additional market for arcade game software manufacturers. Robust against physical mishandling and abuse and against unskilled or abusive operation. Non-toxic and child-safe. Micro-modular, maintained by scrap and replace. Designed for a price target less than 3,000 in 1994. Market size. The primary market size indicator is the installed base of Nintendo game centres, of which approximately 30 million are now in operation. The size and rate of growth of this installed capacity provides a ready indication of the appetite of domestic consumers for a modular computer game or simulation centre. Of course, the Nintendo installed base was created at a much lower price but it is significant that it was achieved very rapidly and that it continues to grow. The installed base is likely to be at least 40 million units by the end of 1993 and I do not think it is unreasonable to expect an initial take up of a modular home simulation system to be at least 1% of this figure (i.e. 0.4M units) during the year of 1994. In these volumes, and in consideration of new technical developments we now have in
hand, I believe that it will be possible to bring the product to market within the target price which I have indicated. Software. Interactive entertainment simulators will not sell without an existing basic resource and an ongoing supply of software, which is the essence of the simulation itself. It can even be argued that the really profitable business is the software business and the simulators themselves ought to be sold at very low margins in order to create the market for that software. The hardware must be seen as an instrument that is played by the software - as a tool by which the software achieves its end objectives. If the software is good then the product will sell and vice versa. Simulation Engineering companies now have software staff who are disciplined to create small numbers of very accurate models of complex vehicles and their operating environments as part of major long term projects. For the entertainment market they must instead create highly-imaginative fantasy scenarios and they must do so at frequent intervals. The entertainment software which is needed by the simulator manufacturing companies has to be much more artistic than scientific because what is most needed is an imagination which treats the hardware - the simulator - as a tool to express an intriguing and entertaining idea. The game or experience has to be structured, not to be realistic, but to be user friendly. It must be easy to learn and satisfying to play at any level of competence. If this means that the Laws of
Physics which apply in real life have to be set aside, then so be it. That is not to say that the simulation industry can accept software of an undisciplined quality. Video games only have to work; because they do not usually have an interface to anything except the video screen and the controls, they do not need to be subjected to the disciplines of documentation and standardization which are essential in the simulation engineering industry. However, professional simulation, even for the entertainment industry, does require this discipline because a rapidly-evolving hardware capability needs a software resource which is standardized in many areas such as in the construction of the vehicle models, the networking interfaces, the interfaces between visual systems, motion systems and control equipment and in the compliance of the system with health and safety regulations such as the ICSE SafeIT.
A reason for concern? What we are about to do is to create a new industry which will employ large numbers of people across the world in the design and manufacture of the hardware and software for personal simulation equipment. We are going to generate products for sale in computer shops and department stores and we are going to create a need for an experiences section in video shops. So why should we be concerned? Well, the essence of simulation is that it is a compelling fantasy. If you have never ridden a good simulator then I can only assure you that you will be very surprised just how compelling it is. Thorough simulation is capable of disconnecting you thoroughly from the real world and immersing your mind within a virtual world, in which you are not limited to being the self that you are in your existence outside the simulator. Disaster situations are not simulated to the instant of crash in training machines because it has been recognised that the psychological effects on the trainees can be severe, stressful and very disturbing. For similar reasons I think we should set up codes of practice of software design for unsupervised personal simulators, so as to prevent the users developing a false sense of immunity to danger. Very good simulation, especially motion simulation, is subconsciously perceived as real and it may not always be easy for the brain to put simulation fantasies into the fantasies file and realities into the realities section.
Biography. Phillip Denne has an international reputation for new product design in many industries, from dairy farming to electronic warfare, and is the author of twenty patents. He was responsible for the foundation and management of six companies, including Super X Ltd., which is now part of Rediffusion Simulation Ltd. Denne Developments Ltd. is an independent Technical Design Consultancy.