Why Unreal Engine 5? | Root Access Devlog #1

Last week I planted a flag. This week I have to start explaining myself.

Why build a card game in Unreal Engine 5? It's not the obvious choice... and yes, I did consider the alternatives. This episode covers why Unity didn't make the cut, why Godot tempted me but didn't win, and the three real reasons I landed on Unreal. One of them is practical. One of them is about workflow. And one of them is the kind of thing that's hard to justify on paper.

Next episode: I finally stop being mysterious about which game I'm actually building.

📖 Read it first — the full writeup is already on Substack:👉 https://tagowill.substack.com

☕ Support the project:👉 https://buymeacoffee.com/tagowill

Root Access is an intermission series running in the Mind the XR Gap feed while the main show is on hiatus.

Welcome to the first episode of Root Access - an intermission series while Mind the XR Gap is on hiatus.

Life reshuffled my priorities recently, and I decided to use the quiet well. I'm building something real, a passion project rooted in a game I love and I'm documenting the whole thing week by week, right here in this feed.

This episode is just me planting a flag. Next week I'll get into what I'm actually building. Trust me, it's worth the wait.

📖 Read it first — the weekly devlog articles drop on Substack before anywhere else:👉 https://tagowill.substack.com

☕ Support the project — if you want to help keep this moving:👉 https://buymeacoffee.com/tagowill

Our beloved Mind The XR Gap listeners, sorry for the delay on our episodes. In this episode we discuss the future we envision for XR in the upcoming years and the achivements the industry needs to meet along the way. The episode focuses on how and when VR should be used and when to avoid. Please feel free to get in touch to tell us your opinions!

Follow our Mind the XR 'gang': @prlosana, @OzkanCemBahceci, @TagoWill

🎓Sources🎓:

-> Quantifying the Effects of Working in VR for One Week - https://arxiv.org/pdf/2206.03189.pdf

🎵 Podcast Theme music by Joseph McDade 🎵

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Follow us on Twitter @MindTheXRgap 🐦 and if you like to challenge us, leave a comment or do a question for the next episode using the hashtag #AskTheXRgap

Thank you for listening 🤩

This week we discuss the use of XR for reconstructing historical sites that are not with us anymore. We are joined by two very special guests Ben Newman and Adam Morsman who are research apprentices at one of the largest telecommunications company in the UK. Research apprentices tell us about their journey on creating a virtual reality experience for the Bawsdsey Radar in Suffolk. VR experience is now available to try in the Bawdsey Radar Museum where guests can climb up the historical radar towers that were used to detect enemy planes in World War 2.

Follow our Mind the XR 'gang': @prlosana, @OzkanCemBahceci, @TagoWill and Adam Morsman

🎓Sources🎓:

-> Bawdsey Radar Website - https://www.bawdseyradar.org.uk/ and https://www.facebook.com/BawdseyRadarTrust/

-> iLRN conference: https://immersivelrn.org/pages/ilrn2022

-> Unreal Engine 5: https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/blog/unreal-engine-5-is-now-available

🎵 Podcast Theme music by Joseph McDade 🎵

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Follow us on Twitter @MindTheXRgap 🐦 and if you like to challenge us, leave a comment or do a question for the next episode using the hashtag #AskTheXRgap

Thank you for listening 🤩

A very special episode today! It's a Christmas special and an end of the first season of this podcast. It's a very light and relaxed chat with a review over the last year and brainstorming on new topics for the year to come. Please join our conversation and hope to see you on Season 2 of the "Mind the XR gap"

Author note: We apologise for the huge delay on this episode but we had a few technical difficulties trying to upload the episode.

Follow our Mind the XR 'gang': @prlosana @OzkanCemBahceci and @TagoWill

🎵 Podcast Theme music by Joseph McDade 🎵

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Follow us on Twitter @MindTheXRgap 🐦 and if you like to challenge us, leave a comment or do a question for the next episode using the hashtag #AskTheXRgap

Thank you for listening 🤩

In this episode, we talk about the origins of Metaverse and how it differs from a game. We also talk about the leading organisations who are attempting to build their own versions of Metaverse and whether they will be successful. Finally, we touch on key enablers and motivation behind each organization and why it's suddenly the hottest topic of XR world.

Disclaimer: This episode reflects our views, ideas and opinions on the metaverse topic. Therefore, take your words with a grain of salt.

Follow our Mind the XR 'gang': @prlosana @OzkanCemBahceci and @TagoWill

🎓Sources🎓:

-> Mark in the metaverse - https://www.theverge.com/22588022/mark-zuckerberg-facebook-ceo-metaverse-interview

🎵 Podcast Theme music by Joseph McDade 🎵

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Follow us on Twitter @MindTheXRgap 🐦 and if you like to challenge us, leave a comment or do a question for the next episode using the hashtag #AskTheXRgap

Thank you for listening 🤩

In this episode, we talk about the origins of Metaverse and how it differs from a game. We also talk about the leading organisations who are attempting to build their own versions of Metaverse and whether they will be successful. Finally, we touch on key enablers and motivation behind each organization and why it's suddenly the hottest topic of XR world.

Disclaimer: This episode reflects our views, ideas and opinions on the metaverse topic. Therefore, take your words with a grain of salt.

Follow our Mind the XR 'gang': @prlosana @OzkanCemBahceci and @TagoWill

🎓Sources🎓:

-> Mark in the metaverse - https://www.theverge.com/22588022/mark-zuckerberg-facebook-ceo-metaverse-interview

🎵 Podcast Theme music by Joseph McDade 🎵

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Follow us on Twitter @MindTheXRgap 🐦 and if you like to challenge us, leave a comment or do a question for the next episode using the hashtag #AskTheXRgap

Thank you for listening 🤩

Last part of the Security XR episode. where Max Smith-Creasey talks about Security in XR devices. We explore the different vulnerabilities, raise some ethical problems and malicious intentions that these systems can get. We also debate how we can protect ourselves or at least mitigate all of these problems.

Disclaimer: This episode reflects our views, ideas and opinions on the security of XR devices. Therefore, take your words with a grain of salt.

Follow our special guess Max Smith-Creasey at @maxsmithcreasey or visit his webpage and our Mind the XR 'gang': @prlosana @OzkanCemBahceci and @TagoWill

🎓Sources🎓:

-> John Daugman (Professor of Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition) -  https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~jgd1000/

-> Discerning User Activity in Extended Reality Through Side-Channel Accelerometer Observations - https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9280516

-> “Micro-gesture” XR Input - https://www.roadtovr.com/apple-ar-vr-patent-micro-gesture-head-worn-haptics/

-> Wrist-worn Prototypes for XR Input & Haptics - https://www.roadtovr.com/facebook-reveals-latest-wrist-worn-controller-prototype-for-xr-input-haptics/

🎵 Podcast Theme music by Joseph McDade 🎵

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Follow us on Twitter @MindTheXRgap 🐦 and if you like to challenge us, leave a comment or do a question for the next episode using the hashtag #AskTheXRgap

Thank you for listening 🤩

Today is a very special episode (first out of two parts), where we invite Max Smith-Creasey to talk about Security in XR devices. We explore the different vulnerabilities, raise some ethical problems and malicious intentions that these systems can get. We also debate how we can protect ourselves or at least mitigate all of these problems.

Disclaimer: This episode reflects our views, ideas and opinions on the security of XR devices. Therefore, take your words with a grain of salt.

Follow our special guess Max Smith-Creasey at @maxsmithcreasey or visit his webpage

🎓Sources🎓:

-> John Daugman (Professor of Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition) -  https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~jgd1000/

-> Discerning User Activity in Extended Reality Through Side-Channel Accelerometer Observations - https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9280516

🎵 Podcast Theme music by Joseph McDade 🎵

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Follow us on Twitter @MindTheXRgap 🐦 and if you like to challenge us, leave a comment or do a question for the next episode using the hashtag #AskTheXRgap

Thank you for listening 🤩

This is the final episode, we talk about our favourite movies with elements of XR in them and discuss the impact of science fiction movies on how the XR technologies evolve. Furthermore, we talk about the new patent Microsoft acquired and touch on how sci-fi can warn or prepare us on upcoming ethical concerns facing our society. Feel free to contact us through any social media listed below, and tell us about your favourite movie you think had an impact on the development of XR technologies.

🎓Sources🎓:

-> TRON: Legacy (2010) - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1104001/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0

🎵 Podcast Theme music by Joseph McDade 🎵

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Follow us on Twitter @MindTheXRgap 🐦 and if you like to challenge us, leave a comment or do a question for the next episode using the hashtag #AskTheXRgap

Thank you for listening 🤩