Harvest of Change: A Virtual Reality Farm Experience on Oculus VR
Now that we have virtual reality in our hands, we can finally move on from Farmville and Farming Simulator to Harvest of Change where you can have an extremely real American farming experience.
Harvest of Change is not essentially a game but an exclusive kind of explanatory journalism project. It follows a family living in a farm in the heart of rural America. When users strap on their headsets, they can enjoy the virtual experience. The Des Moines Register and Gannett Digital teamed up together to bring the story of Iowa farm family to life via virtual reality technology and 360-degree video.
The farm experience was lunched at DesMoinesRegister.com in late September 2014. It tells the viewers how demographic and economic changes in America are having an impact on farm families residing in Iowa. An immersive tour is conducted for the viewers where they visit the Dammann family farm in southwest Iowa and places where original 1888 farmhouse, the nerve center of the family’s corn, soybean and calving operation are located. According to its developers, Harvest of Change is best experienced with the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset.
The project features virtual, self governing tours of the farm in 3D by using Unity video game engine. While touring the farm you will come across several 360-degree video segments shot by Total Cinema 360 of NYC showing the farm family and other people discussing agriculture, difficulties they face with technology, genetically modified crops, shifting culture and rapidly occurring demographic and economic changes in the country and how they affect the future of farming. The unique farming experience can be downloaded on the website of The Des Moines Register. Both Oculus-ready versions and 2D apps are currently available for download.
For those of you who wish to acquire knowledge on agriculture and farming in America, the experience will prove itself to be quite educational and enlightening. Whether in the real world or the virtual one, when you walk in the farmer’s shoes, you will be able to appreciate the significance of the farmer’s hard work and struggles.
Oculus Rift DK2: Harvest of Change
For more information on Harvest of Change, a virtual reality farm experience on Oculus VR, please visit the following links:
https://developer.oculusvr.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=14836
https://www.farmanddairy.com/news/harvest-change-oculus-vr-creates-virtual-reality-farm-experience/221464.html
http://www.virtualrealityreviewer.com/harvest-change-virtual-reality-video/
