We are so excited to officially announce our FIRST group of Tilt Five Developer Partners! These intrepid hologram developers hail from every corner of the globe and you will recognize a number of them from our Kickstarter campaign. And this is just the beginning... We've already begun signing the next round of developers and games!
Our holographic vanguard took a few moments out of their busy schedule to make the above video! We’re super proud of the work they’ve done so far and we can’t wait to share more about them and their games!
Tilt Five’s first group of illustrious partners include:
Applications forthe Tilt Five Developer Program are now open forgame devs looking to bring their games to the Tilt Five system. APPLY HERE!
Welcome to the team!
A Word from Kristine
I’m so thrilled to be working on content partnerships at Tilt Five. The minute I saw those tabletop holograms, I knew I wanted to be a part of the Tilt Five journey. Though my career started with what are now prominent names in the games industry (PlayStation and Rockstar Games), I had actually joined both from their very early stages as start-ups. I realized I loved working in that crazy, unpredictable environment and seeing the excitement with consumers when you finally release that killer hardware or genre-bending video game. We’re going to do the same at Tilt Five. Most recently at HTC Vive, I was continually inspired by the indie development community, where so many amazing XR content creators are making innovative and mind-blowing experiences. I look forward to supporting some equally cool content from PC, mobile and XR developers for our AR glasses.
Starting a new job during lockdown was a lot more seamless than I imagined, and my cat has now appeared in more International Zoom calls than she ever thought possible. Hope to see you all in person sometime soon at a games conference near you (sans cat!).
Manufacturing Update
Leveling up is our game! We completed the Engineering Validation Test (EVT) phase of manufacturing, a very Dark Souls-esque treatment of our hardware, and have started the Design Validation Test (DVT) phase!
EVT was critical in helping us gain confidence in how to make this Tilt Five product way more robust across many environmental scenarios. We’re prepping the hardware for regulatory certifications, and are increasing production quantities as we move into DVT. As a result, we’ve been sending more and more units out to new partner development teams to kick off their game productions.
Shipping Update
Next up for shipments are the Beta Kits for our Beta Backers! These Beta Kits are planned to ship in June! For LE Kits, XE Kits, and XE Group Packs, shipping dates are projected to roll out during the same projected timelines as the graphic above. No changes on those projections since last month’s Kickstarter update. As always, timeline estimates are most accurate in the near term, and get fuzzier the farther out we project.
URGENT REMINDER FOR ALL BACKERS:
PLEASE MAKE SURE YOUR SHIPPING INFORMATION AND OTHER INFO ON BACKERKIT IS CORRECT! AS WE GET CLOSER TO SHIPPING DATES FOR THE DIFFERENT PACKS, WE WANT TO ENSURE THAT EVERYTHING IS GOOD TO GO.
IF YOU NEED TO UPDATE YOUR SHIPPING INFORMATION, PLEASE DO ONE OF THE FOLLOWING:
1. Use the link on your original Backerkit Survey email
2. Contact us (info@tiltfive.com) and we’ll help find your Backerkit link!
SDK Updates
We’ve made some great progress on the SDK and developer support front, with two recent SDK releases for our partner developer teams.
Questions from the Community
In anticipation for hardware shipments, the community on Discord has asked a lot of great questions, and we’d like to share them with everyone!
Shipping related questions
Q) When can we expect Tilt Five glasses and wands to start shipping?
A) Beta Kits will start shipping in June, LE Kits and XE Kits targeted to ship in Q3, once we complete the PVT phase and enter Mass Production, we’re targeting to ship XE Group Packs in Q3 and Q4.
Hardware related questions
Q) Can you share more info regarding the USB-C connection, what types of ports are viable, and whether or not it has to pass DVI/Displayport, etc?
A) Our USB C cable uses standard USB 3.0 data, and does not pass DVI/DisplayPort data
Q) What are the recommended minimum specs to run the glasses?
A) These are some estimates based on the machines we have on hand to test with: Windows 10 PCs that can run 2 stereoscopic views, 60fps, 720p, Direct 3D11 USB: USB 3.0 SuperSpeed ports OS: Windows 10 Processor: Intel Core i3-4130 or equivalent Memory: 4 GB RAM Graphics: Nvidia GeForce 560Ti or equivalent DirectX: Direct 3D11 Storage: 2 GB available space
Q) Will 1 PC be able to support multiple glasses?
A) We’d like to support this in the future, although this will not be available at launch. There will likely be special requirements for the computer to support the video processing, USB bandwidth, and audio between multiple headsets.
Q) Will Tilt Five or its software work without an internet connection?
A) Users will need an internet connection to download the required Windows drivers and any games. For multiplayer games or games with optional multiplayer modes, you will need an internet connection.
Q) Will Tilt Five require a login account?
A) No! We will not require login credentials to access our games or developer tools. In the future it is possible Tilt Five will require a login account for personalized features.
Games/Software related questions
Q) Have you reached out to XYZ insert company name here…?
A) It’s possible! We’re talking with a lot of studios, large & small, to discuss their games and potential partnerships. If you have game or content recommendations, please stop by our Discord and leave your suggestions in the #game-wishlist channel!
Q) Will Windows 7 be supported, or will I be forced to switch to Linux or Windows 10?
A) Sadly, not even Microsoft supports Windows 7 anymore, so we’re optimizing for Windows 10. Time for an upgrade!
Q) How many games can we expect to try out at release?
A) We're working with dozens of developers. Each of them have different timelines which means there will be a constant stream of new games to try every month after you receive your kits. One example, you’ll be able to play over 100 digital board games from our friends at Tabletopia! That’s just bonkers.
Q) How many multiplayer games can we expect at release?
A) Currently over ⅓ of the games being developed support multiplayer with more coming every month. While each title has their own release schedule, you’ll definitely have multiplayer games to try when you get your kit! Multiplayer games on Tilt Five will support multiple players around the same game board or another board remotely.
SDK related questions
Q) I'd like to know more about integrating Tilt Five into custom game engines, not just Unity?
A) We’ll be pushing out a Native C SDK this year, allowing you to integrate Tilt Five into your custom game engines, and even integrate with open source game engines like Godot.
Q) Will there be OpenXR support?
A) It makes sense for us to add support for OpenXR at some point. First, we will get a better understanding of its scope of usage among our developer audiences.
Q) How is the Unreal integration coming?
A) It’s going well! It’s been in development for the last 3 months and we’ll have the alpha version for internal review in a few weeks.
Q) Will the drivers and/or program that runs the Tilt Five be forced into a lockstep update scenario? Meaning, will users be required to have the latest software to run the device and when it updates, will it no longer let you run older versions of the software?
A) Through Beta and maybe early on we will need to be in Lockstep. Our goal is not to be restrictive, though there will always be some limitations. It is our goal to not allow a newer SDK version to lock you out of playing older games. It’s a challenge for a small team like ours, but we will work hard to make it so.
Q) Does the SDK automatically detect the board configuration (LE Game Board, or XE Game Board with kickstand) so the game camera can be positioned appropriately, or would the player need to manually specify their current configuration?
A) We’re looking at doing auto detection and some other solutions. We’re still exploring the best way to support this feature.
Q) It would be nice to see updates on a public kanban or Trello board or something. Any plans there?
A) We’ve been thinking about how to be more transparent with SDK releases, updates, and even feature requests and this is a great suggestion! We are looking into it.
Other questions
Q) Any hopes of powering Tilt Five Glasses via a Raspberry Pi or similar devices?
A) On the graphics side, this would be more like a mobile phone and could probably run some light games. There’s some potential this could work with our Android SDK. While there are no plans currently to support Raspberry Pi, we definitely hope to see some folks in the community tinker with possibilities like this. Will it be you?
Q) Will there be a 1st party Tilt Five multitap type accessory so multiple glasses can be plugged into one computer?
A) Multitap! Oh the memories :D USB Hubs are tricky, our glasses are bandwidth hungry. A multitap device would almost certainly need to be a USB3.1 gen2 hub, SuperSpeed+ to get enough bandwidth from PC to hub, and bonus points if the hub is a powered hub. We don’t have any plans for this kind of accessory ourselves, but we are curious to try out the possibilities.
Q) I would love to see some more videos of people/partners playing with the Tilt Five system.
A) Totally! Video is such a powerful way to see what’s going on with our hardware and software. We’re playing with different video capture methods to produce clean footage and we are working with our partners to produce more video pieces. Expect to see more videos coming soon!
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