Up, Up, and Away In My Beautiful VR Balloon! During Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta

We’re kicking off Balloon Fiesta in style! Join VR New Mexico and the Mirehaven VR Club at the Albuquerque Balloon Museum for the Virtual Reality Balloon Experience.

Last year, the lines were long, but totally worth it; the headset quality was higher-res than any 360 YouTube balloon videos, and the group reactions (“Oh wow!” “Look at that!”) made it feel like seeing a blockbuster with friends.

I’ll be easy to spot: a big guy, wearing glasses and a blue “VR Mirehaven” shirt. I can’t hold you a spot in line, but if you see me, wave and chat. (Text me! 818-724-4335)

Stick around: at 3 PM, our sister meetups split into two parallel sessions (if conversational clumps can be called “sessions”). 3D Immersive Arts NM explores ballooning through immersive storytelling, while Spatial Computing delves into the technical aspects of building ballooning VR experiences. Or just mingle… (creatives and coders always welcome).

As an experiment, I created a five-minute radioplay plus 360 photos. Check it out on YouTube! (Link below.) Watch in VR if you can. (Watch or favorite it in a browser, then go to your history or favorites in the Quest Youtube app.) Note, my 360 video is very much a WIP (Work-In-Progress). Yes, it's full of continuity and consistency issues, but it only took a few hours to throw together, including learning curves on three new apps! Given that, I'm quite pleased with the result. What do you think?

The White Silence: S A Andrée's 1897 Arctic Balloon Expedition, a Radioplay and 360 Panoramic Photos (360 YouTube video)

The Balloon Museum has an excellent exhibit about Andrée's attempt to reach the North Pole via balloon.

How Three Meetups All Fit Together

• 2–3 PM: VR New Mexico: experience VR ballooning as a fan and user.
• 3–4 PM (two parallel paths, er, conversational clumps...):
• 3D Immersive Arts NM: explore storytelling, performance, and artistic immersion.
• Spatial Computing: tackle technical design and development challenges.

P.S. Here are some of my favorite VR-based flying and ballooning games and experiences:

Flying VR Games

• Ultrawings 2 (daredevil, acrobatic, personal favorite)
• FLY (Google Earth meets cheaper, easier MS Flight Simulator)
• Balloon Gunner (hypercasual, mindless, shoot balloons and blimps, other personal fav)

Ballooning VR Games

• Balloon Adventures (charmingly low-poly…)
• Extreme Escape (Escape Room meets high-altitude balloon)

360 Ballooning Videos

• ABQ Balloon Fiesta (half-hour ascent from Balloon Park)
• 95,165 Foot High, Two-Hour Weather Balloon Ride Over The Rockies (fast forward to about 1:33:00, then look straight up, POP!)
• Last Year’s Glowdeo at Balloon Fiesta (I shot this, it's ground level, but give it a look!)

There is a modest fee to enter the Balloon Museum. The VR Balloon Experience is included in this fee. Before and after your VR experience, be sure to visit the many other exhibits at the Balloon Museum.