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vissi
Wow, VR Commander Keen!
beshrkayali
Pretty cool! The room has no door though :)
DonHopkins
The Sims player is trying to kill you. Count your blessings they didn't put you in the pool and remove the ladders.
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butz
Tried running "format c:". It didn't work. So much for reality part.
skissane
That's because it is running DOSBox not real DOS.

One could modify this to use a PC emulator like PCjs [1] and then run real DOS under it, and then really format your virtual C drive. (FreeDOS or MS-DOS 2.x could be run entirely legally; running newer versions of MS-DOS might not technically be legal but I doubt Microsoft would do anything about it.)

[1] https://www.pcjs.org/

willis936
I wonder if it's possible to exploit a bug to modify the simulation code from the in-game terminal.
jmiskovic
I'm actually working on VR environment that is fully self-modifying. Currently building code editor and hot-swapping environment. It uses Lua and LOVR engine as a host.

It is a step away from a classic concept of engine/lib/framework, the stable blackbox with API you call into. It's more like code environment you can examine, extend and reload instantaneously, with some built-in safeguards for reverting code errors. I'll make a ShowHN when I get to something substantial.

malux85
Keep going this sounds so cool! Would pay for this
zubairq
Super, I would love to see this as we already in the early stages of building something similar but ours is pretty crappy UI. Making it slick is the hard part
malux85
Slick is a moving target susceptible to hedonistic adaption - crappy UI but functional is better than non-existent, I’d say release as soon as you can ...
SonOfLilit
Getting strong Smalltalk vibes :-)
jmiskovic
I just ran into actual Smalltalk-in-VR project called PharoVRIDE. I wish I had time and skills to recreate Smalltalk's VM images. I still haven't thought out how persistence would work.
gavinray
Ahh, so you're trying to recreate the universe too?
karmakaze
My first thought is to package up the game hardware in a Compaq 386 style case, complete with diskette drives that the VR-DOS emulator reads. Get a time machine, take it back and have someone put on the headset and insert their favourite software into the physical/virtual PC.
roosterdawn
Simple concept, but it hits me right in the nostalgia, presumably as intended. Very well done.
ngcazz
Now here’s a Dosbox I can use my iPad keyboard with!

(iDOS 2 doesn’t support the smart keyboard folio.)

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jdlyga
What's next, 3D LOGO?
bitwize
I know how to flesh this out into a game: Have the setting be a high school computer lab, and have the player see how much Commander Keen or Prince of Persia they can play without the teacher catching them.
themodelplumber
Funny. At my HS there was also a game where you'd hang out in the drafting lab during lunch, and try to eat your lunch food while playing Wolfenstein 3D, without the teacher noticing the food part.

Crumbs on the digitizer board were especially dangerous to your wellbeing.

dwmcqueen
Our "hidden" game was one called Conflict where you were Israel.

I managed to load it on the shared hardrive (20 Meg, I think).

ObsoleteNerd
Ours was Spectre[0] as our school had a Macintosh lab. We learned to pick locks on that lab door, to sneak in and play the game together during lunch. Thankfully the lab teacher was an extremely passionate nerd like us, so was understanding, but it still involved a fair few lunchtime detentions over the year or two we did it.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectre_(video_game)

haolez
That was Lode Runner for me in school :)
Loudergood
Can we reach back and press the degauss button on the back of someone else's monitor?
ilaksh
I never actually got to the VR part because there has been no real interest/participation with what I made so far, but as far as the 3D environment (plus scripting) I made VSIM (vintagesimulator.com) which is a little along these lines and the aim was to do VR eventually. But hardly anyone ever used it so I moved on.
insulanian
Norton Commander brings back memories. Started using it in DOS days and still use two-column file managers to this day.
unixhero
Ah, Orthodox File Manager you mean surely.
unnouinceput
Total Commander ftw.
unixhero
Yup. It's the best. I wish Ghisler was better at marketing and general e-commerce. I wish that project all the best for the future.

Double commander has been produced which also gives total commander plugins comparability across all platforms!

insulanian
It's the only software I miss on Mac :) Using "Commander One" on Mac, but it's simply not on the same level.

While we're at it, what are people using as alternatives on Mac and Linux?

insulanian
Yes, apparently that's how they're called :)
vaibhavthevedi
Oh my god. I never imagined this even in my dreams that something like this can be made. I am a VR developer and I am really astounded by the effort you would've put in this. Amazing job.