Category: Astrofish Games

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Ground Runner: Trials Speeds out of Early Access

For those of you who are fans of racing titles and first-person shooters (FPS) indie developer Astrofish Games’ debut virtual reality (VR) Ground Runner: Trails might well be what you’re looking for. Set in a futuristic sci-fi universe that’s developed hoverbikes, the title has recently left Steam Early Access after originally debuting on Oculus Store last year.  

Ground Runner Trials

A purely single-player experience. Ground Runner: Trials puts you in the shoes of a scavenger, whose job is to scour a mining planet on a technologically advanced hoverbike, searching for the extremely powerful and sought after Torsion Crystals, all while being relentlessly hunted.

Gameplay is twofold. Firstly using Oculus Rift’s or HTC Vive motion controllers you have full control over the bike to fly, strafe and rocket around the arid environment looking for these crystals. Secondly, using your other hand you need to protect yourself with a range of weaponry such as the Electro-Pulse, Rocket Launcher and Beam Cannon – some of which need to be dual-wielded.

With multiple large-scale maps to traverse players will find there’s a mixture of gameplay modes, with eight solo missions, and a free-roam arcade mode. As you race around collecting supplies you’ll then be able to convert the loot into credits with which to upgrade your ride. Credits can be used to improve a bikes thrust, handling and power.

Ground Runner Trials

Due to the frantic, undulating nature of the gameplay Astrofish Games has included a comfort mode to ensure the experience can be enjoyed by all. Comfort Mode can be adjusted in the settings to ensure players have the most immersive and enjoyable experience, this includes adjusting the dynamic field of view during acceleration and collisions.

Supporting Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and Windows Mixed Reality headsets, Ground Runner: Trials is available now through Steam for £15.49 GBP or £14.99 via Oculus Store. For any further updates from Astrofish Games keep reading VRFocus.

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Ground Runner: Trials Leaving Earlier Access Next Month

Last year developer Astrofish Games released Ground Runner: Trials into Early Access and gave players the chance to engage in fast-paced, intense vehicle combat on hover bikes along with immersive first-person shooter (FPS) gameplay. Now, the London based virtual reality (VR) videogame development team have announced that the title will be leaving Early Access and releasing in full very soon.

Stepping into the shoes of a Ground Runner, a scavenger whose job is to scour the mining planet on your hoverbike, looking for precious Torsion Crystals – a newly discovered, extremely powerful resource, players will be in for a thrilling experience. It won’t just be a case of driving around at lighting speeds to collect crystals though as the planet it full of dangers to overcome. In order to survive out here, players will need to outrun and outgun the shadowy corporate Alliance that will do whatever they can to stop you and acquire the crystals for themselves.

Ground Runner: Trails is set to release this coming October and will the full release will come plenty of features and content for players to enjoy. This includes a full 360-degree field-of-view with hands-only controls for total immersion with your hoverbike being fully upgradable to suit your play style. Players will also be able to enjoy four varied weapons including a Electro-Pulse, Rocket Launcher, Beam Cannon and more with the option to use them single-handed or in duel-wielded.

The title comes with large-scale maps for the most immersive and intense multiplayer experience along with eight single-player missions to conquer as well. You’ll encounter multiple enemy types to overcome as well during these missions and can use the many different modes – such as Arcade Mode – to instantly jump right into the action. All of these modes and missions will reward players with plenty of loot in the form of credits and upgrades for your bike, meaning you’ll be unlocking content for hours in this title.

Ground Runner: Trials will be releasing this October and you can see the latest trailer for the videogame below. You can pick up the title now in Early Access on the Oculus Store for £14.99 (GBP) and for more on the title in the future, keep reading VRFocus.

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Ground Runner: Trials Drifts Onto The Oculus Store

Wheels. Are really any good? I mean, they probably featured reasonably heavily in your day if you’ve ever used any kind of transport ever. And you’d probably be utterly lost without them through one thing and another, but with all that said… what have they done for us lately?

Clearly nothing, right?This is the 2010’s! We’re officially in “the future”, and if Back To The Future Part II taught us anything as a species it’s that hovering and flying everything is the way to go. And that was set in 2015. Clearly wheels are yesterday’s composite component.

Thankfully if you’ve a mind do ditch the wheel Ground Runner: Trials has just the vehicle for you in the form of its hovering Plasma Bike – and even better it’s just hit the Oculus Store in time for Christmas.

Developed by Astrofish Games, a London based VR videogame development team first setup in August 2016 full of veterans on projects for big name videogame studios such as Ubisoft, Rocksteady and Nordeus. Ground Runner: Trials sees you take on the mantle of a Ground Runner, a master of travelling at great speed thanks to your aforementioned Plasma Bike. Transported to a mining area to investigate two cargo storage pyramids, the abandoned facilities appear to be not quite so abandoned as to what might’ve first been thought. Use your speed and ferocity to battle your way through those that stand in your way to secure resources enough to upgrade your equipment, secure the area and supply your base – which isn’t exactly in the best of shape!

“You wake up and you have a captain who is also the mechanic aboard this tug.” Explained Astrofish Games’ CEO Chris Bolton in an interview to VRFocus back in July. “It’s a bit of a scrapheap. And you’re new – so you’re a new Ground Runner, you’ve been introduced, you’ve had this hoverbike put together by your mechanic captain, who has been scavenging parts like engine parts – the engine of this is a Honda 750!” He joked.

You’ll need to both flying and using weapons in synergy if you hope to survive, because there’s a bunch of robots and security details out there that won’t think twice about turning you into a pretty explosion.

Ground Runner: Trials is available now for £14.99 (GBP) on the Oculus Store. You can see the accompanying launch trailer below. VRFocus will bring you more news on Oculus Rift releases in the near future.

 

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Hit the Ground Running in GroundRunners

Ground Runner: Trials is a sci-fi virtual reality (VR) videogame that was showcased at Unite Europe. It combines first-person shooter with flight locomotion as you have to survive and scavenge for treasure across a barren world.

You start off as a rookie Ground Runner, where you have to prove yourself by going on missions to destroy drones, cargo ships and collect loot and scavenge treasures. The game takes advantage of the Oculus touch and Vive controllers and uses physical locomotion controls, which prove useful when going into combat and trying to shoot down enemies from the sky whilst simultaneously driving your plasma bike. Survive and build up your resources. With the help of your personal AI assistant Jay, the game has an element of Robin Hood as the world is controlled by a corporation that own everything.

The graphics and art style are inspired by various old science fiction films and books, so you’ll be finding old floppy discs and cartridges instead of lasers and pen drives. Chris Bolton, the CEO and Creative Director of Astrofish Games tells VRFocus that they really wanted nostalgia to play a huge role when it came to the art direction of Ground Runner: Trials. The plasma bike you drive uses a Honda 750 which converts crystals into electricity – it doesn’t get more nostalgic than that!

In the video below he explains which software they use to help build the game, and with the help of their investor Zmapping how they want to provide free content updates for people who buy the game. Each update would contain content from forty minutes up to an hour, so purchasing the game would be an investment in future content as well.

The game might be coming out around August for the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift. You clearly need the controllers and touch controllers to play the game. Check out the video below to find out more.