Category: BattleSky VR

Posted on

OVERVIEW, The Wizards, Gravity Sketch VR and More Nominated for the Viveport Developer Awards

Last month submissions opened for the 2nd annual Vive Developer Awards (VDA), seeking the best virtual reality (VR) experiences available on the platform. Now the ten nominees have been announced for the five different categories covering the breadth of VR entertainment.

vda trophy image

The five categories are: Entertainment, Education, Arts & Culture, Enterprise and Arcade, with any app considered so long as it was available on Viveport.

The successful nominees are:

Entertainment

Education

Arts & Culture

  • Galactic Gallery
  • The Kremer Collection VR Museum

Enterprise

  • Gravity Sketch VR
  • Primitive

Arcade

OVERVIEW screenshot3

The nominees are now inline for some significant prizes, with the first prize winner taking home $50,000 USD. They’ll also be featured in a studio profile video produced by HTC Vive, get priority access to new developer hardware and of course, a shiny trophy. For those that don’t snag first place, coming in second will still get them $20,000 to spend.

Winners will be announced at a special event on 19th March coinciding with the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2018.

Last years VDA saw Fantastic Contraption, by Northway Games secure the top spot in the Create category, Apollo 11 VR, by Immersive VR Education Ltd win the Explore category, Cloudlands: VR Minigolf by Futuretown won Connect, while Penrose Studios’ short animation Allumette secured the Experience category.

It’s been a busy year for HTC and HTC Vive, with the company launching its first standalone headset, the Vive Focus in China. While a western release date has yet to be confirmed, 2018 is shaping up to be the year of standalone head-mounted displays (HMDs), with Oculus Go and Lenovo Mirage Solo due out, and the Pico Goblin already available. In China the Vive Focus will have to compete with a new version of the Pico Neo which uses the HTC’s Vive Wave platform, and  Xiaomi/Oculus collaboration Mi VR Standalone.

As for Viveport, the platform recently announced new membership benefits in addition to increasing the monthly subscription price from $6.99 USD to $8.99. When the winning nominees are announced, VRFocus will bring you all the latest details.

Posted on

HTC Announces 2018 Viveport Developer Awards Nominees, $50K First Prize up for Grabs

Last year marked HTC’s very first Vive Developer Awards (VDAs), which saw tens of thousands of dollars go to VR app developers across a number of categories. Now, HTC has announced the nominees for this year’s VDAs who will be in competition to win $50,000 in first place prize money.

HTC has established 5 categories for this year’s VDAs including entertainment, education, arts & culture, enterprise and arcade. A total of 10 nominees came out of the initial evaluations, a review process held by a panel of HTC employees that looked at the games’ overall virtual reality experience and engagement metrics  such as total downloads, total user sessions and overall time played.

Without further ado, here’s this year’s VDA nominees:

image courtesy HTC

Entertainment

Education

Arts & Culture

Enterprise

Arcade

Winners will be announced at a special event on March 19th coinciding with the Game Developers Conference (GDC).

First place for each category will receive $50k, which includes a studio profile video produced by the Vive team, “priority access” to new developer hardware, and a shiny trophy. Second place gets a financial award of $20,000, and all of the above (besides the $50K of course).

Last year’s first-prize winners included Apollo 11 VR (2016), Fantastic Contraption (2016), Cloudlands: VR Minigolf (2016), and Allumette (2016).

The post HTC Announces 2018 Viveport Developer Awards Nominees, $50K First Prize up for Grabs appeared first on Road to VR.

Posted on

BattleSky VR Launches onto Steam Early Access

BattleSky VR is a multiplayer virtual reality (VR) first-person shooter (FPS) promising to bring ‘Overwatch style’ gameplay to head-mounted displays (HMDs) as it launches today, according to developer Oh!WHATif Inc. BattleSky VR debuts as a Steam Early Access title for Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and Windows MR.

BattleSky VR screenshot

In BattleSky VR, each player picks a Hero with vastly different size, powers and gameplay style to engage in fast-paced aerial combats against other players. Currently players can pick between Dragon or Jet-9, with more heroes currently in development. Multiplayer gameplay modes include Free For All, Team Deathmatch, Big Race, Escort, and other team play modes of up to 4v4 players.

Unlike other VR FPS videogames, BattleSky VR has a unique locomotion system that allows players to fly freely in an open world. To prevent simulation sickness, flying is simulated with physics. As the dragon players will use actual hand-flapping movements to fly or glide, and as Jet-9 players blast into the sky with thrust propulsion coming out of the hands, Iron Man-style. Each Hero uses a completely different flying locomotion mechanism, giving players a wide range of aerial experiences in BattleSky VR.

The videogame’s unique hyper-speed flying locomotion mechanisms have been tested by over 500 players already, and Oh!WHATif Inc. assure that the system has been fine-tuned to allow nausea-free extreme high speed flying at 250 km/h. According to the developers, less than 10% of the testers had experienced simulation sickness, and out of this 10%, most of them only experienced the issue with one of the two heroes; A very small percentage experienced motion sickness with both Heroes. With up to four heroes planned for BattleSky VR by the time it exits Steam Early Access, players will be sure to find a hero that matches their play style.

BattleSky VR screenshot

Oh!WHATif Inc. plans to continue development on BattleSky VR as a Steam Early Access title for 6-12 months to allow for time to fully interact with the gaming community, adjusting the gameplay as necessary to build a VR FPS videogame with depth. BattleSky VR launches as a Steam Early Access title for Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and Windows MR today, and VRFocus will keep you updated with all the latest details from Oh!WHATif Inc.

Posted on

Flying FPS BattleSky VR Hits Steam Early Access This Month

We’ve seen a few different concepts for virtual reality (VR) shooters. Some attempt to stay still while you take on enemy hoards, others like DOOM VFR make new methods of movement to please a variety of players, and now BattleSky VR wants you to literally fly through the air while spraying bullets as you please.

Players will be able to pick heroes with different sizes, powers and gameplay styles in order to engage in aerial battles against other players. Currently there are two heroes that will be available, Jet-9 and Dragon, but more heroes are in development.

There will be several gameplay modes, including Free For All, Team Deathmatch, Big Race, Escort and other team modes that can include up to four players.

Of course the hook of BattleSky VR is the unique way to fly around the open world. Physics simulation helps players alleviate any nausea associated with floating around a VR space, with Jet-9 blasting around with thrust propulsion, and Dragon flying with hand-flapping movements. It might get tiring on your arms, but it’s a fascinating way to play.

Over 500 testers have already played the game and have reported it’s a comfortable gaming experience, even at a simulated 250 km/h. The developers indicate that one hero seems to be more comfortable than another, though didn’t specify which it was.

There’s a mission mode to go with the multiplayer too, which will last about 30 minutes with each hero character.

The game will launch on January 19th for Steam Early Access, and will support both Oculus Rift and HTC Vive head-mounted displays (HMDs).

The developers plan at least four heroes, four missions, 6 maps for multiplayer up to eight players, and a team-based multiplayer that they hope will foster a community.

Developer by just two brothers in Taipei, it certainly looks interesting, as you’ll be able to see from the trailer on the videogame’s Steam page.

It won’t be long until we’re able to try BattleSky VR for ourselves, and it’s an exciting thing to get our hands on, as flying around in VR is always a wonderful experience. For all of the latest on VR gaming and more, make sure to keep reading VRFocus.