It has been a week of surprises with long-forgotten virtual reality (VR) projects like Blunt Force suddenly reappearing. And now there’s another, Bebylon: Battle Royale, with a new website and details released by developer Kite & Lightning; including a possible 2020 launch.
Details on Bebylon: Battle Royale have ebbed and flowed over the years ever since the title was first revealed in 2015. Kite & Lightning manage to secure a $2.5 million USD investment in 2016 which then led to the team expanding their ideas and the scope of the title.
As the name suggests, Bebylon: Battle Royale is set in a world full of babies. The story goes that a drug company created a pill for immortality but a side effect was that newborns inherited anti-aging genes and stopped growing after a couple of years, staying two-foot tall forever. Eventually shunned by tall society a few of the bebies decide to create their own utopia, a city just for them.
An AI is created to run the place but eventually, this haven starts to unravel as a competitive battle royale sport soon becomes the dominant form of entertainment. And this is where you step in, choosing from a selection of characters, vehicles and weapons to punch, trash-talk and beat rivals in arena matches.
From the details released on the new website Bebylon: Battle Royale is set to feature 12 arenas, 12 items to use in battle, 16 characters and 4 vehicles; all of which have arms as their main offensive weapon. There will also be three gameplay modes, Practice, Mano A Mano (PvP) and The 4 AMano’s.
A new cinematic trailer showcases various aspects of the fights such as taunting and the specials but there’s no actual gameplay. Previous iterations have been in third-person which is still expected, how much has changed to other elements remains to be seen.
Kite & Lightning have big ideas for the franchise which is likely why Bebylon: Battle Royale has taken so long to arrive – the studio even jokes about previous release windows from past years on the website. Previously the studio has said Bebylon: Battle Royale won’t just be a brawler but a big online world for players. However, there’s no mention of that now.
Instead, Kite & Lightning now says its: “conceived a multi-season animated series with a ruthless story arc between Game of Thrones and Fight Club.” And work is underway on a secret project which is set to be revealed next month. If a release date for Bebylon: Battle Royale does finally appear, VRFocus will let you know.
Bebylon Battle Royale was first announced by studio Kite & Lightning back in 2015. Coming off of several impressive early VR experiences, the pivot toward a full fledged game was an exciting new path for the studio. But with spurious updates on the game’s development over the last four years—and some radical changes in scope—it isn’t entirely clear what the studio will deliver, even if the game does launch this year.
Back in 2015, before the moniker ‘battle royale’ was strongly associated with the modern game genre, Bebylon Battle Royale was conceived as a third-person, beat-em-up VR brawler, well before motion controllers became a de facto part of the VR experience. At the time the studio expected to launch the game in 2016.
In 2016, Kite & Lightning announced that it had raised $2.5 million in venture capital, spurring the studio to expand the scope of the game from a “hybrid of Mario Kart party mode and Super Smash Bros” into a “mini-Sword Art Online… except in comedy… with adorable narcissistic babies….who love trolling each other.”
While the Smash Bros-esque game is the fundamental core of [Bebylon], we always envisioned a world that you could immerse yourself in. We want to create this amazing comedic world where you can craft your own personal character, cheer/boo/support your friends as a live audience member in the gladiatorial stages, or explore the world of Bebylon, from the shows it has to offer to the characters that inhabit it.
At the time, the studio expected to release the game in large chunks, starting with the first part in 2017, with more added “every couple of months.” However, the initial release never came.
In early 2018, the studio received $200,000 as part of Epic Game’s Unreal Dev Grant program. The no-strings-attached grant was given in recognition of Kite & Lightning’s low-cost real-time motion capture pipeline which has allowed the studio to do a lot with a little when it comes to Bebylon’s animations. At the time the studio expected the game would launch later that year.
Image courtesy Kite & Lightning
This week—following spurious development updates over the last four years—Kite & Lightning announced that it has launched a new Bebylon Battle Royale website, which now says the game is due to launch this year.
Not oblivious, the studio poked fun at itself by writing on the site, “[Beylon is] coming 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020!”
Along with the revamped website, the studio also released a cinematic short. The footage is claimed to be rendered in real-time in Unreal Engine 4—with animations captured with an iPhone and Xsens mocap suit—which makes it an impressive demonstration of the studio’s technical abilities. Considering the lack of gameplay footage, however, it does little to build confidence that the game will actually ship sometime in the next six months.
In the intervening years, it doesn’t appear that much has changed to bring Bebylon Battle Royale in line with motion control-based VR design, making us wonder whether the studio is hamstringing itself by sticking with VR.
The game’s zany premise (and resulting aesthetic) is still there in full force. It posits a world where an immortality drug caused babies to stop growing physically beyond a few years old, leading to a futuristic world controlled by babies which gravitated toward a gaudy gangster fashion—an intentional clash of polar opposites.
Despite the unorthodox characters, it should be said that the studio has honed the look of its ‘Bebies’ over the years; the game’s attention to visual detail is perhaps the one thing the studio has clearly demonstrated thus far.
Image courtesy Kite & Lightning
But what about that whole “mini-Sword Art Online” element? It’s entirely unclear if that’s even still on the table. The game’s new website glosses right over that part, and instead speaks to combat, arenas, items, vehicles, and characters.
Image courtesy Kite & Lightning
Instead, the closest glimpse we see to that vision of an expansive Bebylon virtual world that the company had mused about is—and I’m pretty sure they’re serious—a “multi-season animated series with a ruthless story arc between Game of Thrones and Fight Club.” The studio says it plans to “pitch the networks later this year.” They also have plans for a theme park (I’ll leave it to the reader to decide if I’m joking here or not).
Image courtesy Kite & Lightning
Kite & Lightning produced objectively impressive experiences in formative days of VR, but nothing close to the scope of Bebylon. It’s clear that the studio is full of creativity, talent, and ambition. But ambition might outweigh the other two.
2018 is over and it’s clear to see that it’s been a great year for VR gaming. We’ve had highlights like Creed, Firewall, Astro Bot, Skyrim (on PC) and many more. But, as much fun as we’ve had inside headsets this year, 2019 is looking even better.
Every year at Upload we compile a list of all the games we’re looking forward to in the year ahead. While this year’s list isn’t bigger than the 2018 iteration, there’s definitely more genuinely promising games on the way as opposed to a swathe of wave shooters and the like. VR developers seem to be getting a real grasp on the language of the platform now, and that’s a very exciting thing indeed.
So, without further ado, here’s what VR games 2019 is going to throw at us.
A Fisherman’s Tale (Jan 22nd) – Rift, Vive, Windows, PSVR (Read Our Hands-On)
Firebird developer Innerspace tries its hand at VR gaming with its latest project and the early signs are hugely promising. This is a narrative-driven puzzle game with some amazing ideas behind it, including a strange sort of Russian Doll mechanic that will have you teaming up with yourself in order to fix the world around you. It’s early days but we’re betting this could be one of 2019’s most memorable VR games.
Ace Combat 7 may have barrel rolled out of 2018 but its January 18th 2019 release date is right around the corner and we remain very excited about it. The PSVR exclusive mode on offer here will no doubt be short and leave us wanting more but, from what we’ve seen, it’s still set to be a blockbuster PSVR experience with production values that’ll be tough to top.
2018 was a quiet one for this Albino Lullaby follow-up, but we’re hoping to have news on the second installment at some point in 2019. This is a horror series that doesn’t rely on jump scares but instead psychological tricks that will keep you on your feet. We have high hopes for the second episode.
Bebylon Battle Royale (TBD) – Rift, Vive, PSVR
Yes, it’s still coming. Senza Peso developer Kite & Lightning has been working on its first full VR game for some time now, but we’re hoping 2019 is the year we get to play it for ourselves. Set in a strange world in which humans have stopped aging, never-aging ‘Bebys’ battle it out for supremacy. The team’s recent work with facial capture on the iPhone X has been especially interesting to watch.
Blood and Truth didn’t quite make 2018 but, given the year the headset had, it’s no big loss. Sony London builds on what it learned with its popular London Heist demo here. Blood and Truth promises a full, highly-polished first-person shooter campaign on PSVR, with realistic shootouts thanks to PlayStation Move. Step into the shoes of a former SAS soldier and take the fight to the gangs of the UK capital in this sweary shooter that aims to deliver the AAA experience people crave.
Blunt Force (TBD)
We still haven’t heard much more on Blunt Force since its announcement in 2016, but the high amount of visual polish has us hoping it’ll resurface this year. It’s a World War II-set shooter with a story from Hollywood screenwriter Mark Bristol that aims to provide a full gaming experience within VR. Here’s hoping it lives up to that promise.
Border Patrol (TBD) – Rift, Vive
We’ve seen a promising demo of this Papers Please-style assessment game from developer Paw Print Games, but we’re still looking forward to the full thing. You have to judge a series of robots that are hoping to pass through your crossing based on certain standards. This looks like it could capitalize on the awkward sense of judgment that can come with staring down on people in VR, and may be one of the year’s most unique titles.
Chimera Zero (TBD) – Rift, Vive, PSVR
We know very little about this VR debut from former PlayStation figurehead Shahid Kamal Ahmad (which was announced all the way back in 2016), but we’re still excited by it. It shares its name with the 33-year-old action-adventure, Chimera, which Ahmad also worked on. That said, he’s promising an experience quite different from that debut. What does he have in store?
Coatsink/Fierce Kaiju Project (TBD)
This project sat 2018 out so let’s hope 2019 is the year. Coatsink and Fierce Kaiju are two UK-based indie developers known for their early adoption of VR hardware, both launching games on the Innovator’s Edition of Gear VR. After releasing games like Viral EX and Augmented Empire, the two are pairing up for an unannounced project which we really hope will reach even greater heights than either of them have yet achieved on their own.
Twisted Pixel’s follow-up to Wilson’s Heart didn’t quite make it out of the gate in 2018 but hopefully we won’t have to wait too much longer to get it now. This is a high-octane VR thrill-ride backed by the production values that only Oculus Studios can afford, taking you from sky-diving setpieces to sneaky spy missions. If it’s as polished as Wilson’s Heart it’s bound to be a hit.
We’ve been waiting for Media Molecule’s Dreams for so long that the idea it might actually release in 2019 itself feels like, well, a dream. But with the beta opening up, it is seeming like a genuine reality. With VR support now officially, officially confirmed multiple times (for day one!) we can confidently say this is one of the most important titles releasing for Sony’s headset. Making your very own VR world is hopefully just a few months away.
Eden Tomorrow (TBD) – PSVR
Eden Tomorrow debuted at Gamescom several years ago with a promising demo that let you walk with space dinosaurs. It’s been away for some time since, but now it’s back promising a full adventure that we’ll hopefully get our hands-on this year. We’re looking for more amazing moments out of this one.
There’s still a lot to learn about how and when The Elder Scrolls: Blades will work with VR headsets, but we do know it’s coming. This’ll be a cross-platform RPG that distills some of the core elements of the franchise into a much more streamlined package. Whether or not it pays off remains to be seen, but we’re holding out hope for another Bethesda VR hit.
Espire 1: VR Operative (TBD) – Rift, Vive
Though it didn’t make its original 2018 release window, Espire 1 has quickly become one of our most anticipated VR games of 2019 thanks to a publishing partnership with Tripwire Entertainment. Stealth in VR can be utterly thrilling and this looks like it could be the best entry in the genre yet for VR headsets. Keep a very close eye on Espire 1.
Everybody’s Golf VR (Spring) – PSVR
It’s hard to believe it’s taken us this long to get an Everybody’s Golf game onto Sony’s headset but this rendition of the series looks like it will have been worth the wait. This is a much more realistic-looking take on the long-running franchise that will have us using Move controllers to take swings and score birdies. Just mind the lampshades.
VR can do wonders for building a relationship with virtual characters and Falcon Age seems to speak directly to that. In this new adventure you raise a pet Falcon and grow a bond as you care for it. Eventually, you’ll find yourself fighting for survival against an aggressive group of robots that threaten the land you roam. We can’t wait to see how Falcon Age mixes its story and action together.
The Gallery Episode 3 (TBD) – Rift, Vive
Enough time has passed now that we’re beginning to let ourselves dream about the third installment in Cloudhead Games’ The Gallery series. Episode 2 represented a massive leap over the original in pretty much every area, and hopefully we can expect a similar sort of expansion here. The Gallery remains one of VR’s most recognizable and best-realized series. Episode 3 can’t get here soon enough.
Moss and Astro Bot have already proved that third-person VR can work incredibly well, and Ghost Giant looks like it’s set to continue that trend. You build a relationship with a town of cutesy little creatures, each of which is wondering why this enormous ghost has suddenly appeared in their lives. We’re looking forward to exploring more diorama worlds and unearthing more of this storybook universe.
Golem (TBD) – PSVR
Despite a last-minute delay that’s now stretched on for something like nine months of silence, Golem remains one of our most anticipated VR games. With its intriguing use of just one Move controller for exploration and sword combat, we’re excited to see if the game manages to set any new standards in VR gaming. At the very least, it’s ancient ruins look like a joy to explore.
inXile’s Next VR Game (TBD)
Microsoft recently bought the makers of The Mage’s Tale, but they’ve assured us that work on their next VR project is still very much underway. inXile is making an open-world survival RPG for VR that, while still officially unrevealed, sounds like it could be a spin-off of its Wasteland series. If so, this’ll be one of 2019’s biggest VR games without a doubt.
Jupiter & Mars (TBD) – PSVR
Fans of games like Echo the Dolphin might want to check this enchanting new title. Together with a friend or AI partner, you explore the remains of mankind, left to drown in a neon-lit ocean. It looks utterly breathtaking and a perfect example of VR’s ability to amaze through discovery. Prepare to have your jaw dropped.
Kill X (TBD) – PSVR
It was about two years ago now that we first played a demo of Kill X, but since then the Sony-incubated game has grown to become a full first-person shooter that’s even being published by PlayStation itself. We hope that means that this is the headset’s next great shooter, but only time will tell on that front.
Kingdom Hearts VR (January) – PSVR
2019 looks to be the year that Kingdom Hearts III will finally launch on consoles, but we’re just as excited about the tie-in piece that’s going to come alongside it. It’s not a full game but instead one of those short promotional apps that will give you just a taste of what the world of Disney and Final Fantasy characters might look like in VR. We’re looking forward to seeing what’s possible.
Lone Echo 2 (TBD) – Rift
The sequel to one of our all-time favorite Oculus Rift games is finally on the way. Lone Echo had something of an abrupt ending so we can’t wait to pick back up with Jack and Olivia. We’ll be excited to see how Ready at Dawn continues to build on its groundbreaking zero gravity traversal, which is still some of the most convincing movement in VR. Expect this to be big.
Technically this hero shooter is already out with an extensive open beta running into next year, but we’re looking forward to the full release. You become a titan that uses their size and firepower to win a contest to become a god. With free locomotion and destructible environments, this might be one of the year’s most polished action games.
Velocity and Tiny Trax developer FuturLab trades twitch-based arcade gameplay for a manic multiplayer tabletop experience here and the results are very promising. Mini-Mech Mayhem is a game about anticipating your opponent’s every single move and watching turns unfold to often hilarious effect. It helps that the little machines you partner with are highly customizable and utterly adorable.
Node (TBD) – Rift, Vive, Windows
Some VR games seem to just appear out of thin air. Node is certainly one of those games. This is a surprisingly solid-looking shooter in which you train to become the ultimate soldier. The game mixes roguelike elements with classic shooter design (a little like Compound) to offer an experience you can come back to time and again. We’ll definitely be keeping an eye on this one as the year progresses.
Nostos really didn’t impress us when we tried it at Gamescom earlier this year, but the game is so good looking that we’re still holding out hope for a solid final product. This is an MMO-like experience in which players explore a massive world together, taking on vicious creatures in combat and uncovering the secrets of the gorgeous world that surrounds them. If NetEase corrects its course, this could be a big 2019 game.
Numenera: Beyond Tactics (TBD) – Rift, Vive
The popular board game is getting the VR treatment, but not in the way you might expect. Beyond Tactics is going to take the world of Numera and build a new turn-based strategy game around it. We’ve played a very early build and the pieces seem to be in place for a solid tactical game that uses VR to smart effect.
Oculus Quest Ports (TBD) – Quest
We’ll cheat with this one a little. We wouldn’t usually include ports or stack multiple games together but Oculus Quest’s standalone, 6DOF features mean that we’re genuinely excited to revisit confirmed games like Superhot VR, The Climb and Dead and Buried with wire-free, fully-tracked tech. We still have a lot to learn about Quest’s launch line-up but that’s one of the most exciting things to look forward to in 2019.
Population One (TBD) – Rift, Vive, Windows VR
This isn’t VR’s first attempt to break into the ever-popular battle royale genre, but it might well be its best yet. From the makers of Smash Box Arena comes a massive new last man standing multiplayer game in which you can build structures, glide through the air with jet packs and, of course, shoot your friends in the middle of their faces. Expect Population One to cause a big stir in the VR community.
Prey’s first VR escape rooms released in last 2018 and they were fun, if a little underwhelming. We’re more excited about this year’s promised support for the game’s multiplayer mode, though, which has players hunting shape-shifting mimics controlled by other players. It promises some silly jump scare fun at the very least.
Proze Episode 1 (TBD) – Rift, Vive
Proze: Prologue was a short but promising teaser of what developer SignSine has in store for its upcoming episodic series. Episode 1 will take us back to the frozen wastes of Russia which we last visited in the Cold War era. We’re hoping for plenty more puzzles and the chance to unravel some of the mystery that’s been laid out before us.
We’ve been paying close attention to this promising debut from UK-based Cooperative Innovations for two years now and we’re hopeful that this is finally the year we’ll get to play it. Not only does Erda promise hours of co-op questing with friends but the team behind it has taken a long look at the current state of VR sword combat in hopes it can provide a much richer experience than what’s come before.
We’ve waited patiently for an update on Titfanfall developer Respawn Entertainment’s Oculus-exclusive shooter and were dismayed to discover it wasn’t at Oculus Connect this year. Still, Oculus assures us that development is progressing, which means we’re still hoping to see the game in 2019. Given this studio’s pedigree, we expect nothing less than a bar-raising shooter.
Rogan: The Thief (TBD) – Rift, Vive
A visually striking take on Thief in VR that caught our attention last October. Rogan has you sneaking through a castle, pickpocketing guards and hiding in the shadows. It looks like a more polished version of the excellent Unknightly, so we’ve got our fingers crossed that this will be the best VR stealth game yet. Did I mention it looks beautiful?
Shaman: Spirithunter (TBD) – Rift
Former members of The Climb developer Crytek assemble here for one of 2019’s most intriguing VR games. Take on the role of the last shaman of a tribe, searching for the reason behind the weather that has wiped out all of his tribe. Stealth-based gameplay takes center stage in this chilly adventure that will have you fighting the elements.
Arcade shooter thrills await you in this multiplayer jet-packed fueled action game from Ubisoft. Expect zero-gravity shootouts with the Touch controllers and Vive wands as you jet around enormous maps, grabbing guns and dodging incoming fire. Think Echo Arena but with guns (and no, not Echo Combat).
Star Child went MIA in 2018, but Playful Corp assures us it’s still in development and that’s great news. This is a 2D platformer of sorts in which the player’s character, Spectra, forms a strong bond with a giant robotic companion as she explores an alien planet. Expect classic platforming action with a few twists in this imaginative adventure.
Star Wars: Vader Immortal (TBD) – Quest
Could this be the Star Wars VR experience that finally lets us execute true blade-to-blade lightsaber combat? Vader Immortal’s stunning trailer suggests as much meaning that, even if this technically isn’t a ‘game’, we’re still really, really excited to, you know, play it. There’s still much to learn about this one, but expect it to be one of the biggest VR releases of 2019.
Insomniac Games may have significantly raised its profile with its Spider-Man PS4 game but it’s not abandoning VR. Stormland is set to use procedural generation to offer one of VR’s biggest and most detailed adventures to date. We’re looking forward to co-op combat and slick traversal in a package that will hopefully show what this platform can really do for action games.
Table of Tales: The Crooked Crown (TBD) – PSVR
This is an interesting one. It’s an RPG of sorts in which you stand in one room but the table in front of your morphs into different environments, letting you explore an entire game world without ever really breaking the immersion. As for how Table of Tales plays, there’s still much to learn but consider us very interested.
The developers of Detached return with another multiplayer VR game that’s sure to make your stomach twist. Telefrag wants to be VR’s very own Unreal Tournament with arena-based shooting in which players can jump between walls and ceilings, using the titular feature to teleport into opponents and burst them. We’ll be interested to see if Telefrag is refined enough to justify its dizzying gameplay.
The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners (TBD)
Very little is known about the gaming industry’s latest take on much-explored The Walking Dead series. This isn’t even the franchise’s first excursion into VR, but developer Skydance Interactive’s work with the excellent Archangel: Hellfire has us hopeful that this will be more than your average zombie-killing slaughter fest.
Titan Arena (TBD) – Rift, Vive
Titan Arena is probably the closest we’re ever going to get to Shadow of the Colossus in VR, but it looks like a game that will also be able to stand on its own two giant legs. You take on enormous bosses in arena-sized battles, finding their weak spots and scaling up them as soon as you get the opportunity. Scale is still one of the best elements of VR and this promises to capitalize on it in a big way.
Justin Roiland’s Squanch Games continues its weird and wacky adventure into VR with another eccentric experience. Trover seems to be a third-person action game of sorts that will borrow from the book of Accounting. That is to say it’ll be very strange, entirely unpredictable and, hopefully, another absolutely essential exploration of what the platform can do.
Undead Citadel (TBD)
Revealed in the final weeks of 2018, Undead Citadel promises to be one of the more polished takes on a genre that’s already familiar to VR; zombie slaying. Normally we wouldn’t turn an eye to yet another zombie game, but Citadel’s crisp visuals and vague promise of some sort of narrative have caught our attention. Let’s see what the new year brings for this one.
Unseen Diplomacy 2 (TBD)
The original Unseen Diplomacy is one of the few VR games to really explore what can be done with room-scale VR, and it does so to wonderful effect. We’re hoping for a sequel with much more content and some fresh ideas on what moving through virtual space really means. Platforms haven’t been confirmed but we’d love to see this on Quest.
After spending 2017 with Rick and Morty and then suffering a slight delay to its original 2018 release window Owlchemy Labs is finally returning to the series it made its name with. In many ways Job Simulator served as a template for the current state of VR gaming and now the studio is going on vacation. Vacation Simulator promises to deliver more slapstick VR worlds that we love to get lost in, now complete with the shining sun, crystal clear waters and maybe a new job bot or two.
Valve’s Three VR Games (TBD)
Image credit to Damien Labonte
Well it wouldn’t be a Valve game without an unbearable stretch of silence, would it? It’s been nearly three years since Valve confirmed it was working on three VR games now and only very recently did we hear from sources that one of them will be a Half-Life VR title (!). We’re begging for more news at this point, and our fingers are tightly crossed that 2019 is finally the year Valve delivers.
Machinehead Games excellent take on a beloved IP is finally getting the VR treatment. Acting as a side-story to B.J. Blazkowicz’s trigger-happy adventures, Cyberpilot sees you hacking different types of Nazi war machines and then turning them on their rulers. We weren’t too impressed with the original build we tired at E3, but still look forward to the full thing.
Zed (TBD) – Rift, Vive
Obduction and Myst developer Cyan has already done a lot for VR but now it’s helping others to find their way in the industry. Zed is a Cyan-published game from Eagre Games that looks to be a bit of an existential treat. We follow along in the life of an aging artist that’s reflecting on his years as dementia starts to creep in. We’ll be interested to see how the game utilizes VR to spin a memorable tale.
Kite & Lightning has been developing Bebylon: Battle Royale for some time now thanks to the team securing a substantial $2.5 million USD investment back in 2016, allowing them to experiment and hone the experience. This week saw the studio release one of its regular devlog’s, highlighting battle mechanics, new items, and revealing the team will be at TwitchCon with an early build.
If you’ve been keeping up with VRFocus’ coverage of Bebylon: Battle Royale then you’ll know the title is a comedic take on the battle royale genre, involving babies inside vehicles that just so happen to have giant fists attached. While the aim of each match is to win, Kite & Lightning want to create as much of a spectacle as possible offering players the chance to really showboat.
So for this Devlog the studio focuses on Combat Basics part 2, humiliation and taunting. First off, humiliation. Why pummel an opponent into the ground if you’re not doing it with a little style and panache. Bebylon: Battle Royale allows you whip out some insulting gestures, special attacks, or simply taunting them for fun. However, taunting is far more subtle in the videogame than you might expect. Attacks have a built-in risk/reward directly tied to taunting, So players need balance their fighting skill with taunting for maximum effect.
Then there are the new items. With some wonderful names like Devil’s Slave, Cry to Mummy, Lust Bomb, Bitchplosion, Dyna Mugging and Pimp Supremacy, these are still in the experimental stage so all of them may not make the final cut alongside the cluster bombs, cupids arrows, and poisons the team have in store.
And for those heading to TwitchCon later this week in San Jose, California, Bebylon: Battle Royale will be there as an early build for attendees to try. Head over to booth #1542 to check it out, plus Kite & Lightning will have its facial capture set-up running to turn guests into Bebylonian characters.
There’s still no firm date on when Bebylon: Battle Royale will launch, when the happens VRFocus will let you know.
Battle royale videogames are all the rage at the moment, appearing on every possible platform, from the big publishers and tiny indie developers alike. Bebylon Battle Royale takes a slightly unusual approach in that the combatants involved in the fighting are… babies. Developers Kite & Lightning have now revealed that the pint-sized powerhouses are now ready to enter the beta testing phase.
Bebylon Battle Royale lets the player take control of an immortal, powerful infant who enters the arena in order to take on other tiny terrors. The result is deliberately off-the-wall and designed to be bonkers and hilarious to players.
The latest update from developers Kite & Lightning revealed that the title is almost ready to begin closed beta testing in advance of an anticipated launch later in 2018, though an exact date has yet to be set.
Some more details have also emerged, concerning how the battle will begin for players. At first, the player has only a tiny baby clad in sweat pants, who must enter a place abled at ‘Dojo Training Center for Bebies Who Can’t Fight Good’ (Sic). There the player will need to practice and train their skills in order to attracted the attention of one of the Four Great Families, who will act as your sponsor and team.
The arenas in Bebylon Battle Royale all have odd abilities that causes miniaturisation, enlargement, rotation, slow-motion and all manner of other effects. However, despite appearances, the arenas don’t actually move or alter, its all background wizardry and digital smoke and mirrors so the player avatars and the stadium backdrop that changes, but the developers have created many clever tools to make sure the player’s can’t tell.
As further information about Bebylon Battle Royale emerges, such as news on beta testing or a release date, VRFocuswill be sure to keep bringing you the latest.
The third day of the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) 2018 has come to a close and with it, E3 2018 is over. VRFocus have been all over the show floor to find the latest and greatest virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) titles and products, and in the final recap video of the event you can see all the best moments from the team’s adventures.
Yesterday, the team got their hands on a number of new titles in including Arca’s Path VR from Rebellion and Dream Reality Interactive, Seeking Dawn from Multiverse Inc, and ARia’s Legacy from The Pixel Crushers along with a number of other videogames and hardware goodies.
Today however, the team started off with a trip to IndieCade to witness a number of different indie titles that were sure to bring new experiences to the table. XSEED’s Gungrave VR, which has released a new trailer as part of E3 2018, was the next stop for the team. Bringing back the classic PlayStation 2 title to VR it was sure to offer some intense first-person and third-person action.
Tendar by Tendar Claws and Survios’ Creed: Rise to Glory were the next stops, followed by a trip to the Sony booth to get hands on with Blood & Truth from the PlayStation VR Worlds developers. The team would come back to the Sony booth later on to spend some time with the lovable Astro in Astro Bot Rescue Mission for PlayStation VR. In between that though the team checked out Hyper Arena VR from Hyperbook Studio and finished up their busy E3 2018 schedule by checking out Kite & Lightnings weird and wonderful VR title, Bebylon: Battle Royale. You can see the full adventures of the day in the below video.
With E3 2018 now closed and the excitement of the event winding down, this year has been a bit of a quiet one for the immersive technology with the event as a whole taking a slower pace. That said, some big VR titles were revealed including Tetris Effect, Trover Saves The Universe, Ghost Giant, Prey: TransStar and Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot to name a few. Though the event is over, that doesn’t mean the fun stops and VRFocus will be sure to keep bring you all the latest, including hands-on previews. So make sure to stay tuned for more.
Bebylon: Battle Royale is an upcoming virtual reality (VR) title that puts players in control of a baby who, with the thanks of a crazy vehicle, enters an arena to battle against other babies.
As the two-man team continue to work hard on the development of Bebylon: Battle Royale they have shared some new images from the game. Above is one of the new images that showcases a new hover vehicle joining the titles lineup of other fashionable vehicles. All of these are of course the main mode of transport around the battle arena so don’t let the looks fool you, it will surely be packing a punch. Speaking of which, new items are being designed and added to the title which come in all manner of shapes, sizes and possible explosive nature.
Elsewhere new character models are currently being worked on as well and Kite & Lightning have shown them off with some work-in-progress Zbrush models, which can be viewed in the below galley. The models in question are Aphrodite and Zeus and they attendance at the Bebylon: Battle Royale games is sure to be a show stopping one. Alongside them is also the work-in-progress model of a new clothing item in the form of a onesie.
Bebylon: Battle Royale has been in development for some time now with the team at Kite & Lightning exploring a number of possible options for the title. This includes face tracking from a mobile phone to allow users to get even closer to the crazy action. This is all thanks to the team securing a stunning $2.5 million (USD) back in 2016 which has allowed them to keep Bedylon: Battle Royale going strong.
VRFocus’ Editor Kevin Joyce got to preview Bebylon: Battle Royale saying: “Though Kite & Lightning assure that the build VRFocus experienced was very early, Bebylon: Battle Royale was already an impressively entertaining experience. The shifting, multi-layered arenas and the balancing of the available combatants can turn the tide of a fight in seconds. Given that the multiplayer gameplay is central to Bebylon: Battle Royale raison d’etre the videogame has clearly been designed from the ground-up with two-player competition in mind, and is exhilarating when victory draws close.”
For more on Bebylon: Battle Royale in the future, keep reading VRFocus.
The new Los Angeles office marks the first expansion for the Montreal-based company. The L.A.-based operation aims to further the company’s mission to provide VR producers, developers, and filmmakers with on-set and post-production audio solutions of the highest technical, execution, and creative standards and an end-to-end process pipeline for 3D positional audio production, post-production and delivery.
“Expanding to L.A. was a natural move for us. Having already delivered soundtracks on 360 video and VR productions for major Hollywood studios and leading VR storytellers, our new presence in L.A. allows us to be even closer to more VR content creators,” said Jean-Pascal Beaudoin, President and Head of Sound of Headspace Studio in a statement.
In addition to the new office Headspace Studio has hired audio industry veteran Viktor Phoenix as head of the L.A. branch, bringing 17 years of interactive audio experience to the role. Phoenix was previously Sound Supervisor for the Sound Lab at Technicolor and held senior positions at AAA game developers Pandemic Studios, an Electronic Arts-owned developer, and Turtle Rock Studios.
“I’m incredibly excited to have Viktor join the team to launch our L.A. office,” adds Beaudoin. “Viktor possesses not only the vast interactive audio experience and leadership qualities required to lead the new studio, but also a shared passion for exploring the power of sound field audio in presence-based immersive storytelling.”
“As virtual reality advances toward mainstream consumer adoption, producing high-quality VR content with seamlessly-integrated positional audio has become more essential than ever,” said Phoenix. “I am excited to be joining Headspace Studio at this exhilarating time in the entertainment industry. Audiences are becoming increasingly sophisticated and expect immersive experiences to feature spatial audio that helps to deliver on the promise of the future of storytelling. Jean-Pascal is a pioneer in cinematic VR audio workflow and mixing and I am thrilled to be joining him and the rest of the Headspace Studio team to lead the charge on the west coast.”
Headspace Studio was founded in 2015 as a separate division of Felix & Paul Studios. Recent projects the company has participated in include Space Explorers: A New Dawn and Isle of Dogs: Behind the Scenes (in Virtual Reality), both of which have premiered during the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. Currently Headspace Studio is assisting in production of Kite & Lightning’s Bebylon Battle Royale, which is due for release later this year. For any further updates from the audio specialists, keep reading VRFocus.
American developer Kite and Lightning hasn’t yet released it’s long awaited virtual reality (VR) title Bebylon Battle Royale but it is still being awarded funding for the project, this time through Epic Games and its Unreal Dev Grant programme.
Every so often Epic Games announces a new raft of dev grants for indie studios that use Unreal Engine for their projects. This new round has seen over $200,000 USD being awarded to a mixture of developers, with Kite & Lightning being the only one making a VR videogame.
Bebylon Battle Royale’s core gameplay revolves around a multiplayer combat arena where you control babies who fight it out for supremacy with customisable vehicles and weapons to play with. There’s more to the experience than just fighting however, with the studio creating an entire virtual world in which to explore. The title also made VRFocus’The Best HTC Vive Games Coming in 2018 list.
“Unreal Dev Grants is our way to reward and highlight the incredible talent that makes up the Unreal development community,” said Chance Ivey, Partnership Manager, Epic Games in a statement. “These projects show what is possible when you combine passion with creative technology, and stand as examples of why we do what we do.”
Established in February 2015, Unreal Dev Grants is a $5 million development fund that supported many a VR developer in its time. These have included: Cooperative Innovations’ Raiders of Erda; The Soulkeeper VR by Helm Systems; Ape Law’s psychological horror title Albino Lullaby; Carbon Studio’s Alice VR and Kenzan Studios’ The Fantastic Voyages of Teo and Leonie to name a few.
While Bebylon Battle Royale may have been the only VR title on the list, an augmented reality (AR) experience also made the grade. Originally revealed back in September 2017, The Machines comes from Chinese studio Directive Games Limited. It’s a MOBA-inspired AR PVP game where players build an army of robots and duke it out with a friend in-person or online.
As new grants are awarded by Epic Games, VRFocus will keep you updated on the latest VR titles making the grade.
Kite & Lightning, the studio behind some of VR’s earliest experiences, is one of 13 developers receiving a portion of over $200,000 in ‘Unreal Dev Grants’, a program set up by Epic Games to showcase and provide financial support to projects using Unreal Engine 4. Bebylon Battle Royale is the team’s first major VR game, described as a “vehicular melee party brawler,” and is due to release in 2018 on HTC Vive and Oculus Rift.
Unreal Dev Grants was established in February 2015 as a $5 million development fund, offering no-strings-attached financial awards from Epic Games, and includes the upcoming PSVR title Moss as one of its previous recipients. The latest round of grants has been awarded to a diverse range of projects, including a number of non-VR indie games, a full-length animated film, and The Machines, a MOBA-inspired AR PVP game.
“Unreal Dev Grants is our way to reward and highlight the incredible talent that makes up the Unreal development community,” said Chance Ivey, Partnership Manager, Epic Games. “These projects show what is possible when you combine passion with creative technology, and stand as examples of why we do what we do.”
