Carbon Studio – Page 4 – Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation

July 6, 2018

Carbon Studio Announce The Wizards: Trials of Meliora

Independent creative studio Carbon Studio have announced their latest virtual reality (VR) videogame in the form of The Wizards: Trials of Meliroa. This VR title brings together the fun of casting spells with hand gestures and mixes it with a rich and detailed fantasy setting, offering an immersive gameplay experience.

The Wizards: Trials of Meliora

Following the release of their VR title The Wizards back in March, 2017 for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, The Wizards: Trials of Meliora is the next step in this spellbinding adventure. The title is coming to Oculus Go and Samsung Gear VR and takes full advantage of 3DOF motion controller’s potential and will introduce players to the rich and deep fantasy world of The Wizards.

In this new title, players are invites to take magic into their own hand and test their skills as a defender of the Realm of Meliora. With a whole new adventure to explore and a unique gesture-based magic system that will see you fight through challenging magical battles in three different locations with more to come. Face off against a host of malevolent creatures in scenic landscapes and dark dungeons all with four potent spells with which to destroy them with.

The Wizards: Trials of Meliora

Powered by the Unreal Engine 4, The Wizards: Trials of Meliroa will stunning visual quality with highly detailed models, fluid animations and stunning special effects. This also means that the four elemental spells that players can use will not only be powerful but also be visually impressive. Using the motion controller, gesture-based gameplay will offer a unique gameplay opportunity that will immerse players within the world of The Wizards.

“Our goal was to explore how far we can get with the current generation of mobile/standalone VR headsets.” Explains Pawe Gajda, Biz Dev Manager at Carbon Studio: “We wanted to bring the fun of casting spells with hand gestures to those platforms, and it seems to work very well. Also, we were surprised with how well PC graphics translate to mobile VR in Unreal Engine 4.”

The Wizards: Trials of Meliora has not only been revealed but has also been released, meaning it is available to purchase right now on the Oculus Store for $3.99 (USD) with an ongoing 10% launch discount. Carbon Studio have also stated they will update the title with free content in the coming weeks as well. For more on The Wizards: Trials of Meliora, keep reading VRFocus.

March 16, 2018

Competition: Win A Spot Of Magic With The Wizards

Everyone likes a bit of magic. Conjuring up that which is not and then, presumably throwing at an enemy and turning them into some sort of toad, or a pile of ash, or both. Thankfully virtual reality (VR) has allowed spellcasting to almost get its own mini videogame genre. There’s a number of titles on the market where you get your magical ways on, and one of the very best happens to be The Wizards.

The Wizards In the title, by independent developers Carbon Studio – who also created sci-f exploration experience ALICE VR – puts players into the shoes of a young sorcerer tasked with defending the realm from legions of rampaging monsters. A single-player title, The Wizards allows a player to cast all sorts of elemental spells, from lightning bolts to fireballs, alongside defensive spells like a shield, to attack and protect themselves from orcs and goblins.

VRFocus tried The Wizards out earlier this month, describing it in our review as “Beautiful to look at, The Wizards biggest draw is its spell casting gameplay. Rather than switching between spells in a menu the videogame employs gesture-based spell-casting in a similar way to The Unspoken, where you need to remember particular hand movements to be able to do anything. This mechanic works extremely well for magic-based experiences, grounding you in the world and the character, which Carbon Studio easily pulled off.”

We’ve teamed up with Carbon Studio to offer you a chance to pick up the title for free. We’ve got six Steam codes up for grabs – all you need to do is interact with our social media accounts – which many of you likely already follow. You’ll receive a draw entry for every one of the following actions below: Be a follower of us on Twitter, subscribe to us on YouTube, or visit our Facebook and Google+ pages.

The competition is open until the end of next week. Starting today, 16th March 2018, and will end at midnight UK time, the beginning of March 24th. Winners will be drawn and contacted after that period. The best of luck to all!

Competition: Win A Spot Of Magic With The Wizards

March 8, 2018

Review: The Wizards

There are some great magic-based virtual reality (VR) titles available for those who enjoy a bit of sorcery. From combat experiences like The Unspoken and Wands, to massive quests such as The Mage’s Tale or Left-hand Path. So for players to take notice of another videogame in the field it needs to look and play the part, and Carbon Studio has done just that with The Wizards.

Having initially arrived on Steam Early Access in the summer of 2017, The Wizards was your average stationary wave shooter, with set points of movement and waves of monsters to defeat. Thankfully in that time Carbon Studio has given the title an overhaul in places, turning it into a far more dynamic and enjoyable adventure experience.

You just so happen to play a wizard who’s the only one capable of stopping an invading army of orcs, ogres, goblins and other nasty beasties from taking over, killing everyone and raising your beautiful land to the ground. To stop the menace you get to learn a bunch of spells and go on a cleansing spree.

Beautiful to look at, The Wizards biggest draw is its spell casting gameplay. Rather than switching between spells in a menu the videogame employs gesture-based spell-casting in a similar way to The Unspoken, where you need to remember particular hand movements to be able to do anything. This mechanic works extremely well for magic-based experiences, grounding you in the world and the character, which Carbon Studio easily pulled off.

The Wizards

Weaker spells like the standard fireball or the shield use a quick and simple one-handed gesture. As you’d expect the more powerful spells such as the Ice Bow or Arcane Missiles require both hands to conjure, meaning careful use is required in battle. None of them are too convoluted however, so that you don’t waste valuable seconds waving those arms around to no avail.

What’s great to see in this fully released version is the freedom of movement. As previously mentioned The Wizards originally used a point to point teleportation system, so if monsters got too close certain areas would trap you, plus it greatly lessened the strategy element. That’s been dispensed with, sort of. Teleportation is still there and certain areas can only be traversed using it, however, there’s also full smooth locomotion for the wide open areas where a lot of the combat encounters take place. For one-handed spells this is great as it allows strafing whilst shooting off a few fireballs. Two-handed spells generally need a safe spot before moving on. Most of the time a liberal use of both methods is advised, teleportation is definitely nice and nippy for quickly moving about.

One slight disappointment comes from the restricted monster engagements. You wander into an area and all the entrances and exits lock down until all the enemies are defeated, adding that wave-based feel back into proceedings where the only challenge is surviving the set number of monsters. It does partially ruin the flow of the adventure – why can’t there just be enemies you encounter on the journey – but wielding those arcane powers is still mighty fun.

The Wizards

Carbon Studio has also ensured there’s some longevity and a keen eye needed to get the most out of the whole experience. There are collectibles to find that’ll upgrade your spells, Fate Cards to locate which will modify the gameplay settings in future play throughs, plus an Arena mode for those interested in continual battles.

What Carbon Studio has done is combine its knowledge from debut VR title Alice VR and the months of Early Access development and distilled it into The Wizards. If you want to feel like an all-powerful sorcerer then The Wizards is up there with the best, an entertaining adventure that will make non-VR players jealous.

80%

Awesome

Verdict

March 8, 2018

The Wizards Review: A Spellbinding Magical Adventure

If you own a VR headset like the Oculus Rift or HTC Vive, then there are tons of ways out there for you to get your spell-flinging fix. The Unspoken and Wands have great multiplayer-focused combat and a whole slew of RPGs like The Mage’s Tale, Skyrim VR, and Runes: The Forgotten Path expound upon the magical powers of wizards in single-player adventures.

Now with The Wizards, one of VR’s most promising magical adventures, we’ve got another experience solely focused on single player action with interactive gesture-based spell-casting and a decent length campaign to keep players busy. It’s not as polished or as varied as it could have been, but it does enough to be worth a look for fans of the arcane arts.

The Wizards is split into two game modes: the single-player campaign and the Arena mode. For the campaign you play through a linear grouping of levels, one after another, as you progress through the game. While there is a good amount of level variety in terms of locations and decisions, the flow of gameplay isn’t very original.

Most levels devolve into the same exact rhythm: explore the area until you find enemies, kill all of the enemies, and advance to the next area that’s waiting to be explored. Every now and then there is a bit of variety in terms of secondary objectives to worry about, but that’s really pretty much the entire game for a few hours until you reach the end. Boss encounters shake things up enough to keep things interesting, so it’s not entirely repetitive.

There is some great voice work, good sound design, and entrancing music to keep your ears happy while your eyes take in the blasts of color that constantly assault you from all sides.

The best part of The Wizards though, just like any good sorcerer game, is the spell-casting. Instead of drawing annoyingly complex runes in the air like we’ve seen several times in VR at this point (SoulKeeper and Left Hand Path come to mind) it’s all simply gesture-based.

For example, to ready a fireball in my right hand I just hold my left hand steady, make a fist out in front of me with my right hand by holding the trigger, then sliding my right hand to the side quickly. Boom, fireball. Just throw and release like any other object to send it flying across the level. Slide my left hand to the right and a shield pops up on my wrist for blocking attacks. Move each hand towards my chest and an ice bow appears with a quiver of chilling white arrows on my back.

And while the spell-casting is easily the best part, even that does start to grow old by the end of the journey. There just aren’t enough spells to really keep you engaged. You’ll unlock enhancements over the course of the game and find collectible cards that can be used to alter missions for replaying, but there should have been more original, different spells to cast.

If I had to pick a favorite though, it’s absolutely the double-handed blast of lightning. You can really feel the power of magic coursing through your veins.

The Wizards’ Arena mode is a nice change of pace, but ultimately doesn’t shake up the formula anywhere near enough. There are three environments to pick from and the only way it really differs from the campaign, on a functional level, is that you exclusively fight waves of enemies instead of breaking up the fights with moments of exploration.

By the end I was left wanting more spells, more variety, and more game modes. For example, a multiplayer mode would have been amazing to see — either competitive or cooperative — or at least some other way to use the powerful magical spells I’d been given. The core mechanics and ideas at work were so fun, I wanted to see it live up to its full potential.

I absolutely enjoyed my time with The Wizards and it’s definitely a step up from Carbon’s previous project, Alice VR, but with a few additions it could have been the definitive VR spell-casting game.

Final Score: 7/10 – Good

On the gamut of magic-based first-person action games, The Wizards is definitely one of the better ones. Its spell-casting system is interactive without being too cumbersome and the campaign mode packs a decent amount of content. Plenty of collectibles, a replayable Arena mode, and lots of mission augmentations add up to this being one of the best ways to live out your most fantastical magical fantasies in VR. We just wanted more and preferably multiplayer of some kind.

The Wizards is now available on Rift and Vive as of March 8th through Steam and Oculus Home. A PSVR version is planned for later this year. Read our Game Review Guidelines for more information on how we arrived at this score.

Tagged with: Carbon Studio, The Wizards

February 18, 2018

More Screenshots Appear Ahead of The Wizards Launch

Steam Early Access can sometimes seem like a long process with some videogames spending years in the development void. That’s not been the case for Carbon Studio and its magical adventure experience The Wizards. First announced in early 2017, the videogame came to Early Access last summer offering the chance to become a powerful wizard. As VRFocus reported this week, The Wizards now has a full release date. And to whet your appetite for it, Carbon Studio has released a few more screenshots.

These new screenshots showcase how far The Wizards has come graphically, offering richly detailed worlds and monstrous creatures with which you have to do battle.

The videogame is all about spell casting, so rather than having an inventory of spells which you can select and use, you have to learn specific hand-gestures to control elemental attacks like fire and lightning. This aids that sense of immersion when casting and fighting enemies, making you feel like a powerful wizard once you’ve upgraded some of the spells.

Since The Wizards first launched in Early Access Carbon Studio has continually added new features. These have included free movement and free teleportation locomotion allowing players to choose between free movement and free teleportation to any flat surface in reach. In addition to the new movement types, the update featured new map areas, item pick-ups, and new interactive world elements. The second major update was Arena Mode allowing players to assail endless hordes of enemies on two brand new battle arenas and compete with other players on a global leaderboards.

The Wizards will finally leave Early Access on 8th March, 2018, retailing on both Steam and the Oculus Store for $20 USD. Carbon Studio will be adding three new stages including two boss fights in the full release, alongside six new spell upgrades for ultimate wizardry, a new battle arena, and Steam Achievements. For any further update on The Wizards, keep reading VRFocus.

February 13, 2018

Spellbinding Action-Adventure Game The Wizards Leaves Early Access In March

The Wizards, an action-adventure magic-based VR game from Carbon Studio, is existing Early Access for full release on both Steam and the Oculus Store next month on March 8th.

We’ve been following The Wizards for quite a while now. Spell-flinging has remained one of our favorite things to do in VR and with the likes of The Mage’s Tale, The Unspoken, and even Skyrim VR, that’s proving to be the case for other players as well.

The Wizards, unlike those other games, has been in Early Access slowly garnering feedback and updates over the course of seven months. In that time the developers have introduced new spells, enemies, and levels to more than double the length of the game since its Early Access debut.

For launch it will be getting three more new story chapters, an epic dragon boss fight, and alternative versions of spells to work towards via in-game challenges. You can watch the new mixed reality trailer above to see how intense the spell-casting can get.

The Wizards will launch on Steam and the Oculus Store on March 8th for $20. A PSVR version of the game is planned for later this year, but there’s no date on that yet.

Let us know what you think of the game down in the comments below!

Tagged with: Carbon Studio, The Wizards

February 13, 2018

Spellcasting Adventure ‘The Wizards’ to Leave Early Access March 8th

Carbon Studio, the studio behind Alice VR (2017), today announced their Early Access spellcasting action-adventure The Wizards is slated to launch in-full on March 8th. The Wizards supports HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, and Windows “Mixed Reality” VR headsets.

Carbon Studio says that the full release will bring new content, improvements and bug fixes. Here’s the list, taken from the studio’s announcement on Steam:

Two new stages on the Ruins
Final stage on the Shrike’s Desert that will conclude the story
Boss fights with fearsome creatures
Wave-based Ruins stages will be moved to the Arena Mode
Master Enchantments – powerful upgrades for all the spells
Steam Achievements

The Wizards is also getting LIV Mixed Reality support, which easily lets you set up mixed reality capture. Games already supporting LIV mixed reality capture include Space Pirate Trainer (2017), Audio Shield (2016), The Blu (2016), and Hover Junkers (2016).

Carbon Studio says this isn’t the end for The Wizards however, and that the full release “will not be the end of [their] work” on The Wizards.

“We will keep working on new features and improvements based on your feedback,” the studio says. “Details on the new content coming after leaving Early Access will be revealed soon.”

The Wizards is currently selling for $20 on Steam (Vive, Rift, Windows VR, the Oculus Store (Rift), and Viveport (Vive).

The post Spellcasting Adventure ‘The Wizards’ to Leave Early Access March 8th appeared first on Road to VR.

February 13, 2018

Carbon Studio Conjures Up The Wizards Release Date, Mixed Reality Trailer

Virtual reality (VR) can certainly be described as magical, capable of bringing both fact and fiction to life in new and previously unexplored ways. It can also be magical in a more literal sense, with high fantasy turned into the possible such as is the case with Carbon Studio’s VR action-adventure title The Wizards.

The Wizards screenshot It’s a videogame that we’ve been following here on VRFocus for quite some time, ever since it was unveiled just over a year ago. Since that time, it has journeyed to Steam Early Access, had a Closed Beta and an array of updates, including new gameplay modes such as The Arena, the addition of free motion and free teleportation alongside the initial movement method of node teleportation, and more. According to Carbon Studio the work done during this time period has “more than doubled” the length of the title.

Now however that chapter of The Wizards story is coming to an end with the developers revealing that the videogame will be finally leaving Early Access on March 8th 2018. Arriving on both Steam and the Oculus Store at a price of $20 (USD).

The release of the spellcasting title, in which users use hand gestures in order to bring forth their magics, will see new updates for existing players including three new chapters to the existing story and an array of upgrades to all the spells in the game. Revealing more advanced versions for people to conjure up. Would-be wizards will need them, as one story chapter will see you take on a ferocious dragon.

To underscore the announcement, Carbon Studio has released a new mixed reality (MR) trailer to YouTube, created in partnership with LIV. It was LIV who were responsible for a plugin to VR videogames made in both Unreal Engine and Unity to allow MR.

“We had a blast helping Carbon Studio get set up with Mixed Reality for The Wizards, and showing off some of our camera and avatar technology.” Commented LIV’s co-founder AJ Shewki in a statement. “We are excited to see this team take spellcasting in VR to the next level.”

Support on Steam exists for the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift (which obviously appears via the Oculus Store as well) and the Windows Mixed Reality line of headsets. The title is due to appear on Playstation VR later this year and VRFocus will bring you more news on this at a later date. You can see the MR trailer below.

November 8, 2017

Get Ready To Take On The Arena As The Wizards Launches New Update

To some immersive technology is almost like magic. Through virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) or even mixed reality (MR) you are able to find yourselves in exotic locations in faraway lands. Everything from being up in the infinite black of space and investigating new worlds to diving under the oceans of our own. Getting face-to-face with creatures past and present.

Of course the ability to do anything means that magic itself is also on the table, and of course in some videogames magic is exactly what it’s all about. For fans of AR, Pokémon GO creators Niantic Labs today announced they would be weaving their spell over the Harry Potter franchise with Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. For those using VR, and particularly those who own either an Oculus Rift or an HTC Vive, one avenue to get your magical kicks in is The Wizards, Carbon Studio’s title about a young spellcaster trying to defend the realm from all manner of rampaging creatures.

Carbon Studio have recently revealed a new trailer for the videogame, which you can find below, which ties in with their newly released update entitled ‘The Arena Mode Update’, previously confirmed several weeks ago. The new update focuses around Arena Mode, which was previously referred to as Arcade Mode and along with a number of additional bug fixes and improvements sees two new arenas added to the mix. These are point defence map Mountainpass Castle, and the torchlit underground arena Crystal Caverns in which you must locate and destroy corrupted crystals before it is too late.

The Arena Mode update is the second major content update for the videogame since it made its way onto Early Access back in the Summer with the first being the ‘Free Locomotion Update’ which brought free motion and free teleporting to the title. he Wizards was first revealed at the beginning of the year following Carbon Studio’s first effort in VR, the 2016 title Alice VR.

A full listing of the update changes can be found here, VRFocus will bring you more news on The Wizards‘ journey through Early Access as we get it.

July 27, 2017

Carbon Studio Release New Gameplay Trailer for The Wizards

The lure of using motion controls to cast spells and wave swords around in virtual reality (VR) is somewhat irresistible. Development studio Carbon Studios are taking advantage of this temptation with the upcoming release of sword and sorcery title The Wizards, which has just seen the launch of the latest gameplay trailer.

VRFocus has been covering The Wizards since its initial announcement. The title puts players in the role of a young adventurer who must learn the ways of magic to defend the country from hordes of monsters. Players are able to use motion controllers like the Oculus Touch to create magic gestures that unleash powerful spells.

The Wizards will be launched into Early Access for HTC Vive and Oculus Rift on 28^th July, 2017. The Early Access version will have a story mode featuring two regions, divided into stages for the player to explore, six basic spells which will all have upgrade paths and Fate Cards that allow players to make tweaks to the character and the gameplay. An ‘Arcade Mode’ featuring endless monster battles in an Arena will also be available.

The title was built using Unreal Engine 4, with the aim of using the power of that engine to create rich and detailed fantasy landscapes. The developers are keen to get player feedback during the Early Access release stage, and anticipate that the title will leave Early access for a full launch in roughly 5-6 months.

The wizards will be priced at $19.99 (USD) at launch. Further information and updates can be found on the Steam page. The latest gameplay trailer is available to view below.

VRFocus will bring you further news on The Wizards and Carbon Studio’s other VR projects as it becomes available.