Change Ranger – Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation

July 21, 2020

Freeze Time and Manipulate the World in Time Hacker This Summer

Having refocused its efforts towards the home virtual reality (VR) market at the beginning of the year developer Joy Way has announced several videogame projects. One of these was called Change Ranger but this has now been renamed Time Hacker as the team gears up for a launch in the next couple of months.

Remember that scene from X-Men: Days of Future Past when Quicksilver runs at such speed the entire room goes into slow-mo? Well that’s essentially the premise behind Time Hacker. You play as a hero who can temporarily stop time allowing you to diffuse dangerous situations.

That doesn’t mean pausing everything and running away. You’ve got some humanoid killer robots to deal with and innocents to save, so whilst they’re defenceless you can manipulate the environment to your benefit. This gives you time to add some choice uppercuts in, use their guns against them, trigger an explosive device or knock them into traffic. And when you’re done time returns to normal and chaos ensues.

There have been lots of tweaks and improvements to the title since its first reveal such as making all the enemies robots rather than humans, the addition of more levels as well as the mechanics getting a polish.

Joy Way is looking to launch Time Hacker for PC VR headsets like Oculus Rift, Valve Index and HTC Vive via Steam in either August or September. If you like the idea Time Hacker is currently going through closed beta testing which you can signup for here.

The studio has also informed VRFocus that it plans on supporting PlayStation VR and Oculus Quest in the future, although it wouldn’t say exactly when.

As mentioned, Time Hacker isn’t the only title Joy Way is working on. The other exciting project is Stride, a parkour-style experience which has a Mirror’s Edge feel. This is also expected to arrive in the summer. As further details arise for both projects, VRFocus will keep you updated.

January 23, 2020

Joy Way Launches Free Demos For Change Ranger And Brain vs Zombies

VR developer Joy Way, previously known as PlatformaVR has two new SteamVR demos for you to check out, and they look pretty intriguing.

First up is Change Range, a unique-looking puzzle-action game in which you save yourself from imminent death. You have the power to stop time and then change other people’s actions. Gang of thugs about to riddle you with bullets? Zip-around the room and get them to turn on each other. Then unpause time and watch them all unload. It reminds us a little of Just in Time Inc, with a slightly more bloody twist.

Brain vs Zombies, meanwhile, is a decidedly simpler affair. Zombified avocados surround you, and you have to kill them all with the limited amount of bullets you have. That might mean shooting a rope to flatten unsuspecting foes, or firing through a portal to send bullets off in different directions. It’s a little Angry Birdsy, but it’s a fun premise for a time-killing puzzler.

In its past life, Joy Wave made similarly simple, entertaining VR games like Mace and Grace, in which you knocked down droves of incoming warriors and a cop thriller named The Poisoner. Some of these were location-based titles. Most of these games released in Early Access, though haven’t yet made it to full releases.

Neither game has a final release date just yet.

The post Joy Way Launches Free Demos For Change Ranger And Brain vs Zombies appeared first on UploadVR.

January 23, 2020

LBE Specialist PlatformaVR Rebrands to Joy Way, Moves Into Home Content Development

When it comes to virtual reality (VR) developers the general trend usually starts with making one or two titles for home headsets like Oculus Rift or HTC Vive, hopefully making some money in the process. As that can still be tricky, then branching out into either licensing or producing content for location-based entertainment (LBE) purposes to build a revenue stream. PlatformaVR, on the other hand, has chosen the opposite path by moving from LBE into home content, rebranding to Joy Way in the process.

Brain vs Zombies PlatformaVR started back in 2017 by opening its first location in Moscow, adding further locations across the course of 2018/19. In a similar vein to others in the sector like The VOID, PlatformaVR went down the route of creating exclusive content instead of using content distribution platforms such as Synthesis VR or SpringboardVR, developing The Poisoner, The Arrival and Match for customers to enjoy.

It was last year that the company began delving into the home consumer market by releasing titles like Wave Circles and Mace and Grace. Those early endeavours have now become the sole focus as PlatformaVR abandons LBE and becomes Joy Way to mark its new turning point.

Confirming the news in an email to VRFocus, Joy Way’s Elena Kadyshkina said: “All titles that had been developed for location-based facilities were sold to our partners so that, moving forward, we can focus exclusively on development of VR games for home use.”

Currently, Joy Way has two VR videogames in development, Brain vs Zombies and Change Ranger. Brain vs Zombies is a puzzle shooter where you have to kill each level’s weird looking (avocado-shaped) zombies using a limited number of bullets. Puzzles won’t necessarily involve shooting the zombies directly, either calculating the rebound trajectory, having to blow something up or knocking one into another for example.

Change Ranger is all about time manipulation. Taking the role of a time hacker who can freeze time, you’re placed in scenarios where you’re outnumbered and outgunned. Using those time skills you can make changes to the world so when the time flow is restored you’re no longer in danger.

Both titles are scheduled for launch in February across Steam and Oculus stores. At the moment a demo is available for both on their respective Steam pages. For further updates keep reading VRFocus.