Fabrik Games – Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation

January 27, 2019

The VR Job Hub: Fabrick Games, DeepQ, Fable

And now for the first official VR Job Hub of 2019. Now that Christmas and New Year seem like distant memories it’s time to look to the future, and more particularly the coming year. Have you made your last custard cream or chocolate hobnob soggy and inedible not through too many dunks in your brew but from those tears of employment dispair? Well, fear not as VRFocus has more job possibilities to enrich your Sunday afternoon spirits.

Location	Company	Role	Link
Manchester, UK	Fabrik Games	Tech Director	Click Here to Apply
Manchester, UK	Fabrik Games	Programmer	Click Here to Apply
Manchester, UK	Fabrik Games	Senior QA	Click Here to Apply
Manchester, UK	Fabrik Games	Accounts Assistant	Click Here to Apply
Taipei, Taiwan	DeepQ/HTC	Computer Vision Algorithm Engineer	Click Here to Apply
Taipei, Taiwan	DeepQ/HTC	Deep Learning Research Engineer	Click Here to Apply
Taipei, Taiwan	DeepQ/HTC	Sales Specialist/Manager for Healthcare VR	Click Here to Apply
Taipei, Taiwan	DeepQ/HTC	Deep Reinforcement Learning Research Engineer for Health Care	Click Here to Apply
San Francisco, CA	Fable	Studio Assistant	Click Here to Apply
San Francisco, CA	Fable	Technical Animator	Click Here to Apply
San Francisco, CA	Fable	Sound Designer	Click Here to Apply
San Francisco, CA	Fable	AI Consultant	Click Here to Apply
San Francisco, CA	Fable	Machine Learning Engineer	Click Here to Apply

Don’t forget, if there wasn’t anything that took your fancy this week there’s always last week’s listings on The VR Job Hub to check as well.

If you are an employer looking for someone to fill an immersive technology related role – regardless of the industry – don’t forget you can send us the lowdown on the position and we’ll be sure to feature it in that following week’s feature. Details should be sent to Peter Graham (pgraham@vrfocus.com).

We’ll see you next week on VRFocus at the usual time of 3PM (UK) for another selection of jobs from around the world.

September 7, 2017

Watch the Story of The Lost Bear Come to Life on PlayStation VR

OddBug Studios and Fabrik Games launched the PlayStation VR exclusive, The Lost Bear, to critical acclaim earlier this week. For those VRFocus readers still on the fence, we’ve prepared a gameplay video showcasing six minutes of the videogame in action.

The Lost Bear gif Walnut, on her quest to rescue her lost teddy bear, has fallen deep into a world corrupted by the Snatcher. In the video below you can see the unique interpretation of virtual reality (VR) in action. Watch as the 2D experience is played on a screen directly ahead, while the area surrounding the player pops with life in every scene.

Prior to launch, VRFocus delivered a review of The Lost Bear, stating: “It’s likely that you’ll find The Lost Bear to be one of the most compelling PlayStation VR videogames to date.”

The gameplay video can be watched in full below, and VRFocus will bring you more on The Lost Bear very soon.

September 5, 2017

The Lost Bear Launches with Discount for PlayStation Plus Members

Fabrik Games has today launched The Lost Bear a unique 2D adventure designed for PlayStation VR, available now via the PlayStation Store. PlayStation VR owners who also subscribe to PlayStation Plus can benefit from a 10% price reduction for a limited time.

The Lost Bear offers the player the opportunity to immerse themselves in a hand-drawn world as they attempt to help Walnut on her journey home. Along the way however, they must face corruption at the hand of the toy stealing Snatcher. The player will frequently break the fourth wall by using intuitive virtual reality (VR) interactions that connect you with the world and help Walnut escape Snatcher’s Hounds and find her way back home.

The Lost Bear started as a project at Norwich University of the Arts and ‘Dare to be Digital 2013’. The team at OddBug Studio were inspired both by Limbo and Eastern European puppet shows and teamed up with Fabrik Games to create and release the final version of the videogame on PlayStation VR. VRFocus recently delivered a review of The Lost Bear, stating: “It’s likely that you’ll find The Lost Bear to be one of the most compelling PlayStation VR videogames to date.”

The Lost Bear is available to download now, exclusively for PlayStation VR, priced at £9.99 GBP on the PlayStation Store. VRFocus will keep you updated with future titles from OddBug Studio, and other VR experiences from Fabrik Games.

September 4, 2017

Review: The Lost Bear

Fabrik Games’ virtual reality (VR) debut was expected to come by way of the PlayStation VR edition of Filthy Lucre, however instead of acting as developer the team are publishing OddBug Studio’s debut as their entry into the new medium. The Lost Bear is a very different kind of videogame to Fabrik Games’ own steal-‘em-up, instead telling a much more whimsical tale deep in a dark, corrupted land.

The Lost Bear gif Playing as young Walnut, the quest before you is to rescue a stolen teddy bear. However, soon after the hunt begins Walnut becomes lost in a mysterious world corrupted by an evil being known as The Snatcher. Robot dogs, ghost bears and other creatures will help or hinder you as your journey continues, and while many of the challenges you will face may at first appear obvious in their solution, often not all is as it seems.

A 2D adventure videogame, The Lost Bear is an unusual candidate for VR, and yet it makes such wonderful use of the medium. The core gameplay loop revolves around platform-style progression and environmental puzzle solving; using levers to create pathways, avoid the line-of-sight of bad guys and other familiar convention. The arrangement and pacing of the action will be somewhat familiar to anyone who experienced Ubisoft’s Valiant Hearts: The Great War, while the delivery of the storyline doesn’t stray too far from the heartstring-tugging Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons. What makes The Lost Bear different however, is the near-immaculate depiction of its unique world.

The action plays out on a screen in front of you almost as if it were a puppet show, while your surrounding environment takes on many different forms relating to the scene the protagonist is experiencing. Walking through a corn field will see shoots of corn protrude through the floor of the wooden shack you reside in, bees and fireflies will break the fourth wall, and later in the videogame things become significantly darker.

The Lost Bear gif ‘Later’ is The Lost Bear’s biggest problem, however. The mixture of platform and puzzling gameplay is engrossing, but the duration of the videogame is very much limited. Even when taking your time and soaking-up the ambiance of every varied scene, The Lost Bear is unlikely to last more than two hours at most. It’s a short-lived, yet very sweet adventure.

Offered at a launch price of £9.99 GBP, The Lost Bear offers value for money in its creative use of the medium opposed to longevity, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. Despite being a relatively compact experience, OddBug Studio has created a tightly knit series of challenges invested in an eye-catching world topped-off with a VR implementation that will undoubtedly be copied by many other titles before the year is out. It’s hard to fault the team for what content is there, as in those few hours of gameplay it’s likely that you’ll find The Lost Bear to be one of the most compelling PlayStation VR videogames to date.

100%

Awesome

Verdict

August 4, 2017

‘The Lost Bear’ Side-scrolling Platformer Coming Exclusively to PSVR This Month

Odd Bug Studio’s debut title The Lost Bear arrives exclusively on PlayStation VR this month. Described as a “2D cinematic platformer”, the player controls Walnut, a young girl who sets out to save her teddy bear from the Toy Snatcher

It’s a curious move to bring a ‘flat’ side-scrolling platforming game to VR, a medium which excels at first-person immersion, but we’ve definitely seen exceptions to that rule. In The Lost Bear players will see the game action on a sort of stage in front of them, and experience the story inside of a 3D diorama which changes to match what’s going on in the game. Using the motion-tracked PS4 controller, players will be able to interact in a number of different ways with the 2D game before them (more about that below).

Daniel Robinson, Game Director at Odd Bug Studio, posted an entry on the official PlayStation Blog to confirm the news of the game’s forthcoming release and to offer a few details about the title, which began as a side project while Robinson and two friends were students at Norwich University of the Arts. Robinson explains that the story was inspired by his little sister’s antics and bravery, who “always wandered off to the woodlands with her teddy bear by her side”.

Despite the game’s lengthy gestation period, The Lost Bear was only officially revealed on July 10th, following a six-month partnership with publisher Fabrik Games. The announcement trailer (above) showcases the ‘Eastern European puppet show’-styled environment, which evolves to the reflect the story, the charming, hand-drawn art, and some of the platforming mechanics. Towards the end of the trailer, Walnut is chased by one the Snatcher’s hounds, in a scene reminiscent of Playdead’s Limbo and Inside platformers. Robinson cites these games as inspiration, alongside classic franchise Oddworld, in this interview with PS4Blog.net.

The Odd Bug team’s recent ‘AMA’ on Reddit revealed a few more details, including the game’s European pricing (€10) and its estimated length of “just over an hour,” with lead designer Jack Bennett explaining that they aimed for “a shorter polished experience.” Their second project, another 2D adventure, will be longer. They also confirmed that The Lost Bear will support PS4 Pro, providing a “higher framerate and better resolution”.

Sensibly, the basic platforming is controlled by the Dualshock 4 gamepad inputs, but also uses its motion tracking technology (and the PSVR headset tracking) for certain gameplay elements. “We wanted to create mechanics that didn’t intrude on Walnut’s story, but would give the player control of the 2D environment using the 3D space,” says Robinson.

Some of the mechanics are shown in this additional footage (above) released by Fabrik Games, with more to be revealed soon.

The post ‘The Lost Bear’ Side-scrolling Platformer Coming Exclusively to PSVR This Month appeared first on Road to VR.

July 10, 2017

The Lost Bear, a 2D Platformer by Oddbug Studio Revealed for PlayStation VR

British indie developer Oddbug Studio and Fabrik Games (Filthy Lucre developer and publisher) have announced a new title for PlayStation VR, a 2D, hand-drawn platformer called The Lost Bear.

Set in 3D virtual reality (VR) environments, The Lost Bear brings classic videogame platforming to Sony Interactive Entertainmnet’s (SIE) head-mounted display. A puzzle adventure, the main character is Walnut, a young girl on her way home who must venture through a world corrupted by the toy stealing Snatcher.

The lost bear screenshot 2

Walnut needs to rescue her teddy bear from Snatcher, so Oddbug Studio has combined 2D gameplay with intuitive VR interactions that connect players with the world to help Walnut escape The Snatcher’s Hounds and find her way back home.

Further details are currently scarce, with no official release date or if The Lost Bear is purely exclusive to PlayStation VR. Screenshots and an initial trailer showcase a title that’s going for a VR cinema effect, with players sat in an auditorium with a similar look and feel of the platformer they’re playing on the screen in front of them.

Checkout the first gameplay trailer for The Lost Bear below, and for further updates keep reading VRFocus.